William F. Buckley Runs for New York Mayor

June 24, 1965 - William F. Buckley Jr. announced his candidacy for Mayor of New York on the Conservative party line today. He said he would “introduce the other candidates to the New York that seethes with frustration while the politicians conduct their quadrennial charade.”

The 39-year-old editor and columnist declared that New York “cries for the kind of attention that is not being given to it by those who coolly contrive their campaigns so as to avoid offending the major voting blocs.”

Government “designed to placate voting blocs,” Buckley said, “precisely does so at the expense of individuals.”

Conservative party leaders said they were “overjoyed” by Buckley’s announcement and would designate him their mayoral candidate.

Buckley announced his candidacy in front of a large modernistic painting entitled “The Merry Company” at the Overseas Press Club, 54 W. 40th St.

He denounced the Republican party in New York City and its mayoral candidate, Rep. John Lindsay, as “a rump affair — no more representative of the body of Republican thought than the Democratic party in Mississippi is representative of the Democratic party nationally.”

Lindsay, “having got hold of the Republican party,” Buckley said, “now disdains the association and spends his days, instead, stressing his acceptability to the leftwardmost party in New York, the Liberal party.”

“Do you have any chance of winning?” he was asked.

“No,” Buckley replied, pulling a cigar out of his pocket.

“Do you want to be Mayor?”“I’ve never considered it,” he said with a smile.

Asked how many votes he would get, “conservatively speaking,” Buckley replied: “One.” He said later that the one vote would come from “my secretary.”

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