View source for John Lindsay

{{Short description|American politician (1921–2000)}}
{{About|the American politician|other people of this name|John Lindsay (disambiguation)}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = John Lindsay
| image               = John Lindsay, election night (cropped).jpg
| caption             = Lindsay in 1969
| office              = 103rd [[Mayor of New York City]]
| term_start          = January 1, 1966
| term_end            = December 31, 1973
| predecessor         = [[Robert F. Wagner Jr.]]
| successor           = [[Abraham Beame]]
| state1              = [[New York (state)|New York]]
| district1           = {{ushr|NY|17|r}}
| term_start1         = January 3, 1959
| term_end1           = December 31, 1965
| predecessor1        = [[Frederic René Coudert Jr.|Frederic Coudert]]
| successor1          = [[Theodore R. Kupferman]]
| birth_name          = John Vliet Lindsay
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1921|11|24}}
| birth_place         = [[New York City]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2000|12|19|1921|11|24}}
| death_place         = [[Hilton Head Island, South Carolina]], U.S.
| party               = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (before 1971)<br>[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] (1971–2000)
| otherparty          = [[Liberal Party of New York|Liberal]]
| education           = [[Yale University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])
| spouse              = {{marriage|Mary Harrison|1949}}
| allegiance          = United States
| branch              = [[United States Navy]]
| serviceyears        = 1943–1946
| rank                = [[Lieutenant (navy)|Lieutenant]]
| battles             = {{tree list}}
* [[World War II]]
** [[Allied invasion of Sicily]]
** [[Asiatic-Pacific Theater|Pacific Theater]]
{{tree list/end}}
}}
'''John Vliet Lindsay''' ({{IPAc-en|v|l|iː|t}}; November 24, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American politician and lawyer. During his political career, Lindsay was a U.S. congressman, the [[mayor of New York City]], and a candidate for [[U.S. president]]. He was also a regular guest host of ''[[Good Morning America]]''. Lindsay served as a member of the [[U.S. House of Representatives]] from January 1959 to December 1965 and as mayor of New York from January 1966 to December 1973.

In 1971, during his second term as mayor, Lindsay [[Party switching in the United States|switched]] from the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] to the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. That same year, he launched a brief and unsuccessful bid for the [[1972 Democratic presidential nomination]]. He made an unsuccessful bid to become the Democratic candidate in the [[1980 U.S. Senate election in New York]].

== Early life and career ==
[[File:John Lindsay and spouse (Mary Harrison) Crop.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Mary Harrison Lindsay and John Lindsay, at campaign event, between 1969 and 1977]]
Lindsay was born in New York City on [[West End Avenue]] to George Nelson Lindsay and the former Florence Eleanor Vliet.<ref name="Obit">{{cite news|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2000/12/21/nyregion/21LIND.html|title=John V. Lindsay, Mayor and Maverick, Dies at 79|first=Robert D.|last= McFadden|author-link=Robert D. McFadden|date= December 21, 2000|newspaper=The New York Times|page=A1|access-date=June 17, 2025}}</ref> He grew up in an upper-middle-class family of [[English Americans|English]] and [[Dutch Americans|Dutch]] descent.<ref name="Cannato" /> Lindsay's paternal grandfather migrated to the United States in the 1880s from the [[Isle of Wight]],<ref name="Obit" /> and his mother was from an upper-middle-class family that had been in New York since the 1660s.<ref name="Cannato" /> Lindsay's father was a successful lawyer and [[investment banker]].<ref name="Obit" /> Lindsay attended the [[Buckley School (New York City)|Buckley School]], [[St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire)|St. Paul's School]], and [[Yale]],<ref name="Obit" /> where he was admitted to the class of 1944 and joined [[Scroll and Key]].<ref name="Vassar">{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FA0A17F8355F167B93C3A8178BD95F4C8485F9|title=Mary A. Harrison, Lawyers Fiance. Vassar Graduate Will Be Bride of John V. Lindsay, Former Lieutenant in the Navy|date=October 11, 1948|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|page=29|access-date=May 23, 2009}}</ref>

With the outbreak of World War II, Lindsay completed his studies early and in 1943 joined the [[United States Navy]] as a [[gunnery officer]]. He obtained the rank of [[Lieutenant (navy)|lieutenant]], earning five [[battle stars]] through action in the [[invasion of Sicily]] and a series of landings in the [[Asiatic-Pacific theater]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FB0D15F63D5A117B93C1A81783D85F4C8585F9|title=Lindsay Lacked Party's Backing; Surprise G. O. P. Victory in 17th Congressional District Based on Liberal Plea |date=August 13, 1958|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|page=18|access-date=September 19, 2008}}</ref><ref name="winner" /> After the war, he spent a few months as a ski bum,<ref name="Cannato" /> and a couple of months training as a bank clerk,<ref name="Cannato" /> before returning to [[New Haven]], where he received his law degree from [[Yale Law School]] in 1948, ahead of schedule.<ref name="Cannato" /> In 1949, he began his legal career at the law firm of [[Webster, Sheffield, Fleischmann, Hitchcock & Chrystie]].<ref>''Summer in the City – John Lindsay, New York, and the American Dream.'' Edited by Joseph P. Viteritti (2014)</ref>

Lindsay met his future wife, Mary Anne Harrison (1926–2004), at the 1946 wedding of [[Nancy Walker Bush]] (daughter of [[Connecticut]]'s Senator [[Prescott Bush]] and sister of future President [[George H. W. Bush]]),<ref name="Cannato" /> where he was an [[Groomsman|usher]] and Harrison a [[bridesmaid]].<ref name="Cannato" /> She was a graduate of [[Vassar College]],<ref name="Vassar" /> and a distant relative of [[William Henry Harrison]] and [[Benjamin Harrison]].<ref name="Cannato" /> They married in 1949.<ref name="Vassar" /> That same year Lindsay was admitted to the bar, and rose to become a partner in his law firm four years later.<ref name="winner">{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F50817FD355E1A7B93C7A9178AD95F4D8685F9|title=And Still a Winner. John Vliet Lindsay|date=November 5, 1969|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|page=32|access-date=September 19, 2008}}</ref> They had three daughters and a son.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/04/01/The-narcotics-arrest-of-John-Lindsay-Jr-the-son/1449418021200/|title = The narcotics arrest of John Lindsay Jr., the son}}</ref>

