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Simply put my decision is to end my service as mayor on January first one hundred sixty six I shall not seek or agreed to reelection I am not willing under any circumstances to be a candidate for this office I emphasize this in order to close doors that might otherwise invite requests for reconsideration. My decision based on long and painstaking personal contemplation is final and irrevocable. Documentary ten fifty Robert Wagner. To Robert F. mayor of the city of New York. This is John Grimes. Public affairs during the next thirty minutes. Positively years nine hundred fifty four to one nine hundred sixty five. Joined Robert Wagner at a testimonial dinner given in his honor just a few weeks ago together we shall hear tributes and relive through a rare sound recordings some of the brilliant frustrating moments of a Wagner era documentary ten fifty dollars like. On the evening of June twenty fourth one nine hundred sixty five just two weeks after your decision not to be a candidate for mayor your fellow Democrats stage a glittering testimonial dinner at The New York Hilton in your honor reporters from radio television and the newspapers are there hoping to get some answers that will fill the vacuum created by your announcement of just two weeks ago. During the summer of one nine hundred sixty five there may be a growing water shortage in the city but they certainly is no doubt the probable candidates for your office this fall but as the situation demands you Robert Wagner exhibit the well trained talent of playing away from the aces and the reporter's question I'm not trying. To at this time Oh I would be for a comment on a tell a situation with a medal and at the proper time I would have something to say that I was going to just said that he thinks F.D.R. Jr is the most popular man on my account of part of one Mark Jones was an experience later and as a right to express his opinion what your opinion of F.D.R. Jr But I have known Frank grabs for out of a sense with youngsters that's a good long while ago and I have a high regard find that as an individual and as a public servant he can't you come back. To you know. I'll be back. It's amazing to have one more years. During your twelve years as mayor you have spent many evenings like this having been a candidate yourself you know there's a proper time for answers and a proper time for the right answer can spell political chaos and even though you're not a candidate yourself many of your fellow Democrats here tonight are as you come here tonight Robert Wagner. You remember other nights when tensions run high the pollsters predicted one thing you expected another and suddenly victory filled the air you remember vividly election night nine hundred fifty three. Elections and as I. Just want to. Play. Tonight that happy night in November one nine hundred fifty three doesn't seem so far back because this night in one thousand nine hundred sixty five it's much like it as one nine hundred fifty three represented the end of one thing the beginning of another so does tonight and what you will have to say tonight may have a direct bearing on the future your future Robert Wagner but first you will listen to the words of many of your close friends and leaf back with us through the pages of the Wagner era on the day is at the Hilton are many local political figures two senators Pastorius Rhode Island and Kennedy of New York and another man not a senator or a ranking political figure but an old and dear friend humorist Harry Hershfield who helps lift the cloud of attention from this political dinner as he says I know a lot of men here going to run for mayor. I don't tell you which one but one of you know the main thing now is image what is your image so this is on a higher one of these posters to find out his image and he went around and he came back he says this candidate. He said ninety percent of the people are following him but it's a funny thing I keep running into the other two percent. First but not into the campaign as you all through your twelve years as mayor you Robert Wagner have been confronted by critics natural phenomenon in politics your harshest critics hold that you are indecisive cannot make up your mind in the face of grave and pressing municipal problems expect close associates of you was a man of unbounded patients a sincere man with a deep feeling for your city and its problems even your enemies everybody in this city this country and suppose has the right to their support or oppose anybody in public office or any group has that right and. It is their privilege and right to do this as I'm concerned isn't going to bother me. In continuing what we have sought to do all of these years and that is to give. To all of my people particularly people in this so-called minority groups greater opportunities in housing and education and job opportunities. Three times you have turned back your political opponents the political prognosticators and the averages with overwhelming victory a newspaper writes If you seemed vacillating in the face of urgent city problems yet he continues to win elections rose in stature and is popular with the public and no victory is more exciting to you than your first do you recall Robert Wagner what you said the inauguration day one hundred fifty four. New York City we are the new yacht that points for the world to say a lesson of brotherhood and mutual respect. This is a proud day for me and my family I pledge to you my fellow citizens a government dedicated to the best interest of all of the people this will always be my exclusive consideration I shall say that no special groups I shall work and fight so play for the best welfare of all. And. Within three months your young administration is rocked by a paralyzing waterfront crisis there are strikes goon squads violence as two giant unions fight for control of the waterfront you as mayor must offer up voice of calm and strength in the face of crisis I have just come from a personal tour of the waterfront business and industry have suffered greatly and I know you longshoreman and your families are suffering seriously from the loss of wages your jobs are they are waiting for you I want to save the jobs of the long song I'm doing my part now it is up to you along song let's get back to work. And you demonstrate as you will many times in the dozen years to follow that you possess a keen talent for finding peace in the midst of Labour's battle ground it is a talent that shall not go on want it in the turbulent twelve years ahead back on the day as they Hilton you were jogged back to the present by a warm and familiar voice that of Rhode Island Senator John Pastore no nation has a population so complex and so inclusive. As it may seem that this city might be a place the power is within reach and the man in power is within the hearts reach if indeed he has. And for a dozen years now. One