List of mayors of New York City

For a list of the Dutch Directors-General who governed New Amsterdam as part of New Netherland between 1625 and 1664, see Director-General of New Netherland.

For a list of the Mayors of Brooklyn from 1834 to Brooklyn's consolidation into the City of New York in 1898, see History of Brooklyn.

The Mayor of New York City is the chief executive of the government of New York City, as stipulated by the Charter of the City of New York.

This list through 1897 includes the mayors of (roughly) what is now considered Manhattan and (after 1874) portions of The Bronx only. The five boroughs (Manhattan, the Bronx, Kings, Queens and Staten Island) were consolidated in 1898. See History of New York City.

The current Mayor of New York City, and 108th person to be mayor, is Michael Bloomberg, once elected as a Republican and now an independent.

During the Dutch colonial period from 1625 to 1664, New Amsterdam was governed by a Director-General. For the year prior to the establishment of the office of Mayor of New York in 1665, New York was run by Richard Nicolls, who was the British military governor of the Province of New York. Thomas Willett was the first person to be specifically appointed mayor.

Mayors were appointed by provincial governors until 1777 when a Council of Appointment was formed by New York State. In 1821 the New York City Council – then known as the Common Council – began appointing mayors. Since 1834 mayors have been elected by direct popular vote.

The longest-serving mayors so far have been Fiorello H. La Guardia (1934–1945), Robert F. Wagner, Jr. (1954–1965) and Edward I. Koch (1978–1989), each of whom was in office for twelve years (three successive 4-year terms). The shortest terms in office since 1834 have been those of acting mayors Thomas Coman (November 30, 1868 to January 4, 1869) and Samuel B. H. Vance (November 30 to December 31, 1874), who each served for less than five weeks.

Although being Mayor of New York has been described as the "second toughest job in America" after the Presidency, and although several mayors (most recently John Lindsay and Rudolph Giuliani) have sought the Presidency, no one person has yet held both offices. Neither have any of the 108 regular and 4 acting mayors so far been female, nor any except David Dinkins been non-white.

Mayors of the unconsolidated City

Appointed mayors

Prior to 1680, mayors served one-year terms. As of 1680, they served two-year terms. Exceptions are noted thus (*). After 1820, the mayor was appointed by the city's Common Council.

no.	Name	Starting year of Office	Ending year of Office	Political Party
1	Thomas Willett	1665	1666
2	Thomas Delavall	1666	1667
3	Thomas Willett	1667	1668
4	Cornelius Van Steenwyk	1668	1671
5	Thomas Delavall	1671	1672
6	Matthias Nicoll	1672	1673
7	John Lawrence	1673	1675
8	William Dervall	1675	1676
9	Nicholas De Mayer	1676	1677
10	Stephanus Van Cortlandt	1677	1678
11	Thomas Delavall	1678	1679
12	Francis Rombouts	1679	1680
13	William Dyre	1680	1682
14	Cornelius Van Steenwyk	1682	1684
15	Gabriel Minvielle (*)	1684	1685
16	Nicholas Bayard (*)	1685	1686
17	Stephanus Van Cortlandt	1686	1688
18	Peter Delanoy 1	1689	1691
19	John Lawrence (*)	1691 May	1691 October
20	Abraham de Peyster	1691 October	1694
21	Charles Lodwik	1694	1696
22	William Merritt	1696	1698
23	Johannes de Peyster	1698	1699
24	David Provost	1699	1700
25	Isaac De Reimer	1700	1701
26	Thomas Noell	1701	1702
27	Phillip French	1702	1703
28	William Peartree	1703	1707
29	Ebenezer Wilson	1707	1710
30	Jacobus Van Cortlandt	1710	1711
31	Caleb Heathcote	1711	1714
32	John Johnstone	1714	1719
33	Jacobus Van Cortlandt	1719	1720
34	Robert Walters	1720	1725
35	Johannes Jansen	1725	1726
36	Robert Lurting †	1726	1735 †
37	Paul Richard	1735	1739
38	John Cruger †	1739	1744 August 13 †
39	Stephen Bayard	1744	1747
40	Edward Holland †	1747	1757 †
41	John Cruger, Jr.	1757	1766
42	Whitehead Hicks	1766	1776
43	David Matthews	1776	1783
43	James Duane	1784	1789
45	Richard Varick	1789	1801
46	Edward Livingston	1801	1803	Democratic-Republican
47	DeWitt Clinton	1803	1807
48	Marinus Willett	1807	1808
49	DeWitt Clinton	1808	1810	Democratic-Republican
50	Jacob Radcliff	1810	1811
51	DeWitt Clinton	1811	1815	Democratic-Republican
52	John Ferguson	1815	1815
53	Jacob Radcliff	1815	1818
54	Cadwallader D. Colden	1818	1821	Federalist
55	Stephen Allen	1821	1824
56	William Paulding, Jr.	1825	1826	Democratic
57	Philip Hone	1826	1827	Whig
58	William Paulding Jr.	1827	1829	Democratic
59	Walter Bowne	1829	1832
60	Gideon Lee	1833	1834