== U.S. Representative ==
[[File:Johnvlindsay.jpg|thumb|upright|Congressman Lindsay speaking at the [[New York City Board of Estimate]] meeting at City Hall in April 1963]]
Lindsay began gravitating toward politics as one of the founders of the Youth for [[Eisenhower]] club in 1951 and as president of the [[New York Young Republican Club]] in 1952.<ref name="congress">{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F00717FF3F59107B93C7A9178AD95F4C8585F9|title=Lindsay Victory Puts Him In Fore; He Is Seen as G.O.P. Hope in Election to Congress From 17th District |date=November 5, 1958|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|page=31|access-date=September 19, 2008}}</ref> He went on to join the [[U.S. Department of Justice]] in 1955 as executive assistant to Attorney General [[Herbert Brownell Jr.|Herbert Brownell]]. There he worked on [[civil liberties]] cases as well as the [[1957 Civil Rights Act]]. In 1958, with the backing of Brownell as well as [[Bruce Barton]], [[John Aspinwall Roosevelt]], and [[Wendell Willkie|Edith Willkie]],<ref name="Cannato"/> Lindsay won the Republican primary and went on to be elected to Congress as the representative of the "[[Upper East Side|Silk Stocking]]" 17th district, exemplified by [[Manhattan]]'s [[Upper East Side]] but also encompassing the diverse [[Lower East Side]] and historically bohemian [[Greenwich Village]].<ref name="congress" />

While in Congress, Lindsay established a liberal voting record increasingly at odds with his own party.<ref name="Weaver">{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20D15FF385812738DDDA90B94DD405B858AF1D3|title=Lindsay's Voting Veers From G.O.P.; House Record Also Shows a Shift From Conservatives|author=Weaver, Warren|date=May 30, 1965|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|page=30|access-date=May 19, 2009}}</ref> He was an early supporter of federal aid to education and [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]],<ref name="Cannato" /> and advocated the establishment of a federal [[United States Department of Housing and Urban Development]] and a [[National Endowment for the Humanities|National Foundation for the Arts and Humanities]].<ref name="Cannato" /> He was called a maverick,<ref name="Obit" /> casting the lone dissenting vote for a Republican-sponsored bill extending the power of the [[United States Postmaster General|Postmaster General]] to impound obscene mail,<ref name="Cannato" /> and one of only two dissenting votes for a bill allowing federal interception of mail from [[Communism|Communist]] countries.<ref name="Cannato" /> Also known for his wit, when asked by his party leaders why he opposed legislation to combat Communism and pornography, he replied that the two were the major industries of his district and if they were suppressed then "the 17th district would be a depressed area".<ref name="winner" /> Lindsay voted in favor of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1960]] and [[Civil Rights Act of 1964|1964]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/86-1960/h106|title=HR 8601. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1960. APPROVAL BY THE HOUSE OF THE SENATE'S AMENDMENTS.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/88-1964/h128|title=H.R. 7152. Passage.}}</ref> the [[24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/87-1962/h193|title=S.J. RES. 29. Constitutional Amendment to Ban the Use of Poll Tax as a Requirement for Voting in federal Elections|work=GovTrack.us}}</ref> and the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/89-1965/h87|title=To Pass H.R. 6400, The 1965 Voting Rights Act}}</ref>

== Mayor of New York City ==
{{main|Mayoralty of John Lindsay}}
[[File:John Lindsay NYWTS 1.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Lindsay as mayor with a physical copy of the city's budget, April 1966]]
In the [[1965 New York City mayoral election]], Lindsay was elected [[mayor of New York City]] as a Republican with the support of the [[Liberal Party of New York]] in a three-way race. He defeated Democratic mayoral candidate [[Abraham D. Beame]], then City Comptroller, as well as conservative thinker and ''[[National Review]]'' founder [[William F. Buckley Jr.]], who ran on the [[Conservative Party of New York State|Conservative Party]] line. The unofficial motto of the campaign, taken from a [[Murray Kempton]] column, was "He is fresh and everyone else is tired".<ref name="Cannato">{{cite book|last=Cannato|first=Vincent|title=The Ungovernable City|publisher=Basic Books|date=June 20, 2001|page=720|isbn=978-0465008438|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Upv5ezVPBOMC&q=The+Ungovernable+City}}</ref><ref name="Remembering">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/21/nyregion/metro-matters-remembering-a-mayor-faults-and-all.html|title=Metro Matters; Remembering A Mayor, Faults and All|last=Purnick|first=Joyce|author-link=Joyce Purnick| date=December 21, 2000|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|access-date=May 23, 2009}}</ref>

=== Labor issues ===
{{further|1966 New York City transit strike|New York City teachers' strike of 1968}}
[[File:Lindsaybehinddesk.jpg|thumb|upright|Lindsay speaking at City Hall in January 1966]]
On his first day as mayor, January 1, 1966, the [[Transport Workers Union of America]], led by [[Mike Quill]], shut down the city with a complete halt of subway and bus service. As New Yorkers endured the transit strike, Lindsay remarked, "I still think it's a fun city", and walked four miles (6&nbsp;km) from his hotel room to City Hall in a gesture to show it.<ref name="Schaap"/> [[Dick Schaap]], then a columnist for the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'', popularized the term in an article titled "Fun City".<ref name="Schaap">The Fun City, ''New York Herald Tribune'', January 7, 1966, pg. 13:</ref><ref name="FYI Fun">Schneider, Daniel B. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E5DF113FF930A35752C0A96F958260 F.Y.I.], ''[[New York Times]]'', January 3, 1999.</ref> In the article, Schaap sardonically pointed out that it was not.<ref name="Schaap"/><ref name="FYI Fun"/>

