View source for Robert F. Wagner Jr.

{{Short description|American diplomat and politician (1910–1991)}}
{{other people|Robert Wagner}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| birthname           = Robert Ferdinand Wagner II
| image               = Robert Wagner, Mayor, NYC Crop.jpg
| imagesize           = 
| caption             = Wagner {{circa}} 1970
| office              = [[United States Ambassador to the Holy See|Personal Representative of the President to the Holy See]]
| president           = [[Jimmy Carter]]
| term_start          = November 28, 1978
| term_end            = January 16, 1981
| predecessor         = [[David M. Walters]]
| successor           = [[William A. Wilson (diplomat)|William A. Wilson]]
| order1              = 
| title1              = 52nd [[United States Ambassador to Spain]]
| term_start1         = June 24, 1968
| term_end1           = March 7, 1969
| president1          = [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]<br>[[Richard Nixon]]
| predecessor1        = [[Angier Biddle Duke]]
| successor1          = [[Robert C. Hill]]
| order2              = 102nd [[Mayor of New York City]]
| term_start2         = January 1, 1954
| term_end2           = December 31, 1965
| predecessor2        = [[Vincent R. Impellitteri]]
| successor2          = [[John Lindsay]]
| order3              = 14th
| title3              = [[President of the United States Conference of Mayors]]
| term_start3         = 1957
| term_end3           = 1958
| predecessor3        = [[John Hynes (politician)|John Hynes]]
| successor3          = [[Norris Poulson]]
| order4 = 28th
| title4              = [[President of the National League of Cities]]
| term_start4         = 1955
| term_end4           = 1956
| predecessor4        = [[Allen C. Thompson]]
| successor4          = [[Ben West]]
| title5              = 17th [[Borough President]] of [[Manhattan]]
| term_start5         = January 1, 1950
| term_end5           = December 31, 1953
| predecessor5        = [[Hugo Rogers]]
| successor5          = [[Hulan Jack]]
| state_assembly6     = New York
| district6           = 16th [[New York County|New York]]
| term_start6         = January 1, 1938
| term_end6           = January 13, 1942
| preceded6           = William Schwartz
| succeeded6          = [[John P. Morrissey (politician)|John P. Morrissey]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1910|4|20}}
| birth_place         = [[New York City]], U.S.<!-- The format is City, State, Country, excluding boroughs or neighborhoods. -->
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1991|2|12|1910|4|20}}
| death_place         = New York City, U.S.<!-- The format is City, State, Country, excluding boroughs or neighborhoods. -->
| constituency        = 
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse              = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Susan Edwards|1942|1964|end = died}}
* {{marriage|Barbara Cavanagh|1965|1971|end = divorced}}
* {{marriage|[[Phyllis Fraser]]| 1975}}
}}
| profession          = 
| children            = 2, including [[Robert F. Wagner Jr. (deputy mayor)|Robert III]]
| footnotes           = 
| relatives           = [[Robert F. Wagner]] (father)
|allegiance={{flag|United States}}
|branch={{army|United States}}
|serviceyears=1942-1945
|battles=[[World War II]]
|unit=[[United States Army Air Corps]]
}}

'''Robert Ferdinand Wagner II''' (April 20, 1910 – February 12, 1991) was an American diplomat and politician who served three terms as the [[mayor of New York City]] from 1954 through 1965. When running for his third term, he broke with the [[Tammany Hall]] leadership, ending the clubhouse's reign in city politics. He also served as [[United States Ambassador to Spain]] and in a number of other offices.