† (died in office)

Note

1. Peter Delanoy was the first and only directly-elected mayor of New York until 1834. Appointed mayors resumed in the wake of Leisler's Rebellion.

Popularly-elected mayors of the unconsolidated City

Under the Charter of 1834, mayors were elected annually. After 1849, they served two-year terms.

no.	Name	Starting year of Office	Ending year of Office	Political Party
61	Cornelius Van Wyck Lawrence	1834	1837	Democratic
62	Aaron Clark	1837	1839	Whig
63	Isaac Varian	1839	1841	Democratic
64	Robert Morris	1841	1844
65	James Harper	1844	1845	American Republican
66	William Havemeyer	1845	1846	Democratic
67	Andrew H. Mickle	1846	1847
68	William Brady	1847	1848	Whig
69	William Havemeyer	1848	1849	Democratic
70	Caleb Smith Woodhull	1849	1851	Whig
71	Ambrose Kingsland	1851	1853
72	Jacob Aaron Westervelt	1853	1855	Democratic
73	Fernando Wood	1855	1858
74	Daniel F. Tiemann	1858	1860	Coalition (People's Union, American, Democratic)
75	Fernando Wood	1860	1862	Democratic
76	George Opdyke	1862	1864	Republican
76	Charles Godfrey Gunther	1864	1866	Democratic
78	John T. Hoffman 1	1866	1868
Acting	Thomas Coman 1	1868 November 30	1869 January 4
79	Abraham Oakley Hall	1869	1872	Republican
80	William F. Havemeyer 2 †	1873	1874 November 30 †
Acting	Samuel B. H. Vance 2	1874 November 30	1874 December 31
81	William H. Wickham	1875	1876	Democratic
82	Smith Ely, Jr.	1877	1878
83	Edward Cooper	1879	1880
84	William Russell Grace	1881	1882	Democratic (anti-Tammany)
85	Franklin Edson	1883	1884	Democratic
86	William Russell Grace	1885	1886	Independent
87	Abram S. Hewitt	1887	1888	Democratic
88	Hugh L. Grant	1889	1892
89	Thomas F. Gilroy	1893	1894
90	William L. Strong	1895	1897	Fusion

† died in office

Notes

1. John T. Hoffman resigned after his election as Governor of New York state but before the end of his mayoral term. Thomas Coman, President of the Board of Aldermen, completed Hoffman's term as acting Mayor until his elected successor, A. Oakey Hall, took office.
2. William F. Havemeyer died during his last term of office. Samuel B. H. Vance, President of the Board of Aldermen, completed Havemeyer's term as acting Mayor until his elected successor, William H. Wickham took office.

Mayors since the 1898 Consolidation

The 1898-1901 term was for four years. The Charter was changed to make the Mayor's term a two-year one beginning in 1902, but after two such terms was changed back to resume four-year terms in 1906. George B. McClellan, Jr. thus served one two-year term from 1904 to 1905, during which he was elected to a four-year term from 1906 to 1909. See New York City mayoral elections#Terms and term limits (since 1834).