man's heart has matched the hot of this great city and New York is Greta. And his great high. All America shared the regret of your set. At the mayor's decision to step down all my Merican respected the reasoning of a public servant who had performed a tremendous task in the way one American in public life what not value the valedictory that have been heaped upon him tonight I borrow from the New York Times and sum up the editorial in these few lines never has there been any integrity or his devotion to the best interests of the said hate and its people the public that he has so long so devoted Les so long sparingly and from the news columns I borrow the expression of the man on the street I always thought was a good mayor and an honest man who could say more than that and who indeed would dare say less when the literature of our land is being assembled I would often mail Wagner's farewell as an impersonal document of inspiration it is the doctrine of private sacrifice in public service but like father like. Son. Now Wagner you wasn't true. And you went out with his name it shall never be blessed in the America of his adoption. Robert F. Wagner SR will never see his son as mayor of the city of New York he dies just six months before Inauguration Day May fourth one nine hundred fifty three but throughout the Wagner era his present shall be felt after the war you join your father's law firm and a local politicians you Robert Wagner are appointed commissioner of housing and buildings by Mayor old liar in one thousand nine hundred seven in one thousand forty nine you win your first elective office in the city Manhattan Borough president through this period a newspaper writes Wagner has accomplished a great deal the future should see him climb even higher in public esteem you enter the mayoral race in one thousand nine hundred eighty and frustrated that year the experience what's your appetite and you wait four more years Wagner says during this period I don't kid myself that my father helped me and his name still helps but I want to stand on my own record and on my own two feet. At forty three you become one of the youngest mayors New York City has ever had in a few months later Robert Wagner you drop the title junior from your name and it becomes simply Robert F. Wagner mayor of the city of New York. Just before your second term for Mayor there's a brief change in your political ambitions. I have decided to permit my name to be placed in nomination for the United States Senate. The Democratic Convention that I've been a sees fit to select may I will accept but the fates rule you stay mayor of New York City and the seat goes to Jacob K. Javits the Republican. Running for your third term in one thousand nine hundred sixty two you face one of the most bitter battles of your history but come up with Torrijos over the ensconced party machine that has tried so hard to defeat you it signals a change in the city and its business and in the mood of New York City public life it's a problem what for you in June of one nine hundred sixty three as you address your city council These are times of change. And there have been changes in the. Last four elections made every elected official as well as every point of official immediately subject to the reach touch inspection and control of the public six months ago I delivered my inaugural address and declared among other things that we would do what is new and what to do what is necessary the whitener era is noted for change the city is changing it has growing pains what you hate most is the squalor in which so many of our citizens live and throughout the Wagner era tearing down and building up better and new places where people to live in and work in is at the top of your list and places to play in and the foundations of the coming Shea Stadium in early one nine hundred sixty one are part of your effort so let's get the credit for today. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. This is a great day for all of the sports fans and I believe practically every New Yorker is a sports fan all of us very keenly disappointed. Left. And we got to work immediately as we know this stadium to have. A club the Mets and I want to express my appreciation to my colleagues on the Board of Estimate except for one. Stadium. Anything Why do we express my appreciation to them unfortunately for me I have to leave and. See what we can do about the milk strike God bless you and. Many Faces flashed through your mind and many incidents like today in early one nine hundred fifty nine when an old friend a former president comes to pay a call I came down here for a special purpose on the greatest of pleasure to present a distinguished service. Colonel Bob Reich who has not only done his duty in several years but has always been interested in national offense and who has become a colonel in the reserve corps the same as our colonel to Therefore I was in the field artillery. Or was in the fighting force. It's a pleasure to meet. Mr President my deepest thanks and not only when my wife and I treasure it but I'll hand it down to my youngsters so that they too can see this citation which I'm sure I do not deserve but I'm very happy to have that I received from the hands of a great former President Harry. And from the rostrum at the Hilton comes another voice in tribute. It's Tell us Master great Joan De Mayo ladies and gentlemen I am delighted to be here this evening with all of you who have contributed so much to the Democratic Party here in the state of New York and across the United States I am pleased to join with all of you in paying tribute to me and Wagner who has been such a friend of mine and it was such a help to me during the difficult time of last fall during my campaign and who has served in this city with such dedication and with such intelligence and with such integrity and I join with you in paying tribute to that. And as you listen Robert Wagner you cannot help but hear what we all hear another voice another face I come from Boston Massachusetts your whole way up for a whole series of the. Meetings were held by interested citizens in order to lay the groundwork for American independence and while there may be some would say that the business of government. Is so important. That it should be confined to those developments in this free society of ours that. May I say that support. But. Make no mistake about it. John Fitzgerald Kennedy made New York City his second home and you Robert Wagner as mayor spoke for all of us in making him feel welcome one of the last times you shall see this man alive is in mid one nine hundred sixty three at Battery Park a dedication of a living memorial to America's war dead at sea and you note that this place has a special appeal to you for over three centuries the battery has been a stepping stone to freedom Washington often walked here laughter you had landed here millions of emigrants including