John Lindsay’s Re-election and Getting the Jewish Vote

Mayor John Lindsay faced an uphill climb in his campaign for reelection in 1969 after losing the Republican primary to John Marchi, forcing him to run with the backing of only the Liberal Party. The Democratic Party nominee Comptroller Mario Procaccino failed to attract broad Democratic support because of his conservative views and verbal gaffes, but Lindsay desperately needed support from Jewish voters in the outer boroughs to win. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir's trip to the U.S. in September proved the right opportunity for Lindsay to regain his standing with the Jewish community in Brooklyn and Queens. In this audio, Jay Kriegal (Lindsay Chief of Staff) and Sid Davidoff (Mayoral Assistant) recount how the city came to build a sukkah, a structure of branches and leaves which Jews traditionally eat in during the harvest festival Sukkoth, in the Brooklyn Museum parking lot as the site for a formal dinner in Meir's honor. This event captured the city's attention and helped Lindsay win reelection.

The sukkah and the Meir visit hlped Lindsay increase his support among liberal Jews who could not pull the lever for Procaccino. In the general election, Lindsay and Procaccino split the Jewish vote with Lindsay getting support from the more liberal, better-educated, and affluent Jews, and Procaccino doing better among working and lower middle class Jews in the outer boroughs.