National Affairs: Lone Wolf

Roused to a mood of political insurrection after one of the noisiest and dirtiest campaigns in decades, New York City elected the first independent mayor* in the history of its five boroughs: beaming, Sicilian-born Acting Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri, 50. His margin was almost a quarter of a million votes. Tammany Hall’s hand-picked Judge Ferdinand Pecora was second, Republican Edward Corsi third.

Impy’s victory was a stunning blow to Boss Flynn, who had engineered Mayor O’Dwyer’s resignation in the ill-founded hope that a special city election might stir up a big enough straight Democratic vote to sweep the whole state. Big Jim Farley, out of favor since Flynn got control, had backed Impy. The new mayor, who promptly announced that he was going to go back to being a Democrat, swore that he would stay “unbossed and uncontrolled” and be “mayor for all the people.”

* The candidate who made the best previous showing without the backing of either major party: William Randolph Hearst, who ran a close second to George B. McClellan in 1905, on a Municipal Ownership ticket.