New York City: the 51st State
New York City: the 51st State | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Norman Mailer (Mayor), Jimmy Breslin (City Council President) |
| Founded | 1968 |
| Dissolved | 1969 |
| Succeeded by | None |
| Ideology | Secession of New York City from New York State/United States; Local Autonomy ("Power to the Neighborhood") |
| Political position | Left, libertarian |
| International affiliation | None |
New York City: the 51st State was the platform of the Norman Mailer–Jimmy Breslin candidacy in the 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 five New York City boroughs should secede from New York State, and become the 51st state of the U.S.
Mailer topped the ticket as candidate for Mayor; his running mate, Breslin, sought the office of City Council President. Their platform featured placing city governmental control in the hands of the neighborhoods, and offered unique and creative – if impractical and even logistically impossible – solutions to air pollution, traffic congestion, school overcrowding, and crime.
After a strong grassroots campaign, the ticket entered the primary on June 17, 1969 as decided underdogs. They finished second to last, garnering a citywide total of 41,288 votes, 5% of the total votes cast.