When bee-busy little Fiorello H. LaGuardia last week boom-buzzed into office (by a slim plurality of 133,841) as New York City’s first third-term mayor, a crack in the Democratic Party widened to a crevasse.
Running on the Republican ticket, LaGuardia had been endorsed by the head of the Democratic Party, Franklin Roosevelt, opposed by Democratic National Chairman Edward J. Flynn and James A. Farley, Flynn’s predecessor and President Roosevelt’s onetime Man Friday.
Some results of New York City’s bitter brawl:
> The American Labor Party—for years a hodgepodge of liberals, radicals, pinkos and labor-minded people, disgruntled with the old-line parties—now appeared to be definitely fused into a solid political entity. The A.L.P. polled 434,297 votes, almost equal to its impressive total in 1937, when it first loomed as a real political force. Significance: in Presidential elections, the American Labor Party has become powerful enough to nudge a labor favorite into the White House by delivering New York’s 47 electoral votes.
> An influential Tammany district leader, Jeremiah T. Mahoney, demanded the resignation of Tammany Boss Christopher D. Sullivan, also advised scrapping the name Tammany. Reason: “It has become a load that no one can carry.”
> Triumphant Third-Termite LaGuardia recommended that New York’s next municipal election be waged along non-partisan lines.
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