In 1966, the settlement terms of the transit strike, combined with increased welfare costs and general economic decline, forced Lindsay to lobby the New York State legislature for a new municipal [[income tax]] and higher water rates for city residents, plus a new [[commuter tax]] for people who worked in the city but resided elsewhere. The transit strike was the first of many labor struggles. In 1968, in an attempt to decentralize the city's school system, Lindsay granted three local school boards in the city complete control over their schools, in an effort to allow communities to have more of a say in their schools. The city's teachers union, the [[United Federation of Teachers]], saw the breakup as a way of [[union busting]], since a decentralized school system would force the union to negotiate with 33 separate school boards rather than with one centralized body. In May 1968, several teachers working in schools located in the neighborhood of [[Ocean Hill, Brooklyn|Ocean Hill]]-[[Brownsville, Brooklyn|Brownsville]], one of the neighborhoods where the decentralization was being tested, were fired from their jobs by the community-run school board. The UFT demanded the reinstatement of the dismissed teachers, citing that the teachers had been fired without [[due process]]. When their demands were ignored, the UFT called the first of three strikes, leading ultimately to a protracted citywide teachers' strike that stretched over a seven-month period between May and November.<ref>Stetson, Damon. [https://www.nytimes.com/1968/09/14/archives/a-most-unusual-strike-breadandbutter-issues-transcended-by.html A Most Unusual Strike; Bread-and-Butter Issues Transcended By Educational and Racial Concerns], ''[[New York Times]]'', September 14, 1968.</ref>

[[File:Anderson Ave garbage strike 1968 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Scene from the New York City sanitation strike, February 1968]]
The strike was tinged with racial and anti-Semitic overtones, pitting Black and Puerto Rican parents against Jewish teachers and supervisors.<ref name="retrospect" /> Many thought the mayor had made a bad situation worse by taking sides against the teachers.<ref name="retrospect">Carroll, Maurice. [https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FB061FFB3B5D127A93C3AA1789D95F478785F9 Lindsay in Retrospect], ''[[New York Times]]'', December 31, 1973, p. 7.</ref> The episode left a legacy of tensions between African-Americans and Jews that went on for years,<ref name="Obit" /> and Lindsay called it his greatest regret.<ref name="Obit" /> 1968 also saw a three-day Broadway strike and a nine-day [[sanitation]] strike.<ref name="GARBAGE STRIKE IS ENDED">{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FB0A14FE3F5F127A93C3A81789D85F4C8685F9|title=Garbage Strike Is Ended On Rockefeller's Terms; Men Back On Job|last=Stetson|first=Damon|date=February 11, 1968|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|page=1|access-date=May 19, 2009}}</ref> Quality of life in the city reached a nadir during the sanitation strike as mounds of [[Waste|garbage]] caught fire and strong winds blew the filth through the streets.<ref name="PERLMUTTER Garbage">{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FA0C1EF73B5C147493C7A91789D85F4C8685F9|title=Shots Are Fired In Refuse Strike; Filth Litters City - Shotgun Blasts Shatter 2 Panes at Home of Foreman Who Continues to Work - Mayor Tours Streets - Mounting Garbage Is 'Very Serious,' Lindsay Says - Pact Talks Due Today Garbage Piles Up in Streets as Strike Grows 'Very Serious'|last=Perlmutter|first=Emanuel|date=February 5, 1968|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|page=1|access-date=May 19, 2009}}</ref> In June 1968, the New York City Police Department deployed snipers to protect Lindsay during a public ceremony, shortly after they detained a knife-wielding man who had demanded to meet the mayor.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1968/06/12/archives/antisniper-police-protect-city-hall-lindsay-guard-tightenedman-with.html "Antisniper Police Protect City Hall; Lindsay Guard Tightened—Man With Knife Seized"], ''[[New York Times]]''. June 12, 1968, p. 1. Retrieved March 16, 2011.</ref> With the schools shut down, police engaged in a slowdown, firefighters threatening job actions, the city awash in garbage, and racial and religious tensions breaking to the surface, Lindsay later called the last six months of 1968 "the worst of my public life."<ref name="Obit" />

The summer of 1971 ushered in another devastating strike as over 8,000 workers belonging to [[AFSCME]] District Council 37 walked off their jobs for two days. The strikers included the operators of the city's [[drawbridge]]s and [[sewage treatment plant]]s. Drawbridges over the [[Harlem River]] were locked in the "up" position, barring automobile travel into Manhattan, and hundreds of thousands of gallons of raw sewage flowed into local waterways.

=== Racial and civil unrest ===
[[File:President Lyndon Baines Johnson and Mayor John Lindsay of New York City.jpg|thumb|Lindsay with U.S. President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] in the [[Oval Office]], August 1967]]
Lindsay served on the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the [[Kerner Commission]], and was its vice chairman. This body was appointed in 1967 by President Johnson after riots in urban centers of the US, including Newark and Detroit. Lindsay maximized publicity and coverage of his activities on the commission, and while other commissioners made inconspicuous visits to riot-damaged sites, Lindsay would alert the press before his fact-finding missions. Nonetheless, he was especially influential in producing the Kerner Report; its dramatic language of the nation "moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal" was consistent with his rhetoric.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QpbvsXCdtVIC&q=lindsay%20kerner%20commission&pg=PA78 |title=The News Media and Disorders: The Kerner Commission's Examination of Race|author=Hrach, Thomas J.|year=2008|isbn=9780549689546|access-date=July 17, 2013}}</ref>

