Ok, #twitterhistorians... tell us about your first foray into writing an original research paper based on documents. #firstforay
Mine came in 7th grade. Really. I wrote a paper on the 1969 NYC mayoral race. I employed newspaper coverage of the race as well as my own observations.
As you might recall, incumbent mayor John V. Lindsay lost the Republican primary to state senator John Marchi of Staten Island, a conservative. Lindsay decided to mount an independent candidacy.
The Democrats nominated Mario Procaccino from the Bronx, who was the Comptroller. He somewhat resembled the Mario of Nintendo fame.
Two things interested me about the election. One was the growing split between liberal and conservative Republicans, although NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller, a liberal Republican, did not like Lindsay.
The other was how Lindsay, who had experienced a difficult first term, nevertheless prevailed in the general election.
Now, one can offer an analysis based on ideology and issues, the candidates, or voting behavior due to race, class, religion, and borough, but that didn't quite capture the whole story.
But that didn't quite capture what happened that fall in NYC. For that, I turned elsewhere ... to Flushing Meadow.
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