National Affairs: Lone Wolf

Roused to a mood of political insurrection after one of the noisiest and dirtiest campaigns in decades, New York City elected the first independent mayor* in the history of its five boroughs: beaming, Sicilian-born Acting Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri, 50. His margin was almost a quarter of a million votes. Tammany Hall's hand-picked Judge Ferdinand Pecora was second, Republican Edward Corsi third.

Impy's victory was a stunning blow to Boss Flynn, who had engineered Mayor O'Dwyer's resignation in the ill-founded hope that a special city election might stir up a big enough straight Democratic...