President Johnson ignored the report and rejected the Kerner Commission's recommendations.<ref name=Risen09>{{cite book|last=Risen|first=Clay|title=A nation on fire : America in the wake of the King assassination|year=2009|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|location=Hoboken, N.J.|isbn=978-0-470-17710-5|chapter=King, Johnson, and The Terrible, Glorious Thirty-First Day of March|url=https://archive.org/details/nationonfireamer00rise}}</ref> In April 1968, one month after the release of the Kerner report, rioting broke out in [[King assassination riots|more than 100 cities]] following the [[assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.]]<ref>"'Our Nation Is Moving Toward Two Societies, One Black, One White—Separate and Unequal": Excerpts from the Kerner Report." History Matters. https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6545/</ref> However, in New York City, Lindsay traveled directly into [[Harlem]], telling Black residents that he regretted King's death and was working against poverty.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.prrac.org/parks-for-recreation-by-bryan-greene-april-june-2017-pr-issue/|title=Parks and Recreation: Harlem at a Crossroads in the Summer of '69|work=Poverty & Race|publisher=Poverty and Race Research Action Council|date=June 2017}}</ref> He is credited with averting riots in the city with this direct response, even as other major cities burned.<ref name=Risen2009ch4>{{cite book|last=Risen|first=Clay|title=A nation on fire: America in the wake of the King assassination|year=2009|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|location=Hoboken, NJ|isbn=978-0-470-17710-5|chapter=April 4: U and Fourteenth|url=https://archive.org/details/nationonfireamer00rise}}</ref><ref>[https://www.themorningnews.org/article/the-night-new-york-avoided-a-riot Online excerpt from Clay Risen 2009]</ref> David Garth, who accompanied Lindsay that night, recalled: "There was a wall of people coming across [[125th Street (Manhattan)|125th Street]], going from west to east&nbsp;... I thought we were dead. John raised his hands, said he was sorry. It was very quiet. My feeling was, his appearance there was very reassuring to people because it wasn't the first time they had seen him. He had gone there on a regular basis. That gave him credibility when it hit the fan."<ref>{{cite news|author=Purnick, Joyce |date=December 21, 2000 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/21/nyregion/metro-matters-remembering-a-mayor-faults-and-all.html |title=Remembering A Mayor, Faults and All|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|access-date=July 17, 2013}}</ref>

Lindsay showed his support for New York's African American community through his administration's sponsorship of the 1969 [[Harlem Cultural Festival]], which is documented in the 2021 music film ''[[Summer of Soul]]''. The host of the festival, Tony Lawrence, introduces the mayor to the Harlem crowd as "our blue-eyed soul brother".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://greenpleasantland.com|title=Parks and Recreation: Harlem at a Crossroads in the Summer of '69|author=Greene, Bryan|publisher=Poverty and Race Research Action Council|date=June 2017}}</ref>

=== Blizzard of 1969 ===
{{see also|February 1969 nor'easter}}
[[File:Miniskirts in snow storm.jpg|thumb|upright|A street in New York City during the 1969 storm. This scene is in [[Manhattan]].]]
On February 10, 1969, New York City was pummeled with {{convert|15|in|cm|0}} of snow. On the first day alone, 14 people died and 68 were injured.<ref>Fox, Sylvan (February 11, 1969). [https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F30C11F63E59147493C3A81789D85F4D8685F9 "A Paralyzed City Digs Out of Snow; 14 Dead, 68 Hurt"]. ''[[The New York Times]]'', p. 1.</ref> Within a day, the mayor was criticized for giving favored treatment to Manhattan at the expense of the other boroughs.<ref>Phalon, Richard (February 12, 1969). [https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F30C11F63E59147493C3A81789D85F4D8685F9 "Political Foes and Voters Score Lindsay on Cleanup"], ''[[The New York Times]]''. p. 1.</ref> Charges were made that a city worker solicited a bribe to clean streets in Queens.<ref>Brady, Thomas F. (February 16, 1969) [https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F50D1EF7395D137A93C4A81789D85F4D8685F9 "Bribery Charged in Snow Removal; City Driver Held"], ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref>

Over a week later, streets in eastern Queens still remained unplowed by the city, enraging the borough's residents, many who felt that the city's other boroughs always took a back seat to Manhattan.<ref>Stern, Michael (February 20, 1969). [https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F40614FD3959147493C2AB1789D85F4D8685F9 "Now Is the Winter of Discontent in Queens; Snow Mess Makes Baysiders Feel City Couldn't Care Less About Them"], ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref> Lindsay traveled to Queens, but his visit was not well received. His car could not make its way through [[Rego Park]], and even in a four-wheel-drive truck, he had trouble getting around.<ref name="NY Times 0902" /> In [[Kew Gardens Hills]], the mayor was booed; one woman screamed, "You should be ashamed of yourself."<ref name="NY Times 0902" /> In [[Fresh Meadows]], a woman told the mayor: "Get away, you bum."<ref name="NY Times 0902" /> Later during his walk through Fresh Meadows, another woman called him "a wonderful man," prompting the mayor to respond: "And you're a wonderful woman, not like those fat Jewish broads up there," pointing to women in a nearby building who had criticized him.<ref name="NY Times 0902">{{cite news|url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/remembering-a-snowstorm-that-paralyzed-the-city/ |title=Remembering a Snowstorm That Paralyzed the City|last=Chan|first=Sewell|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=March 18, 2009|date=February 10, 2009}}</ref>

The blizzard, dubbed the "Lindsay Snowstorm",<ref name="MORITZ">{{cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/1998/10/22/1998-10-22_winter_of_discontent_lindsay.html |title=Winter of Discontent Lindsay's Snowstorm, 1969 |last=Moritz |first=Owen |date=October 22, 1998 |newspaper=[[Daily News (New York)|Daily News]] |location=New York |access-date=June 9, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230231446/http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/1998/10/22/1998-10-22_winter_of_discontent_lindsay.html |archive-date=December 30, 2010 }}</ref> prompted a political crisis that became "legendary in the annals of municipal politics",<ref name="NY Times 0902"/> as the scenes conveyed a message that the mayor of New York City was indifferent to the middle class and poor citizens of the city.<ref name="Obit" />

