Who v. Lindsay?

Three weeks ago New York City's Democratic Mayor Robert Wagner, challenged for a fourth term by Republican Congressman John Lindsay, let it be known that he might not even try for reelection. Hardly anyone believed him --but almost everyone agreed that the mayor's prolonged period of indecision was fine publicity; it certainly had the effect of pushing Candidate Lindsay off Page One.

Last week Bob Wagner, 55, summoned newsmen to City Hall to announce his plans. And to the astonishment of all, he said that he would not run again for mayor. Declared he: "My decision is final and irrevocable." Brushing tears from his eyes, he recalled that he had promised his wife Susan, during his 1961 campaign, that his next term as mayor would be his last. Susan's death from cancer last year, Wagner said, had reinforced his determination to spend more time with his two sons, one "on the very threshold of manhood, the other soon approaching that state." Beside him on the City Hall dais stood Duncan, 18, a prep-school senior, in a sports coat and chinos, and Robert Jr., 21, who will graduate from Harvard this week, in a dark suit. "They have a claim upon me for companionship and counsel which I must now grant," Wagner said.

"I have some obligations to myself, too," he added, fanning rumors that he will marry Socialite Barbara Cavanagh, 36, sister of New York's deputy mayor, Edward F. Cavanagh Jr.

Off an Onion. Wagner also expressed the fear that he might go stale in another four years. With considerable candor, he acknowledged that "perhaps it is time for a change--for me as well as for the city." He confessed: "Some of the more routine duties which were once tolerable enough now became drudgery. While I continued to respond to each day's major challenges, I caught myself feeling that four more years would be four more years of the same thing." Earlier in the week, Wagner had described the demands of the job: "The working hours run from dawn to dusk and well into the dawn again. If there were twice as many hours in the day, the work still wouldn't get done. The solution of every problem brings to light two other problems. It is like peeling the layers off an onion."

Within hours after Wagner's announcement, the line of applicants started forming. Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., boosted by the endorsement of Harlem's Adam Clayton Powell, said he was available--"if the right people ask me." Behind Roosevelt stood City Council President Paul R. Screvane, Comptroller Abraham D. Beame, Queens District Attorney Frank D. O'Connor and Manhattan District Attorney Frank S. Hogan.

Past the Point. The effect of Wagner's withdrawal upon the candidacy of Republican Lindsay was open to conjecture. No longer would Lindsay have tired Bob Wagner to use as a whipping boy and his administration as a target. Still, New York City Democrats, who outnumber Republicans by more than 3 to 1, have grown accustomed to Wagner, and most of them undoubtedly would have voted for him again. Richard Nixon, just at a guess, figured that Wagner's decision increased Lindsay's chances by 25%.

Lindsay, meanwhile, continued the sidewalk campaigning that he is convinced will bring him victory. Said he: "I know of no other way to do it. It will be a road full of thorns, full of sweat and toil, and even tears." Behind the scenes, he searched for big-name Democrats and Liberals to run with him on a broad-based fusion ticket.

But Bob Wagner had passed the point of having to worry about such things. He had said he was stepping down, and he meant it. He seemed hardly to care that Bobby Kennedy, with whom his relationship has been cool, would now try to step in as undisputed leader of the party in New York. Wagner's financial future was assured, if only because he is eligible for a sizable pension as a result of his many years as a public servant. While other Democrats fight it out, first against each other and then against Lindsay, Wagner will be able to sit back, presumably in the company of his sons and his new wife, and enjoy the spectacle.

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