In 1969, New York was on a precipice. Crime was going up, teachers headed out on strike, a snowstorm crippled the city, and there was a sense that things could get a lot worse.
Enter pugnacious author and Brooklyn resident Norman Mailer. Using the campaign slogan “no more bullshit,” Mailer threw his hat in the ring for the Democratic nomination for mayor.
It wasn’t a joke. Columnist Jimmy Breslin signed on as his running mate, vying to be City Council president.
Their ideas? “I’m running on a platform of ‘Free Huey Newton and floridation,” Mailer told a crowd at the Village Gate. “We’ll have compulsory free love in those neighborhoods that vote for it, and compulsory attendance in church on Sunday in those that vote for that.”
They also advocated that New York City become the 51st state (which wasn’t a novel idea). They pledged the construction of a monorail, a ban on private cars in Manhattan, and monthly vehicle-free Sundays.
When primary day came, Mailer ended up fourth out of five candidates—and John Lindsay won reelection that November.
[Photo: Breslin and Mailer conceding the race, from Dissent magazine]
Tags: John Lindsay New York, Mailer-Breslin ticket, Mayor's Race NYC 1969, New York City 1969, New York City in the 1960s, New York magazine covers, Norman Mailer
Ephemeral New York 
November 9, 2011 at 1:09 pm |
I remember when Mailer and Breslin ran, their Sweet Sunday’s instantly attracted my attention. New York for People is what I remember. Too bad they didn’t make it.
November 9, 2011 at 6:40 pm |
“Mailer/Breslin And The 51st State” was the poster.
November 10, 2011 at 2:28 am |
I still have a Mailer/Breslin button which I got when they were running for office and wore it to Mailer’s talk at Hofstra and again at his talk at LeFrak center at Queens College shortly before he died. He saw it and was shocked (or at least ‘surprised’) and said “You still have that old thing” and seemed very pleased. I am not sure what I will do with it. Leave it to my sons, donate it to a museum, sell it, loan it out for exhibitions. Is it rare? Sombody let me know.
November 10, 2011 at 4:08 am |
Hey, that’s great ephemera. Thanks!
November 10, 2011 at 10:04 am |
Damnit, I also had a button, it was red with black lettering reading Mailer/Breslin. I had it with a stack of other hippie/pacifist buttons I’d saved over the years, the majority from the 60s-70s. Unfortunately, they were all left behind when I had my stroke and moved out of the Lower East Side, now commercialized forever. Oh well, c’est la vie…
November 11, 2011 at 2:46 pm |
Someone donated 100s of buttons last week to Housing Works on Montague Street last weekend. Most from lefty marches and causes of the last 50 years. I bought six and one was a Mailer/Breslin button. Also got one from the levitation of the Pentagon (attempted!)
November 11, 2011 at 3:32 pm |
Cool find–I may have to stop by there and see what’s left with a New York angle.
November 11, 2012 at 5:15 am |
November 10, 2007 Norman Mailer went to dual permanent residences in heaven and hell, commuting on a divine monorail, running express past purgatory and mediocrity.