=== Reelection ===
[[File:Demonstration Against Anti-Ballistic Missile System, Madison Square Garden, New York, New York. Jun 25, 1969 Slide 75.png|thumb|upright|Lindsay speaking at an anti-[[Safeguard Program]] rally in [[Madison Square Garden]], June 25, 1969]]
In 1969, a backlash against Lindsay caused him to lose the Republican mayoral [[Partisan primary|primary]] to [[New York State Senate|state Senator]] [[John J. Marchi|John Marchi]], who was enthusiastically supported by William F. Buckley and the rest of the party's conservative wing. In the Democratic primary, the most conservative candidate, City Comptroller [[Mario Procaccino]], defeated several more liberal contenders and won the nomination with only a [[Plurality (voting)|plurality]] of the votes. He quipped, "The more the Mario."<ref>{{cite magazine|title=The More the Mario|last=Pileggi|first=Nicholas|date=April 14, 1969|magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vdt2As2SaF4C&q=%22the+more+the+mario%22page%3D34&pg=PA34}}</ref> Procaccino, who ran to Lindsay's right, went on to coin the term "[[limousine liberal]]" to describe Lindsay and his wealthy [[Manhattan]] backers. Despite losing the Republican nomination, Lindsay remained on the ballot as the candidate of the [[New York Liberal Party]]. In his campaign he said "mistakes were made" and called being mayor of New York City "the second toughest job in America."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive |title=Campaign|last=Dougherty|first=Philip|date=November 11, 1969|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|page=73|access-date=September 19, 2008}}</ref><ref>Lindsay was not the first to refer to the office in this way; see the list of references in Popik, Barry. [https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/second_toughest_job_in_america_nyc_mayor/ {{"'}}Second toughest job in America' (NYC mayor)"] ''The Big Apple'' (December 31, 2007)</ref>

Two television advertisements described his position: In one he looked directly into the camera and said, "I guessed wrong on the weather before the city's biggest snowfall last winter. And that was a mistake. But I put 6,000 more cops on the streets. And that was no mistake. The school strike went on too long and we all made some mistakes. But I brought 225,000 more jobs to this town. And that was no mistake... And we did not have a Detroit, a [[Watts Riots|Watts]] or [[1967 Newark riots|Newark]]. And those were no mistakes. The things that go wrong are what make this the second toughest job in America. But the things that go right are those things that make me want it." The second opened with a drive through the [[Holland Tunnel]] from lower Manhattan toward [[New Jersey]] and suggested, "Every New Yorker should take this trip at least once before election day", followed by video of Newark, New Jersey which had been devastated by race riots.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thirteen.org/lindsay/video/sample-3/|title=1969 Campaign Commercials from WNET-TV13|year=2011|publisher=PBS station Thirteen|website=Thirteen.org|access-date=June 16, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230621054245/https://www.thirteen.org/lindsay/video/sample-3/|archive-date=2023-06-21|url-status=dead}}</ref>

While narrowly losing [[Brooklyn]] and [[the Bronx]] due to Procaccino's ongoing support among ethnic, working class whites (with Marchi winning his native [[Staten Island]]), Lindsay won the election with support from three distinct groups.<ref name="lizzi" /> First were the city's minorities, mostly African Americans and Puerto Ricans, who were concentrated in [[Harlem]], the [[South Bronx]] and various Brooklyn neighborhoods, including [[Bedford-Stuyvesant]] and [[Brownsville, Brooklyn|Brownsville]].<ref name="lizzi" /><ref name="KIHSS" /> Second were the white and economically secure residents of certain areas of Manhattan.<ref name="lizzi" /><ref name="KIHSS" /> Third were the whites in the boroughs outside Manhattan who had a similar educational background and "cosmopolitan" attitude, namely residents of solidly middle-class neighborhoods, including [[Forest Hills, Queens|Forest Hills]] and [[Kew Gardens, Queens|Kew Gardens]] in [[Queens]] and [[Brooklyn Heights]] in Brooklyn.<ref name="lizzi" /> This third category included many traditionally Democratic Jewish Americans who disagreed with Procaccino's conservatism. This created a plurality coalition (42%) in Lindsay's second three-way race. His margin of victory rose from just over 100,000 more votes than his Democratic opponent in 1965 to over 180,000 votes over Procaccino in 1969, despite appearing on just one [[Third party (United States)|third party]] ballot line (see [[New York City Mayoral Elections]]).<ref name="lizzi">{{cite journal|last=Lizzi|first=Maria C.|date=September 18, 2008|title='My Heart Is as Black as Yours': White Backlash, Racial Identity, and Italian American Stereotypes in New York City's 1969 Mayoral Campaign|journal=Journal of American Ethnic History|volume=27|issue=3|pages=43–80 |doi=10.2307/27501836 |jstor=27501836 |s2cid=254485538 |url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jaeh/27.3/lizzi.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202085609/http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jaeh/27.3/lizzi.html|archive-date=December 2, 2008|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=KIHSS>Kihss, Peter [https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F60816FA3E591A7493C4A9178AD95F4D8685F9 Poor and Rich, Not Middle-Class, The Key to Lindsay Re-Election] November 6, 1969.</ref>

=== Hard Hat Riot ===
{{main|Hard Hat Riot}}
[[File:John Lindsay NYWTS 2.jpg|thumb|upright|Lindsay speaking at a senior citizens rally in October 1965]]
On May 8, 1970, near the intersection of [[Wall Street]] and [[Broad Street (Manhattan)|Broad Street]] and at [[New York City Hall]], a riot started when about 200 [[construction worker]]s mobilized by the New York State [[AFL–CIO]] labor federation attacked about 1,000 high school and college students and others [[Student Strike of 1970|protesting]] the [[Kent State shootings]], the [[Cambodian Campaign]], and the [[Vietnam War]]. Some attorneys, bankers, and investment analysts from nearby Wall Street investment firms tried to protect many of the students but were themselves attacked, and some onlookers reported that the police stood by and did nothing. Although more than 70 people were injured, including four policemen, only six people were arrested.<ref name="Foner">Foner, ''U.S. Labor and the Vietnam War'', 1989.</ref><ref name="Mcfadden">{{cite news|author=Robert D. McFadden|author-link=Robert D. McFadden|title=Peter Brennan, 78, Union Head and Nixon's Labor Chief|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/04/nyregion/peter-brennan-78-union-head-and-nixon-s-labor-chief.html?pagewanted=1|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=October 4, 1996|access-date=March 17, 2010}}</ref><ref>Fink, ''Biographical Dictionary of American Labor'', 1984.</ref> The following day, Lindsay severely criticized the police for their lack of action.<ref>Carroll, Maurice. [https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10A15FB3D5417768FDDA90994DD405B808BF1D3 "Police Assailed by Mayor On Laxity at Peace Rally"]. ''[[The New York Times]]'', May 10, 1970, p. 1.</ref>

