'''New York City: the 51st State''' was the platform of the [[Norman Mailer]]–[[Jimmy Breslin]] candidacy in the [[1969 New York City mayoral election|1969 New York City Democratic Mayoral Primary election]]. Mailer, a novelist, journalist, and filmmaker, and Breslin, an author and at the time a New York City newspaper columnist, proposed that the [[Boroughs of New York City|five New York City boroughs]] should [[Secession in New York|secede from New York State]], and become the [[51st state]] of the U.S.

In the 1960s, New York City suffered from economic problems and rising crime rates, which continued a steep uphill climb through the decade.<ref>{{cite web|author=Christopher Effgen |url=http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/nycrime.htm |title=New York Crime Rates 1960–2009 |publisher=Disastercenter.com |date=September 11, 2001 |accessdateaccess-date=October 28, 2010}}</ref> The old [[manufacturing]] jobs that supported generations of uneducated immigrants were disappearing by [[deindustrialization]], millions of middle class residents were fleeing to the suburbs, and public sector workers had won the [[Public-sector trade union|right to unionize]]. Many of the candidates in the 1969 Democratic mayoralty primary race – three-time mayor [[Robert F. Wagner Jr.]], long-time party worker and City Comptroller [[Mario Procaccino]], [[Bronx]] Borough President [[Herman Badillo]], and Congressman [[James H. Scheuer]] – were familiar, uninspiring mainstream politicians who offered few new or novel ideas on how to solve the city's problems.

Mailer’s vociferous candidacy ("New York Gets an Imagination – or It Dies!") convinced opinionated Queens newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin to abandon his own mayoral quest and join the higher profile Mailer as his City Council President running mate.<ref name="queenstribune2003">[http://www.queenstribune.com/archives/nfparchive/2003/021303/notforpub.html Queens Tribune Online, Not For Publication]. Queenstribune.com (2001-09-12). Retrieved on September 6, 2011.</ref> In a ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' interview published four days before the primary, Mailer called himself a "left conservative" – left because he believed the city's problems demanded radical answers, conservative because he had little faith in [[centralized government]]. Mailer said that, if he were to win the primary and be elected in November, "a small miracle would have happened. At that moment the city would have declared that it had lost faith in the old ways of solving political problems and that it wished to embark on a new conception of politics."<ref name="autogenerated1969">[https://web.archive.org/web/20071112202823/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,942073,00.html New York: Mailer for Mayor] ''Time'', Friday, June 13, 1969</ref>

* Statehood – New York City would be split off from the rest of New York State, and achieve independent statehood as the 51st State of the U.S. The campaign sought to free the city from the control of "upstate legislators who don't care about the city but control our schools, police, housing, and money." ☃☃ For a new state to be carved out of one already in existence requires the approval of both the old state legislature and the U.S. Congress. New states have been created from the territory of older states before: in 1792, Kentucky was formed from part of Virginia, and [[West Virginia]] broke away from Virginia and became a state in 1863. Mailer proposed that the first step, following his election, should be a citywide referendum on the question of statehood for the city.y.

* Taxes – In 1969, New York City taxpayers paid the state and federal governments $14 billion ($91.9{{Inflation|US-GDP|14|1969}} billion in 2014{{Inflation/year|US-GDP}} dollars<ref name="dollartimes1">[http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm {{Inflation Calculator]. DollarTimes.com. Retrieved on September 6, 2011.</ref>fn|US-GDP}}), and got only $3 billion back ($19.7{{Inflation|US-GDP|3|1969}} billion in 2014{{Inflation/year|US-GDP}} dollars<ref name="dollartimes1"{{Inflation/>fn|US-GDP}}). The creation of the 51st State would help correct this imbalance, and bring about $2 billion ($13.1{{Inflation|US-GDP|2|1969}} billion in 2014{{Inflation/year|US-GDP}} dollars<ref name="dollartimes1"{{Inflation/>fn|US-GDP}}) in additional revenue to the city. In addition, a casino would be built on either [[Randall's Island]], [[Roosevelt Island]], or [[Coney Island]], with tax revenues going directly to the City-State.

[[Image:Norman Mailer 3a42824u(1948).jpg|right|thumb|200px|Norman Mailer photographed by [[Carl Van Vechten]] in 1948]]

As the result of the fragmented, five-candidate field, the 1969 Democratic Primary made for one of the most unusual elections since the conglomeration of greater New York. The incumbent Republican Mayor ([[John V. Lindsay]]) and a former Democratic incumbent ([[Robert F. Wagner, Jr.]]) both lost their parties' primaries. Mario Procaccino won with less than 33% of the vote against Mailer and three other opponents, which inspired the use of runoffs in future primaries.<ref>{{cite book|author=Vincent Cannato|title=The Ungovernable City|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Upv5ezVPBOMC&pg=PA437|accessdateaccess-date=September 6, 2011|date=April 25, 2002|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-465-00844-5|pages=437–}}</ref> The complete Democratic Primary results:

|title=1969 Democratic primary<ref name="Trager">{{cite book|author=James Trager|title=The New York Chronology: The Ultimate Compendium of Events, People, and Anecdotes from the Dutch to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xvGhQoNT27IC|accessdateaccess-date=September 6, 2011|date=October 13, 2004|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-074062-7}}</ref>

|bronx=<u>'''50,465'''</u>

|brooklyn=<u>'''87,650'''</u>

|queens=<u>'''79,002'''</u>

|staten=<u>'''11,628'''</u>

|total=<u>255,529</u>

|bronx=<u>''34%''</u>

|brooklyn=<u>''36%''</u>

|queens=<u>''40%''</u>

|staten=<u>''52%''</u>

|total=<u>''33%''</u>

|manhattan=<u>'''74,809'''</u>

|manhattan=<u>''45%''</u>

* {{cite book |last=Dearborn |first=Mary V. |date=1999 |title=Mailer: A Biography |location=Boston |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |isbn=0395736552 |author-link= |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/mailerbiography00mary }}

* {{cite book |last=Flaherty |first=Joe |date=1971 |title=Managing Mailer |url= |location=New York |publisher=Berkley |page= |oclc=3232597 |author-link= }}

* {{cite book |last=Lennon |first=J. Michael |date=2013 |title=Norman Mailer: A Double Life |location=New York |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn= 978-1439150214 |oclc=873006264 |author-link=J. Michael Lennon |ref=harv }}

* {{cite book |last=Manso |first=Peter |date=2008 |title=Mailer: His Life and Times |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781416562863 |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Washington Square Press |oclcisbn=2097007699781416562863 |author-linkoclc=209700769 |ref=harv}}

[[Category:Proposed states and territories of the United States]]