==Early life and career==
[[File:Robt. F. Wagner & son LCCN2014718800.jpg|thumb|left|Wagner with his father, 1925]]
Wagner was born in [[Yorkville, Manhattan|Yorkville]], [[Manhattan]], the son of Margaret Marie (McTague) and German-born [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] [[Robert Ferdinand Wagner]]. He attended [[Taft School]] and graduated from [[Yale University]] in 1933, where he was on the business staff of campus humor magazine ''[[The Yale Record]]'' and became a member of [[Scroll and Key]] (as was [[John Lindsay]], his successor as mayor).  He attended [[Harvard Business School]] and the [[Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies|Graduate School of International Studies]] in [[Geneva]]. He graduated from [[Yale Law School]] in 1937.<ref name="obit" />

Wagner was a member of the [[New York State Assembly]] (New York Co., 16th D.) in [[161st New York State Legislature|1938]], [[162nd New York State Legislature|1939–40]] and [[163rd New York State Legislature|1941–42]]. He resigned his seat on January 13, 1942, and joined the [[United States Army Air Corps|Army Air Corps]] to fight in [[World War II]], where he served as an [[intelligence officer]].<ref name=":0" /> Wagner held the rank of lieutenant colonel with the [[XIX Tactical Air Command|19th Tactical Air Command]] and was awarded a [[Bronze Star Medal]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/148208199?objectPage=746 |title=Air Force Award Cards (Bronze Star): Trace, Clyde - Watzig, Francis |date=May 20, 1945 |publisher=U.S. National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=March 30, 2024}}</ref> After the war, he served as City Tax Commissioner, Commissioner of Housing and Buildings, and Chairman of the City Planning Commission. He was [[Borough President]] of Manhattan from 1950 to 1953. He also served as delegate to numerous Democratic conventions, and was the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1956.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Backes|first=Aaron D.|date=2021-01-10|title=Robert F. Wagner Jr. - History Of New York City Mayors|url=https://classicnewyorkhistory.com/robert-f-wagner-jr-history-of-new-york-city-mayors/|access-date=2022-02-09|website=ClassicNewYorkHistory.com|language=en-us}}</ref>

==Mayor==
Although [[New York City Comptroller]] [[Lazarus Joseph]] usually sided in the [[New York City Board of Estimate]] with Mayor [[Vincent R. Impellitteri]] during the latter's term in office, Joseph supported Wagner for the Democratic nomination for mayor in the 1953 primary election, calling Wagner a "sure winner".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1953/09/10/84055150.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0|title = JOSEPH TO SUPPORT WAGNER IN PRIMARY AS A 'SURE' WINNER; Controller Says Impellitteri Could Not Carry the City in General Election MAYOR VOICES CONFIDENCE Halley Accepts Bid to Talks on Balking Vote Frauds but Blaikie Rejects It JOSEPH TO SUPPORT WAGNER IN VOTING|first=Leo|last=Egan|newspaper=The New York Times|date= September 10, 1953}}</ref>

His nomination and [[New York City mayoral elections#1953|election as New York City mayor in 1953]] caused a rift in the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]], and instigated a long-standing feud between [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] and [[Carmine DeSapio]], Boss of [[Tammany Hall]].  Roosevelt was a Wagner supporter, and DeSapio offered only reluctant support to Wagner until 1961, when Wagner ran for a third term on an anti-Tammany platform, which eventually helped end DeSapio's leadership.

During Wagner's tenure as New York City's mayor, he built public housing and schools, created the [[City University of New York]] system, established the right of collective bargaining for city employees, and barred housing discrimination based on race, creed, or color. He was the first mayor to hire significant numbers of people of color in city government. His administration also saw the development of [[Lincoln Center]] and brought [[New York Shakespeare Festival|Shakespeare to Central Park]]. In the fall of 1957, after the [[Los Angeles Dodgers|Dodgers]] and [[San Francisco Giants|Giants]] left New York City, he appointed a commission to determine whether New York City could host another National League baseball team, eventually leading to the [[New York Mets|Mets]] franchise being awarded to New York City.<ref name=":0" />