Police Department labor leaders later accused Lindsay of "undermining the confidence of the public in its Police Department" by his statements,<ref>David Burnham, [https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FB0C17FD395910728DDDAB0994DD405B808BF1D3 "5 Police Groups Rebut Critical Mayor"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', May 12, 1970, p. 18.</ref> and blamed the inaction on inadequate preparations and "inconsistent directives" in the past from the mayor's office.<ref>Kaufman, Michael T. [https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10F12FF3F5D137B93C3A8178ED85F448785F9 "P.B.A. Blames City In Reply To Mayor On Laxity Charge; City Hall Directive Called 'Inconsistent' as Guide in Attack by Workers"], May 11, 1970, p. 1.</ref> Several thousand construction workers, longshoremen and white-collar workers protested against the mayor on May 11 and again on May 16. Protesters called Lindsay "the red mayor", "traitor", "Commie rat", and "bum". The mayor described the mood of the city as "taut".<ref>{{cite news |author=Homer Bigart |author-link=Homer Bigart |title=Thousands Assail Lindsay In 2d Protest by Workers; Thousands Assail Lindsay at City Hall |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/05/12/archives/thousands-assail-lindsay-in-2d-protest-by-workers-thousands-assail.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 12, 1970 |access-date=March 17, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Homer Bigart |author-link=Homer Bigart |title=Thousands in City March To Assail Lindsay on War |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/05/16/archives/thousands-in-city-march-to-assail-lindsay-on-war.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 16, 1970|access-date=March 17, 2010}}</ref>

=== Police corruption ===
In 1970, ''The New York Times'' printed [[New York City Police Department]] Patrolman [[Frank Serpico]]'s claims of widespread [[police corruption]]. As a result, the [[Knapp Commission]] was eventually formed that April by Lindsay, with investigations beginning in June, although public hearings did not start until October 18, 1971. Its preliminary report was not issued until August 1972, and final recommendations only released on December 27, 1972. Because of his forming of the Knapp Commission, many NYPD officers disliked him and did not want him to attend their funerals in case they died on duty and heckled, hissed, jeered and booed him when he did appear. The wife of Rocco Laurie stated that she did not want Lindsay to attend her husband's funeral that year. Laurie was one of two city police officers who were murdered by then-domestic terrorist group [[Black Liberation Army]] in 1972.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Conlon |first1=Edward |title=The War at Home: Remembering Foster and Laurie |url=https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/news/f0719/the-war-home-remembering-foster-laurie#/0 |website=nyc.gov |date=July 19, 2018 |access-date=June 8, 2025}}</ref>

== Party switch and presidential campaign ==
{{see also|1972 Democratic Party presidential primaries}}
Lindsay was mentioned as a Republican vice presidential possibility in 1968, but was found to be unacceptable by Southern conservatives, and [[Spiro Agnew]] was nominated instead. Lindsay’s original break with the Republican Party began immediately after he failed to win the 1969 Republican mayoral primary, and his subsequent association with the New York Liberal Party for that election. In 1971, Lindsay and his wife cut ties with the Republican Party by registering with the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. Lindsay said, "In a sense, this step recognizes the failure of 20 years in progressive Republican politics. In another sense, it represents the renewed decision to fight for new national leadership."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1971/12295509436546-1/#title |title=1971 Year in Review |publisher=Upi.com |date=December 28, 1971 |access-date=July 17, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503142809/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1971/12295509436546-1/ |archive-date=May 3, 2009 }}</ref> 

Lindsay then launched a brief and unsuccessful bid for the [[1972 United States presidential election#Democratic Party nomination|1972 Democratic presidential nomination]]. He attracted positive media attention and was a successful fundraiser. Lindsay did well in the early [[Arizona]] [[caucus]], coming in second place<ref>Apple, R.W. [https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F60F11FD3B591A7493C3AA178AD85F468785F9 Muskie Wins Arizona Vote As Lindsay Places Second], ''[[New York Times]]'', January 31, 1972, p. 1.</ref> behind [[Edmund Muskie]] of [[Maine]] and ahead of eventual nominee [[George McGovern]] of [[South Dakota]]. Then in the March 14 Florida primary, he placed a weak fifth place, behind [[George Wallace]] of [[Alabama]], Muskie, [[Hubert Humphrey]] of [[Minnesota]], and [[Henry M. Jackson|Scoop Jackson]] of [[Washington (state)|Washington]] (though he did edge out McGovern).<ref name="NYT March15">{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F50615F63F591A7493C7A81788D85F468785F9|title=Nixon Margin Big; Governor Captures 75 of 81 Delegates in Dramatic Victory Wallace Gets 42%|last=Waldron|first=Martin|date=March 15, 1972|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|page=1|access-date=March 17, 2009}}</ref> Among his difficulties was New York City's worsening problems, which Lindsay was accused of neglecting; a band of protesters from [[Forest Hills, Queens]], who were opposed to his support for a low income housing project in their neighborhood, followed Lindsay around his aborted campaign itinerary to jeer and heckle him.<ref>[https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F70D14FF3A5C1A7493CAAB1789D95F458785F9 'Lindsay 72' Base Closed To Press; Mayor's Supporters Work Behind Locked Doors], ''[[New York Times]]'', December 28, 1971.</ref><ref>Lynn, Frank. [https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FA0B15FF3F591A7493C4A81789D85F468785F9 Lindsay Attacks Nixon Over Crime - Asserts He Is 'Soft' on Law Enforcement – Mayor Is Heckled in Miami Beach], ''[[New York Times]]'', February 16, 1972.</ref> 

