July 20, 1964 | Interview with Mayor’s Spokesman on Harlem Riots

July 20, 1964 - At this press conference, a spokesman for New York City Mayor Robert Wagner reports on a top-level meeting held at Gracie Mansion regarding widespread rioting in Harlem.
Mayor Wagner cut short his European vacation and arrived at Kennedy International Airport today at 4:04 p.m. on an Iberia Airlines plane from Madrid. He was grim-faced as he was met by Acting Mayor Paul Screvane, Police Commissioner Michael Murphy, Manhattan Borough President Edward Dudley, Deputy Mayor Edward Cavanagh, and several aides.
After a briefing at the airport, and before leaving for Gracie Mansion, his official residence, the Mayor expressed his “complete faith” in Murphy. He told newsmen: “The police have a job to do to preserve law and order, and the Commissioner feels that action so far has been able to contain the situation.”
When the meeting was resumed at 6:30 on the veranda of Gracie Mansion, the officials who had met Wagner at the airport were joined by Madison Jones, executive director of the New York City Commission on Human Rights, and Arthur Rogers, executive director of the New York City Youth Board, as well as three of the Mayor’s administrative assistants.

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