During his years in office, the city experienced the visit of a number of notables from around the world. In January 1957, President Eisenhower invited King [[Saud of Saudi Arabia]] to the United States to discuss strategies for resolving the Suez crisis. Wagner refused Eisenhower's request of a ticker-tape parade for the King and even refused to greet him formally, stating that the Muslim ruler was anti-Jewish and anti-Catholic, which was judged by some observers as "a crude appeal to the prejudices of the hyphenated voters"..<ref>* Bailey, Thomas A. (1980). ''A Diplomatic History of the American People'', Prentice-Hall, Inc. {{ISBN|0-13-214726-2}}, pp. 5.</ref> He did greet [[Queen Elizabeth II]] later in 1957. He also rearranged his schedule to meet with the [[Little Rock Nine]] and give them a tour of [[New York City Hall]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Little Rock Nine|url=https://hotelworkers.org/about/history/the-little-rock-nine|access-date=2021-02-03|website=hotelworkers.org|language=en-US}}</ref>

In [[1956 United States Senate election in New York|1956]], Wagner ran on the Democratic and Liberal tickets for [[U.S. Senator from New York]], but was defeated by Republican [[Jacob K. Javits]].<ref name=":0" /> In 1957 and 1958, Wagner served as president of the [[United States Conference of Mayors]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usmayors.org/the-conference/leadership/ |title=Leadership |date=November 23, 2016 |access-date=July 24, 2020 |publisher=The United States Conference of Mayors}}</ref>

[[File:President John F. Kennedy Meets with Planning Group for "New York's Birthday Salute to the President" JFKWHP-KN-C20810.jpg|thumb|left|Wagner meets with president [[John F. Kennedy]] in the [[Oval Office]], 1962]]

Like his father, Wagner was aligned with Tammany Hall for much of his career. However, when he sought a third term in 1961, Wagner broke with DeSapio and won the Democratic primary anyway, beginning the decline of [[Political machine|machine politics]] in New York City.<ref name=":0" />

By the early 1960s, Wagner became concerned about the image of New York City in preparation for the [[1964 World's Fair]] and began a controversial campaign to rid New York City of [[gay bar]]s. The city revoked the bars' liquor licenses and used undercover police officers to [[entrapment|entrap]] as many homosexual men as possible.<ref>* Carter, David (2004). ''Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution'', St. Martin's Press. {{ISBN|0-312-34269-1}}, pp. 29–37.</ref>

In February 1962, Wagner quit the [[New York Athletic Club]] because it barred African Americans and Jews from becoming members.<ref>{{cite web|last=Hunt|first=Richard P.|date=February 10, 1962|title=Mayor Quits Club Over Bias Charge; He Notes Allegations That the New York A.C. Bars Negroes and Jews Accused by 2 Groups Wagner Quits New York A.C. After Hearing Charge of Bias Rules on Entry Attorney General Quit|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=990CEED71431E53ABC4852DFB4668389679EDE|access-date=November 30, 2015|work=The New York Times}}</ref>

The New York Preservation Archive Project described Wagner's contribution to preservation as "complex". While he saved [[Carnegie Hall]] from demolition in 1960, he was also mayor at the time of the controversial demolition of the original [[Pennsylvania Station (1910–1963)|Penn Station]], which began on October 28, 1963. In 1965, he signed the law that created the [[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Robert F. Wagner, Jr. {{!}}|url=https://www.nypap.org/preservation-history/robert-f-wagner-jr/|access-date=2022-02-09|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1965, Wagner decided not to run for a fourth term as mayor. Four years later, however, he ran for mayor again, but lost the Democratic primary. In 1973, he talked with the city's five Republican county chairmen about running for Mayor as a Republican, but these negotiations collapsed.<ref name=obit/>

A 1993 survey of historians, political scientists, and urban experts conducted by Melvin G. Holli of the [[University of Illinois at Chicago]] ranked Wagner as the seventeenth-best 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>