His poor showing in Florida effectively doomed his candidacy, which ended after a poor showing in the April 5 [[Wisconsin]] primary prompted Lindsay to formally abandon the race. Shortly after his poor showing in Florida, influential Brooklyn Democratic Party chairman [[Meade Esposito]] called for Lindsay to end his campaign by stating, "I think the handwriting is on the wall; [[Come Back, Little Sheba (play)|Little Sheba]] better come home."<ref>Lynn, Frank. [https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10E13FD3A5C1A7493CAAB1788D85F468785F9 Esposito Advises Mayor to Quit Race], ''[[New York Times]]'', March 28, 1972, p. 1.</ref>

== Later life and death ==
[[File:John V. Lindsay (NY).png|thumb|upright|Lindsay in his later years]]
After leaving office, Lindsay returned to the law, but remained in the public eye as a commentator and regular guest host for ABC's ''[[Good Morning America]]''. In 1975, Lindsay made a surprise appearance on ''[[The Tony Awards]]'' telecast in which he, along with a troupe of celebrity male suitors in tuxedos, sang "[[Mame (musical)|Mame]]" to [[Angela Lansbury]]. He presented the award for [[Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play|Best Director Of A Play]] to [[John Dexter]] for the play ''[[Equus (play)|Equus]]''. Lindsay also tried his hand at acting, appearing in [[Otto Preminger]]'s ''[[Rosebud (1975 film)|Rosebud]]'';<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0512245/bio|title = John V. Lindsay|website = [[IMDb]]}}</ref> the following year his novel, ''The Edge'', was published (Lindsay had earlier authored two non-fiction memoirs): ''[[The New York Times]]'', in its contemporary review of the novel, said it was "as dead-serious as a $100-a-plate dinner of gray meat and frozen candidates' smiles."<ref>{{cite news|title=New York Today: The Ex-Mayors|url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/category/new-york-today/|access-date=October 17, 2013|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|date=October 17, 2013|author=Andy Newman|author2=Sam Roberts|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005060334/http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/category/new-york-today/|archive-date=October 5, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Attempting a political comeback in 1980, Lindsay made a long-shot bid for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator from New York, and finished third. He was also active in New York City charities, serving on the board of the [[Association for a Better New York]], and as chairman of the [[Lincoln Center Theater]]. On his death, ''[[The New York Times]]'' credited Lindsay with a significant role in the rejuvenation of the theatre.<ref name = Obit/>

Medical bills from his [[Parkinson's disease]], heart attacks, and stroke depleted Lindsay's finances, as did the collapse of two law firms where he worked, and he found himself without health insurance. Lindsay's eight years of service as mayor left him seven years short of qualifying for a city pension. In 1996, with support from City Council Speaker [[Peter Vallone]], Mayor [[Rudy Giuliani|Rudolph W. Giuliani]] appointed Lindsay to two largely [[sinecure|ceremonial posts]] to make him eligible for municipal health insurance coverage.<ref>Van Gelder, Lawrence. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9803E4D61739F930A35756C0A960958260&scp=1&sq=lindsay+giuliani+lawyer&st=nyt Ailing Lindsay Is Given Posts To Get City Health Insurance], ''[[New York Times]]'', May 3, 1996.</ref> He and his wife, Mary, moved to a retirement community in [[Hilton Head Island, South Carolina|Hilton Head Island]], South Carolina, in November 1999, where he died on December 19, 2000, at the age of 79 of complications from [[pneumonia]] and Parkinson's disease.<ref name="Obit" />

In 2000, Yale Law School created a fellowship program named in Lindsay's honor. In 1998, a park in Brooklyn, Lindsay Triangle, was named in his honor,<ref>[https://forgotten-ny.com/2014/01/lindsay-triangle-williamsburg/#comment-154952 Lindsay Triangle, Williamsburg], ''Forgotten-NY'', January 2, 2014.</ref> and in 2001, the [[East River Park]] was renamed in his memory.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nyc.gov/html/om/html/2001b/pr389-01.html |title=Mayor Giuliani Signs Bill Renaming Manhattan's East River Park John V. Lindsay/East River Park |website=Nyc.gov |access-date=July 17, 2013}}</ref> In December 2013, South Loop Drive in Manhattan's [[Central Park]] was renamed after Lindsay, to commemorate his support for a car-free Central Park.<ref>Roberts, Sam. [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/17/nyregion/for-lindsay-a-rare-monument-to-a-new-york-mayor.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0 For Lindsay, a Rare Monument to a New York Mayor], ''[[New York Times]]'', December 16, 2013, p. A25.</ref>

== Legacy ==
[[File:John Lindsay NYWTS 3.jpg|thumb|upright|Lindsay at the first [[public hearing]] on proposed executive capital budget in February 1966]]
[[Mario Cuomo]], [[Carl McCall]], and [[Carter F. Bales]] were among the many people who started their careers in public service in the Lindsay administration.<ref name=nymag>{{cite news|url=https://nymag.com/news/features/greatest-new-york/70474/|date=January 9, 2011|magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|title=How Would Dinkins Have Done, Had He Come After Giuliani?}}</ref> [[Al Sharpton]] said that he still remembered Lindsay having walked the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Harlem when these neighborhoods were doing poorly economically.<ref name=nymag /> Lindsay also fought to transform the [[New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board]] from an internal police-run department, into a public-minded agency with a citizen majority board.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Barkan|first1=Ross|title=Too Tall to be Mayor? The Shadow of John Lindsay Bill de Blasio Can't Acknowledge|url=http://observer.com/2015/01/too-tall-to-be-mayor-a-long-shadow-of-john-lindsay-bill-de-blasio-wont-acknowledge/|access-date=November 25, 2016|work=[[New York Observer]]|date=January 12, 2015}}</ref>

