Mayor of Indianapolis

Unknown photographer, Portrait of Richard G. Lugar as Mayor of Indianapolis, circa 1968.

Historian Edward Frantz has stated that Indianapolis has elected a series of talented mayors with vision, the first of these being Richard Lugar. Lugar served two terms as mayor of Indianapolis, first defeating the Democratic incumbent John Barton in 1967 and then winning a bid for re-election in 1971.

Lugar has been called a visionary for urban renewal. He himself has commented, “I envisioned Indianapolis as one of the great cities of America.” He began to enact his vision immediately upon taking office, spending his first official day as mayor, January 1, 1968,  fulfilling a campaign promise to close down environmentally unfriendly trash dumps. He later established a task force that created thousands of jobs, initiated summer programs for young people, and carried out maintenance and beautification projects.

Official mayoral ID card.

A crucial aspect of his tenure as mayor was his ability to develop relationships with others. On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Lugar had been mayor for only three months, and Indianapolis had a troubled racial history. But it was one of the few cities in the country not to explode during the crisis. In part, this was because Robert Kennedy was campaigning in Indianapolis that day and he delivered an impassioned speech to the assembled crowd. But Lugar also credits black activists such as Snooky Hendricks and Ben Bell with keeping the peace. Lugar had become close to them during his mayoral campaign, and they were present when Kennedy gave his speech. Because of their friendly relations with Lugar, Hendricks and Bell worked to maintain calm among the crowd.