Mayor
New York City Comptroller Lazarus Joseph usually sided in the New York City Board of Estimate with Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri during Impelliterri's term in office but supported Wagner for the Democratic nomination for mayor in the 1953 primary election, calling him a "sure winner".
Wagner's nomination and election as New York City mayor in 1953 caused a rift in the Democratic Party and instigated a long-standing feud between Eleanor Roosevelt and Carmine DeSapio, Boss of Tammany Hall. Roosevelt was a Wagner supporter and DeSapio supported Wagner reluctantly until 1961, when Wagner ran for a third term on an anti-Tammany platform, which eventually helped end DeSapio's leadership.
During Wagner's mayoralty, he built public housing and schools, created the City University of New York system, established the right of collective bargaining for city employees, and barred housing discrimination based on race, creed, or color. He was the first mayor to hire many people of color in city government. His administration also saw the development of Lincoln Center and brought Shakespeare to Central Park. In 1957, after the Dodgers and Giants left New York City, he appointed a commission to determine whether New York City could host another National League baseball team, eventually leading to the Mets franchise being awarded to New York City.
During Wagner's mayoralty, the city was visited by several notables from around the world. In January 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower invited King Saud of Saudi Arabia to the U.S. to discuss strategies for resolving the Suez Crisis. Wagner refused Eisenhower's request of a ticker-tape parade for the king and refused to greet him formally, saying that the king was anti-Jewish and anti-Catholic, which some observers saw as "a crude appeal to the prejudices of the hyphenated voters". He did greet Queen Elizabeth II later in 1957. He also rearranged his schedule to meet with the Little Rock Nine and give them a tour of New York City Hall.
In 1956, Wagner ran on the Democratic and Liberal tickets for U.S. Senator from New York, but lost to Republican nominee Jacob Javits. In 1957 and 1958, Wagner served as president of the United States Conference of Mayors.
Like his father, Wagner was aligned with Tammany Hall for much of his career. But when he sought a third term in 1961, Wagner broke with DeSapio and won the Democratic primary anyway, beginning the decline of machine politics in New York City.
By the early 1960s, Wagner became concerned about New York City's image in preparation for the 1964 World's Fair and began a controversial campaign to rid New York City of gay bars. The city revoked the bars' liquor licenses and used undercover police officers to entrap as many gay men as possible.
In February 1962, Wagner quit the New York Athletic Club because it barred African Americans and Jews from membership.
The New York Preservation Archive Project has called Wagner's contribution to preservation "complex". He saved Carnegie Hall from demolition in 1960, but was also mayor when the original Penn Station was demolished, beginning on October 28, 1963. In 1965, Wagner signed the law that created the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
In 1965, Wagner decided not to run for a fourth term. In 1969, he ran for mayor again, but lost the Democratic primary. In 1973, he talked with the city's five Republican county chairmen about running for mayor as a Republican, but the negotiations collapsed.
A 1993 survey of historians, political scientists, and urban experts by Melvin G. Holli of the University of Illinois at Chicago ranked Wagner the 17th-best American big-city mayor to have served between 1820 and 1993.