In a 1972 Gallup poll, 60% of New Yorkers felt Lindsay's administration was working poorly, nine percent rated it good, and not one person thought its performance excellent.<ref>{{cite news|author=Jeff Greenfield|author-link=Jeff Greenfield|title=3 Hail and farewell; Reading John Lindsay's face Lindsay |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1973/07/29/404916231.pdf|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|date=July 29, 1973 |access-date=March 17, 2010 }}</ref> By 1978, ''[[The New York Times]]'' called Lindsay "an exile in his own city".<ref name="exile">{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F00710FB385A13728DDDA10894D9405B888BF1D3|title=An Exile In His Own City; Lindsay|last=Stein|first=Howard|date=January 8, 1978|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|pages=New York Times Magazine, p. SM3|access-date=May 19, 2009}}</ref> A 1993 survey of historians, political scientists and urban experts conducted by Melvin G. Holli of the [[University of Illinois at Chicago]] ranked Lindsay as the sixteenth-worst American big-city mayor to have served between the years 1820 and 1993.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Holli | first = Melvin G. | title = The American Mayor | publisher = PSU Press | year = 1999 | location = University Park | url = https://archive.org/details/americanmayorbes0000holl | isbn = 0-271-01876-3 }}</ref>

Lindsay's record remained controversial after he left politics. Conservative historian [[Fred Siegel]], calling Lindsay the worst New York City mayor of the 20th century, said, "Lindsay wasn't incompetent or foolish or corrupt, but he was actively destructive."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/15/nyregion/the-big-city-the-greatest-give-mayor-a-mirror.html|title=The Big City; The Greatest? Give Mayor A Mirror|author=John Tierney|author-link=John Tierney (journalist)|date=January 15, 2000|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|access-date=June 8, 2009}}</ref> Journalist Steven Weisman observed that "Lindsay's congressional career had taught him little of the need for subtle bureaucratic maneuvering, for understanding an opponent's self-interest, or for the great patience required in a sprawling government."<ref>{{cite news|title=Why Lindsay Failed as Mayor|last=Weisman|first=Steven R.|date=April 1972|work=The Washington Monthly|page=50}}</ref>

Lindsay's budget aide [[Peter C. Goldmark, Jr.]] told historian Vincent Cannato that the administration "failed to come to grips with what a neighborhood is. We never realized that crime is something that happens to, and in, a community." Assistant Nancy Seifer said, "There was a whole world out there that nobody in City Hall knew anything about ... If you didn't live on [[Central Park West]], you were some kind of lesser being."<ref>Cannato, p. 391.</ref> Many experts traced the city's mid-1970s fiscal crisis to the Lindsay years.<ref name="Obit"/> An alternate assessment was made by journalist Robert McFadden who said, "By 1973, his last year in office, Mr. Lindsay had become a more seasoned, pragmatic mayor."<ref name="Obit" /> McFadden also credited him for reducing racial tensions, leading to the prevention of riots that plagued Detroit, Los Angeles, Newark and other cities.<ref name="Obit" />

== See also ==
* [[List of American politicians who switched parties in office]]
* [[List of mayors of New York City]]
* [[Timeline of New York City#1950s–1970s|Timeline of New York City]], 1960s–1970s

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
* Buckley, William F. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=3Us8AAAAIAAJ The Unmaking of a Mayor]''. New York: Viking Press, 1966.
* Button, Daniel E. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=mxxCAAAAIAAJ Lindsay: A Man For Tomorrow].'' New York: Random House, 1965.
* Cannato, Vincent J. The Ungovernable City: John Lindsay and His Struggle to Save New York. New York: Basic Books, 2002.
* Carter, Barbara. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=zxxCAAAAIAAJ The Road to City Hall: How John V. Lindsay Became Mayor].'' Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1967.
* Citron, Casper. John V. Lindsay and the Silk Stocking Story. New York: Fleet Publishing Corp., 1965.
* Gottehrer, Barry. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=D8RWAAAACAAJ The Mayor's Man.]'' Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1975.
* Hentoff, Nat. ''[https://archive.org/details/politicallifeedu00hent A Political Life: The Education of John V. Lindsay.]'' New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969.
* John C. Walker, ''The Harlem Fox: [[J. Raymond Jones]] and Tammany, 1920–1970'', New York: State University New York Press, 1989.
* Klein, Woody. ''[https://archive.org/details/lindsayspromised00klei Lindsay's Promise: The Dream That Failed; A Personal Account.]'' New York: Macmillan, 1970.
* Lindsay, John Vliet ''[https://archive.org/details/journeyintopolit00lind Journey into politics]'' Dodd, Mead, 1967
* Lindsay, John Vliet ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=QVKEHQAACAAJ The City]'' New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1970.
* Lindsay, John Vliet ''[https://archive.org/details/edge00lind The Edge]'' New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1976.

== External links ==
{{commons category}}
* [http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.0592 John Vliet Lindsay papers (MS 592)]. Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. 
{{CongBio|L000326}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071012003808/http://nyc.gov/html/nyc100/html/classroom/hist_info/mayors.html#lindsay John Vliet Lindsay] at [https://www.nyc.gov nyc.gov]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160627150707/http://www.wnyc.org/shows/mayor-john-lindsay The Mayor John Lindsay Collection] at [https://www.wnyc.org/archives The WNYC Archives]
* [http://city-journal.org/2010/bc0610fs.html John Lindsay's Bright, Shining Failure, ''City Journal'' online, October 6, 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616162146/http://www.city-journal.org/2010/bc0610fs.html |date=June 16, 2010 }}
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5229/is_2003/ai_n19148184/?tag=content;col1 John Vliet Lindsay] UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography
* [http://www.canopycanopycanopy.com/6/he_is_fresh_and_everyone_else_is_tired Triple Canopy]
* {{Find a Grave|6628761}}
* [http://www.laguardiawagnerarchive.lagcc.cuny.edu/COLLECTIONS.aspx?ViwType=1&ColID=10 La Guardia and Wagner Archives/The Lindsay Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130129165427/http://www.laguardiawagnerarchive.lagcc.cuny.edu/COLLECTIONS.aspx?ViwType=1&ColID=10 |date=January 29, 2013 }}
* {{C-SPAN|1668}}

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{{United States presidential election, 1972}}
{{United States presidential election, 1968}}
{{Mayors of New York City}}
{{Republican NYC mayoral nominees}}
{{Special Tony Award}}

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