On April 27, 1972, Mayor John V. Lindsay sent a letter to the Hon. Raymond F. Farrell, Commissioner, Immigration and Naturalization Service, U. S. Department of Justice, in Washington, D.C. Lindsay wrote to Farrell on behalf of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, “. . . who are currently facing deportation proceedings initiated by your Department.” Lindsay acknowledged to Farrell that the couple “. . . speak out with strong and critical voices on major issues of the day.” However, he continued, “If this is the motive underlying the unusual and harsh action taken by the Immigration and Naturalization Services, then it is an attempt to silence Constitutionally protected First Amendment rights of free speech and association and a denial of the civil liberties of these two people.”
In his conclusion, the Mayor wrote, “In light of their unique past and present contribution in the fields of music and the arts, and especially considering their talent to be so outstanding as to be ranked among the greatest of our time in these fields, a grave injustice is being perpetuated by the continuance of the deportation proceeding.”
New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Mayor Robert F. Wagner, n.d., Mayor Robert F. Wagner Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
A carbon copy of Mayor Lindsay’s letter is in his correspondence files. Archivists located the letter in response to a query from a patron who read contemporary newspaper accounts about the Mayor’s intervention on behalf of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the deportation matter. The patron inquired if the Archives had any records of the correspondence.
Typing “John Lennon” into the Collection Guides did not produce a result. Similarly, scanning folder listings in Lindsay’s subject files looking for possibly relevant titles, e.g. “deportation,” also proved fruitless. Then, the archivist noticed folders labeled “U. S. Government, 1972” within the Departmental correspondence series. After a quick examination of its contents, success!
The existence of separately filed correspondence to and from officials and agencies of the federal government and New York City mayoral administrations dates to 1934 when Fiorello LaGuardia took office as Mayor. The recent For the Record article, New York and President Jimmy Carter explored the relationship between President Jimmy Carter and City Mayors Abraham Beame and Edward Koch beginning with the fiscal crisis in 1977, and the subsequent efforts to restore the City’s financial stability. This week’s article further explores the research value of the federal correspondence files in mayoral collections.
Mayor LaGuardia had friends in high places. Fiorello LaGuardia to James V. Forrestal, Acting Secretary of the Navy, September 8, 1941. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Fiorello La Guardia’s three terms as Mayor (1934-1945) coincided with a significant time in the city’s history, from the Great Depression through World War II. The collection demonstrates how closely he worked with federal officials at every level as they sought to ameliorate Depression-related conditions. There is voluminous correspondence regarding efforts to provide unemployment relief through public works projects such as highways, parks, and housing, that would forever change the physical landscape of New York City.
The first folder of “correspondence with federal officials” in Mayor LaGuardia’s collection shows how the City obtained federal funds for construction of the Henry Hudson Parkway. In May 1934, Harold Ickes, the Federal Emergency Administrator of Public Works, informed City officials that “the project is worthy of future consideration.” He asked for a detailed application. Within days, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses obliged with a detailed multi-page proposal, including blueprints and project cost estimates. Ickes approved, and construction began in February 1935; the portion south of the George Washington Bridge opened to motorists on October 10, 1937.
Clerks in the Mayor’s Office continued the practice of separately filing federal correspondence during the administration of LaGuardia’s successor, William O’Dwyer (1946-1950). And, beginning with the O’Dwyer administration they further separated letters to and from the President. Not all federal correspondence concerned fiscal matters. There are numerous letters concerning special events, and notes politely thanking one another for an invitation or hospitality during a visit to their respective cities.
Mayor O’Dwyer’s files, for example, include a letter to his Executive Secretary, John Tierney from Murray O. Smyth, Director of the Office of Public information in the Treasury Department. Dated May 4, 1950, it confirmed that Mayor O’Dwyer would ring an exact duplicate of the Liberty Bell set up on the steps of City Hall. Smyth suggested this would “make a fine event for the newsreels as well as for press photos.” He also noted that the Liberty Bell is an exact duplicate of the original bell in Philadelphia, “without the crack.”
Robert F. Kennedy, United States Senate to Mayor Robert F. Wagner, May 10, 1965. Mayor Robert F. Wagner Records Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Mayor Robert Wagner’s collection (1954-1965) also includes federal correspondence as a sub-series with the Departmental Correspondence files. His clerks further separated materials to and from members of Congress. On Aril 27, 1965, Wagner wrote to Emanuel Celler, the long-serving member of Congress from Brooklyn. In his letter he endorsed the Celler-Hart Bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act: “I consider the passage of this Celler-Hart Bill essential. This legislation is long overdue to rectify past injustices in our immigration policy.”
Wagner sent copies of the letter to New York Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Jacob K. Javits. Kennedy replied on May 10, 1965. He informed Wagner that “I agree that the present system is an affront to our ideals of equality and justice.” He added that “As you know, President Johnson has proposed the same bill, originally proposed by President Kennedy, which we drafted in the Department of Justice. I intend to give this bill – which I am a co-sponsor – my fullest support.”
In a related matter, Wagner’s files include a transcript of a telegram he dictated on July 27, 1965. Wagner sent it to the Hon. Jonathan Bingham, U.S. Congress. Wagner recommended approval of the National Park Service proposal to establish Ellis Island as a National Historic Site: “For millions of Americans it has been the gateway to a new life of liberty and opportunity.”
Researchers are invited to further explore the correspondence with federal officials in the files of New York mayoral administrations.