Co-sponsored by LaGuardia and Wagner Archives

In the 1960s, the Village Independent Democrats (VID) was arguably the most powerful local political club in the nation. Based in Greenwich Village, the club emerged in 1956 in the wake of Adlai Stevenson’s unsuccessful campaign for president. 

In 2023, VID donated their archives to Village Preservation. The collection, digitized and accessible online, chronicles the origins of the club, the epic battles against DeSapio, the rise of the political careers of Ed Koch and Carol Greitzer, and VID’s involvement in community affairs, such as the battle against Robert Moses’s plan to expand Fifth Avenue through Washington Square Park in the 1950s. Join us for a discussion on the Village Independent Democrats and their initiatives to reform the Democratic Party and spark civic participation in Greenwich Village politics.