John V. Lindsay and television

In addition to America’s Mayor: John V. Lindsay and the Reinvention of New York, a museum exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, there have also been a series of symposiums exploring the Lindsay’s mayoralty and its impact on New York City.

Given Lindsay’s expert and novel use of television to promote his own image and that of the city, it is not surprising that the most recent event, held at the Paley Center for Media, focused on Lindsay and the media. The panelists included Jeff Greenfield, Senior Political Correspondent, CBS News; Robert Shrum, Senior Fellow, NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and former speechwriter for Lindsay; Ronnie Eldridge, Host, Eldridge & Co. on CUNY-TV and Lindsay’s Special Assistant during his second term; Earl Caldwell, Professor, Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications.

Here is a portion of their discussion, in which the participants discuss, among other issues, Lindsay’s use of the media to keep the calm in New York City after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.: