By Philip Newman
So angry were many residents that they jeered the mayor when he showed up in their neighborhoods days after a 15-inch snowfall on Feb. 9, 1969. Lindsay was defeated in a primary election for a second term later that year, although he was re-elected when he ran as a Liberal in the general election. He lost Queens in the primary but carried the borough in the later balloting, winning over Democratic Comptroller Mario Procaccino and Republican state Sen. John Marchi from Staten Island.
Lindsay died at the age of 79 last week in Hilton Head, S.C., after years of illness. A memorial service was scheduled for Jan. 26 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan.
Lindsay came under criticism not only for the slow removal of snow but for putting low-cost housing in middle class neighborhoods. Some of his critics said he had turned his back on middle-class working people. The most controversial of the low-cost housing was Forest Hills Houses, which was fought intensely by many citizens of the predominantly Jewish area. Today, even some leaders of the opposition concede it has been a success.
The blizzard of 1969 that nearly cost Lindsay a second term halted deliveries of goods and services, including groceries and medical supplies. At one point, a body had to be stored in an Edgemere apartment more than 24 hours because no undertaker could get through the hip-deep snow. Schools were closed, buses could not operate, thousands could not get to work and stores could not restock inventories.
Queens Borough President Francis X. Smith said nearly 30 of the 42 deaths in the storm occurred in Queens, including a nurse, Alice Delega, whose body was found 30 feet from her car at Creedmoor Psychiatric Hospital and Gary Hammond, 14, of Blue Point, whose body was found beneath a pile of snow.
Ralph Bunche, undersecretary of the United Nations, who lived in Kew Gardens, sent a telegram to City Hall: “As far as getting to the United Nations, I may as well be in the Alps.”
City Councilman Matthew Troy (D-Queens Village) asked Gov. Nelson Rockefeller to appoint a trustee and call out the National Guard to remove the snow.
“People are without food, milk and other necessities because delivery trucks are unable to get through unplowed streets. Our mayor is unable to cope with this problem,” he said.
Citizens who lined Queens streets vented their anger at Lindsay as he toured snow-clogged neighborhoods.
“You stink,” shouted a man as the mayor walked with aides on 188th Street near 69th Avenue in Fresh Meadows. Another swore at the mayor.
“If I were running for mayor today, I could beat him,” said Neil Sinnot of 67-50A 188th St.
As the mayor walked into a Queens store to telephone City Hall, dozens of hostile citizens followed him and several eating at a lunch counter shouted epithets.
A 48-year-old Sanitation Department employee was arrested on a charge of demanding a $100 bribe to clear snow from 218th Road at 28th Street in Bayside.
Lindsay's administration also was characterized by turbulence in an era of upheaval. On Jan. 1, 1966, when he was sworn in as the first Republican mayor since Fiorello LaGuardia, subway workers went on strike, paralyzing transportation. Legendary Transport Workers union leader Mike Quill was jailed for defying a judge's back-to-work order.
“The mayor settled the strike with Quill but at great cost,” recalled former Mayor Edward Koch.
Strikes by sanitation workers, teachers, bridge tenders and many other workers followed. Police conducted a sick-out.
Critics said Lindsay's idealism and lack of sophistication cost him in dealing with issues such as labor disputes, while the mayor's spending led to the city's near bankruptcy in the early 1970s.
The Ocean Hill-Brownville school decentralization controversy, the City University admission dispute, Vietnam War protests and racial restiveness nationwide also contributed mightily to the turbulent times of the Lindsay days in City Hall. During his days in office, the Knapp Commission turned up large-scale police corruption.
Lindsay worked to keep the riots that erupted in Watts in California, Newark, Detroit and other cities from sweeping his city as well. Walking in shirtsleeves through the streets of Harlem and other neighborhoods such as Brooklyn's Bedford Stuyvesant, Lindsay appealed for calm. And New York did not ignite.
The struggle against poverty and racism was a major part of the liberal Republican's administration.
Borough President Claire Shulman was among many who paid tribute to Lindsay:
“I remember him coming into City Hall as a young, dashing blue-eyed Adonis who ran the city with grace,” she said.
Lindsay's wit, patrician manner, good looks and charm brought him nationwide exposure. The tall, youthful looking mayor showed up again and again on the “Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson on other network programs and magazines nationwide.
Lindsay inspired hundreds of bright and talented young people to government service, including Richard A. Brown, Queens district attorney.
“I served as his representative in Albany and it was he who started me on my judicial career when he appointed me to the Criminal Court in 1973,” Brown said. “I will very much miss him.”
John Vliet Lindsay was born Nov. 24, 1921, on Riverside Drive in Manhattan to George Nelson and Florence Eleanor Vliet Lindsay.
One of five children, he attended private schools and graduated from Yale University where he also obtained a law degree. He served as a naval officer in World War II and later represented the so-called Silk Stocking District of Manhattan's Upper East Side in Congress before becoming mayor and pursuing a failed presidential bid.
His wife, Mary, three daughters, a son, five grandchildren and a brother survive.