my father very soon found the mainland of the new world beneath their feet at this spot and the words that John F. Kennedy utters at the spot that day will in retrospect be almost prophetic we commemorate them particularly appropriately here in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty I'm sure that their families who will come here and read their names may wonder on occasion whether this rather extraordinary action there was worthwhile it is afterall against the law of nature for parents to bury their children children should bury their fathers. Were the sadness of the nation shares in November is deeper for you this man was a friend and the veil shall not lift as soon for you Robert Wagner a few months later your beloved Susan dies of cancer her illness known to only but a few of your closest friends shocks us all. It seems to you then Robert Wagner that fate has denied you the right to keep the promise you made to her just a little over a year ago nineteen sixty one I had promises and that if I were re-elected it would be my last term as mayor. She insisted then that the time had come to give myself the satisfaction of a real family life and to my son's the guidance of a full time father. She had long but lovingly said for both of them. It was there any need to regret the results of her efforts then in March nineteenth sixty four she left us. I mean. June tenth one nine hundred sixty five and on the streets of New York City News reporter Bob McGonagle talks with New Yorkers about your decision I think think perhaps it was a wise one at this particular time I think that he has. Done all he can for the people in this city and I have my memory rather disappointed that he's not running so to look forward to seeing Chicago is kind of a fixture and seems to represent a lot of you know positive influences and I think many Should I was so disappointed that he won't be running I think of and you're from Chicago Yes Yes Well for starters you are familiar with I guess where I'm where I'm staying very highly I'm back I'm back in Chicago how do you feel about it so I'm very disappointed like might succeed him as a possible candidate. I haven't got the slightest. I don't know how. The city of New York the honorable Robert. Thank you. On the evening of June twenty fourth that they Hilton Hotel in New York City you stepped forward to give a personal assessment of yourself and some food for thought on the future what you say is not only a reflection on your stewardship as mayor but for those with a keener insight perhaps they see through the looking glass and into the future these days which gives me the opportunity to look back at the times that. Times have changed the times. Building these recent years have been times of problems and of challenge of tensions building up of strife and conflict of riots but also of glory and achievement their weapon occasions for pride in the opening up of projects public housing in middle income housing and private housing projects. I have found deep satisfaction in the integrity of our government and our administration and certainly during the past four years there has not been a significant. In a government operation involving the expenditure. Of. Public money there has been no scandal. No graft no corruption no compromise of the. Government itself this was one of my main pledges in my inaugural address in January. I have fulfilled that pledge I believe I have. I am proud of the successes we have achieved I regret the shortcomings that they have which have been and there have been. There is no human institution in which there are not some departures from the theoretical ideal perfection I have learned one thing in my years in government that I am not quite sure what perfection in government means. There are always two sides to every question and at least two points of view usually many more with regard to every proposal or undertaking involving the every day lives of the people of the city we conduct operations which could be made more efficient if one or more people who have grown old and somewhat less vigorous then they were could be fired from their jobs and replaced with somebody younger and fresh their oppositions at lower echelons in the city government which are occupied by people who have lost the cutting edge. There are men and women who have served thirty forty and even fifty years or more in the service of the city would this be a better government would our government have Hi Am ox in the book if we eliminated those people without the disposal of. Politics is a compassionate. Even though it does have its ruthless side politics is based on a consideration for people for what they have done in the past and for what is going to happen to them in the future I have never been willing to separate myself from this aspect of politics or to say that I am above politics in this sense of the word. These are some of the thoughts I have as I look back upon the past I also look forward into the future I am not ready to say what I see in the future for myself because I do not see clearly I do see a continuation of the friendships and relationships that I have had all these years I am not abandoning my friendships or ties I am not turning my back upon the politics City this is my city I love it dearly I am totally committed to its welfare and I am permanently involved in politics thank. You Robert Wagner the architect of the Wagner era you alone must account for its failings revel in its accomplishments. And what doesn't your father told you Robert Wagner never feel sorry for yourself if you don't like the job there are thousands of others who'd love to have it. Monday July twenty sixth one nine hundred sixty five the mayor takes a bride and the city has a new first lady you Robert Wagner had taken your first stride into the future and you have kept your promise to your son. For Robert F. Wagner for you for me and New York City and era is ending the vote you cast this November will determine whose name is etched into city history for the next four years but what of Robert Wagner What does the future hold what does Robert F. Wagner see in it for himself the mayor is quoted as saying I have no plans after January first one thousand nine hundred sixty six and as you heard him say on this program just a few moments ago I am in New York City political life to stay. The question is What does it all mean and when will we know the answer to. This is John Grimes for W.-H. and news and public affairs we hope you've enjoyed the preceding thirty minutes we would like to thank the Brooklyn public libraries audio visual Department for their help in bringing some of the rare recordings which you heard on this program documentary ten fifty you Robert Wagner was a production of news and public affairs technical direction Earl got the program written produced and directed by John Grant. Entire production under the supervision and control of.