no.	Name	Start day and month	Start year	End day and month	End year	Time in office	Political Party
91	Robert A. Van Wyck	January 1	1898	December 31	1901	4 years	Democratic
92	Seth Low 1	January 1	1902	December 31	1903	2 years	Citizens Union/Republican/ Anti-Tammany Democratic
93	George B. McClellan, Jr.	January 1	1904	December 31	1909	6 years	Democratic
94	William Jay Gaynor 2 †	January 1	1910	September 10	1913 †	&100000000000000030000003 years, &10000000000000253000000253 days
Acting	Ardolph Loges Kline 3	September 10	1913	December 31	1913	113 days	Republican
95	John Purroy Mitchel	January 1	1914	December 31	1917	4 years	Fusion
96	John F. Hylan	January 1	1918	December 31	1925	8 years	Democratic
97	James J. Walker 4	January 1	1926	September 1	1932	&100000000000000060000006 years, &10000000000000244000000244 days
Acting	Joseph V. McKee 5	September 1	1932	December 31	1932	121 days
98	John P. O'Brien	January 1	1933	December 31	1933	1 year
99	Fiorello H. La Guardia	January 1	1934	December 31	1945	12 years	Republican / Fusion
100	William O'Dwyer 6	January 1	1946	August 31	1950	&100000000000000040000004 years, &10000000000000243000000243 days	Democratic
Acting	Vincent R. Impellitteri 7	August 31	1950	November 14	1950	75 days	Democratic (as acting mayor)
101		November 14	1950	December 31	1953	&100000000000000030000003 years, &1000000000000004800000048 days	Independent (as elected mayor)
102	Robert F. Wagner, Jr.	January 1	1954	December 31	1965	12 years	Democratic
103	John V. Lindsay	January 1	1966	December 31	1973	8 years	Republican / Liberal 1966–69; Liberal 1969–70; Democratic / Liberal 1970–73
104	Abraham D. Beame	January 1	1974	December 31	1977	4 years	Democratic
105	Edward I. Koch ♥	January 1	1978	December 31	1989	12 years
106	David N. Dinkins ♥	January 1	1990	December 31	1993	4 years
107	Rudolph W. Giuliani ♥	January 1	1994	December 31	2001	8 years	Republican
108	Michael R. Bloomberg ♥	January 1	2002				Republican 2002–07; Independent since 2007.

† died in office ; ♥ still living as of February 2012

Notes:

1. Seth Low previously served as Mayor of the City of Brooklyn from 1882 to 1885.
2. William Jay Gaynor died September 10, 1913.
3. Ardolph L. Kline, the unelected President of the Board of Aldermen, succeeded as acting Mayor upon William Gaynor's death, but then sought re-election as an Alderman (successfully) rather than election as Mayor. Kline has thus been the only mayor since 1834 never to win a city-wide election (having been appointed Vice President of the Board of Aldermen by his colleagues and then succeeding to the Presidency mid-term, rather than winning it by popular election at large).
4. James J. "Jimmy" Walker resigned September 1, 1932 and went to Europe, amid allegations of corruption in his administration.
5. Joseph V. McKee, as President of the Board of Aldermen, became Acting Mayor in Walker's place, but was then defeated in a special election by John P. O'Brien.
6. William O'Dwyer resigned August 31, 1950, during a police corruption scandal, when he was appointed Ambassador to Mexico by President Harry S. Truman.
7. Vincent R. Impellitteri, President of the New York City Council, became Acting Mayor when O'Dwyer resigned on August 31, 1950, and was then elected to the office in a special election held on November 7, 1950. He was inaugurated on November 14.

Living former mayors

As of January 2012, the three living former mayors were also the three who had served most recently, the oldest being Edward I. Koch (1978–1989, born 1924).

The most recent former mayor to die was Abraham D. Beame (1974–1977), on February 10, 2001, soon after the death of his predecessor John V. Lindsay (1966–1973) in December 2000. (Both died about a year before the present mayor, Michael Bloomberg, first took office.) Their immediate predecessors, Robert F. Wagner, Jr. (1954–1965) and Vincent Impellitteri (1950–1953), died respectively in 1993 and 1987, before the most recent former mayor, Rudolph Giuliani (1994–2001), had taken office.

Name	Date of birth	Term of office	Party	Former mayors alive at inauguration
Edward I. Koch	December 12, 1924	1978 to 1989	Democratic	Vincent Impellitteri†, Robert Wagner, John Lindsay, Abe Beame
David N. Dinkins	July 10, 1927	1990 to 1993	Democratic	Robert Wagner†, John Lindsay, Abe Beame, Ed Koch
Rudolph W. Giuliani	May 28, 1944	1994 to 2001	Republican	John Lindsay†, Abe Beame†, Ed Koch, David Dinkins
Michael Bloomberg (still serving)	February 14, 1942	since 2002	Republican/ Independent	Ed Koch, David Dinkins, Rudolph Giuliani

† died during this term

See also

• Election results for Mayor of New York
• History of New York City
• Mayors of the City of Brooklyn (1834–98)