==Ambassador==
After deciding not to run for a fourth term in 1965, Wagner served as [[United States Ambassador to Spain|ambassador to Spain]] from June 1968 to March 1969. In that year, he decided to run for a fourth term but was soundly beaten by [[Mario Procaccino]] in the Democratic primary. He also made a brief run four years later, but withdrew before the primary took place. In 1978 he was appointed by [[Jimmy Carter]] to be his representative to the [[Holy See|Vatican]], where the College of Cardinals had recently elected [[John Paul II]].<ref name=":0" />

==Personal life==
Wagner was a Roman Catholic.<ref name=":0" />

Wagner's first wife was Susan Edwards, by whom he had two sons, [[Robert F. Wagner Jr. (deputy mayor)|Robert Ferdinand Wagner III]] and Duncan.  Susan Wagner died of lung cancer in 1964. By all accounts, the two had a very happy marriage, and although Susan was not particularly fond of politics, she enjoyed traveling with her husband and meeting many famous people. Susan was described as optimistic, cheerful, kind, and always happy. According to his friends, Mayor Wagner was "lonely and depressed" after the death of his first wife.<ref name=obit/>

He married Barbara Cavanagh in 1965. They divorced in 1971. Wagner married [[Phyllis Fraser]], widow of [[Bennett Cerf]], in 1975. They lived together until his death in 1991. Her five-floor townhouse at 132 East 62nd Street, designed by [[Denning & Fourcade, Inc.|Denning & Fourcade]], "was so magnetic that the statesman moved in."<ref>{{cite news|author=Max Abelson|title=Wendy's Warren|url=http://www.observer.com/node/36711|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080316010844/http://www.observer.com/node/36711|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 16, 2008|newspaper=[[The New York Observer]]|date=February 12, 2007|access-date=September 27, 2007}}</ref>

==Death and legacy==
He died in [[Manhattan]] of heart failure in 1991, aged 80, while he was being treated for [[bladder cancer]].<ref name=obit>{{cite news |title=Robert Wagner, 80, Pivotal New York Mayor, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/13/obituaries/robert-wagner-80-pivotal-new-york-mayor-dies.html |quote=Robert Ferdinand Wagner, who oversaw a vivid transformation of the city's politics and even its personality in three terms as Mayor, died early yesterday at his home in Manhattan. He was 80 years old. The police and emergency medical technicians were summoned at 3:30&nbsp;am to his town house on East 62d Street, where the ailing former Mayor was pronounced dead of heart failure. He had been suffering from bladder cancer. |work=New York Times |date=February 13, 1991 |access-date=March 17, 2010 | first=James F. | last=Clarity}}</ref>  His funeral mass was offered by Cardinal [[William Wakefield Baum]] at [[St. Patrick's Cathedral (Manhattan)|St. Patrick's Cathedral]], and he was buried at [[Calvary Cemetery (Queens)|Calvary Cemetery]] in [[Maspeth, Queens]].  "Mr. Wagner was buried beside the graves of his father, United States Senator Robert F. Wagner, and mother, Margaret, and first wife, Susan Edwards Wagner, and not far from the grave of New York's Governor Al Smith."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE4DA113AF934A25751C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all | first1=Robert D. | last1=McFadden | title=Mourners Recall Wagner as Man Of Subtle Grace | date=February 17, 1991 | newspaper=The New York Times | access-date=January 2, 2016}}</ref>

The [[Wagner Graduate School of Public Service|Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service]] at [[New York University]] is named in his honor, as is the Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park in [[Battery Park City]] and the Robert F. Wagner Jr. Secondary School for Arts and Technology in [[Long Island City]].

Wagner's papers, photographs, artifacts and other materials are housed at the [[New York City Municipal Archives]] and at [[La Guardia and Wagner Archives]].

==See also==
* [[List of mayors of New York City]]
* [[Timeline of New York City#1950s.E2.80.931970s|Timeline of New York City]], 1950s–1960s
* [[J. Raymond Jones]]

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

==Further reading==
* Flanagan, Richard M. ''Robert Wagner and the Rise of New York City's Plebiscitary Mayoralty: The Tamer of the Tammany Tiger'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)
* Morris, Charles R. ''The cost of good intentions: New York City and the liberal experiment, 1960–1975'' (1981).
* Sayre, Wallace S. and Herbert Kaufman, ''Governing New York City: Politics in the Metropolis'' (1965) 782pp
* Taylor, Clarence. "Robert Wagner, [[Milton Galamison]] and the Challenge to New York City Liberalism." ''Afro-Americans in New York Life and History'' (2007) 31#2 pp: 121.
*John C. Walker,''The Harlem Fox: [[J. Raymond Jones]] at Tammany 1920:1970'', New York: State University  New York Press, 1989.

==External links==
*[http://www.nyc.gov/html/nyc100/html/classroom/hist_info/mayors.html#wagner Mayor Wagner's biography on the web site of New York City] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012003808/http://nyc.gov/html/nyc100/html/classroom/hist_info/mayors.html#wagner |date=October 12, 2007 }}
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20071012071447/http://wiredforbooks.org/robertwagner/ 1973 audio interview with Robert F. Wagner Jr.]}} by Don Swaim
*[http://www.laguardiawagnerarchive.lagcc.cuny.edu/COLLECTIONS.aspx?ViwType=1&ColID=6 La Guardia and Wagner Archives/Wagner Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829213816/http://www.laguardiawagnerarchive.lagcc.cuny.edu/COLLECTIONS.aspx?ViwType=1&ColID=6 |date=August 29, 2016 }}
*{{Find a Grave|8941|Robert Ferdinand Wagner, Jr}}

{{S-start}}
{{s-par|us-ny-hs}}
{{succession box|title=[[New York State Assembly]], [[New York County, New York|New York County 16th District]]|before=[[William Schwartz (politician)|William Schwartz]]|years=1938–1942|after=[[John P. Morrissey (politician)|John P. Morrissey]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box
|title  = [[Borough President|Borough President of Manhattan]]
|before = [[Hugo Rogers]]
|after  = [[Hulan E. Jack]]
|years  = 1950–1953
}}
{{succession box
|title  = [[Mayors of New York City|Mayor of New York City]]
|before = [[Vincent R. Impellitteri]]
|after  = [[John V. Lindsay]]
|years  = 1954–1965
}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{succession box|title=[[U.S. Senator from New York|Democratic Nominee for U.S. Senate from New York (Class 3)]]|before=[[Herbert H. Lehman]]|after=[[James B. Donovan]]|years=[[1956 United States Senate election in New York|1956]]}}
{{s-dip}}
{{succession box
|title  = [[United States Ambassador to Spain|U.S. Ambassador to Spain]]
|before = [[Frank E. McKinney]]
|after  = [[Robert C. Hill]]
|years  = 1968–1969
}}
{{S-end}}
{{Mayors of New York City}}
{{Manhattan Borough President}}
{{Democratic NYC mayoral nominees}}
{{United States Conference of Mayors Presidents}}
{{National League of Cities presidents}}
{{US Ambassadors to Spain}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Robert F. Jr.}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1991 deaths]]
[[Category:1956 United States vice-presidential candidates]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Spain]]
[[Category:American Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:American people of German descent]]
[[Category:Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Queens)]]
[[Category:Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]
[[Category:Manhattan borough presidents]]
[[Category:Mayors of New York City]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly]]
[[Category:Military personnel from New York City]]
[[Category:People from the Upper East Side]]
[[Category:Presidents of the United States Conference of Mayors]]
[[Category:Taft School alumni]]
[[Category:Yale University alumni]]
[[Category:Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American diplomats]]
[[Category:Loyola School (New York City) alumni]]
[[Category:Deaths from congestive heart failure in New York (state)]]
[[Category:20th-century mayors of places in New York (state)]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the New York State Legislature]]
[[Category:Presidents of the National League of Cities]]