Robert Ferdinand Wagner II (April 20, 1910 – February 12, 1991) was an American diplomat and politician who served three terms as the mayor of New York City from 1954 through 1965.

When running for his third term, he broke with the Tammany Hall leadership, ending the clubhouse's reign in city politics.

He resigned his seat on January 13, 1942, and joined the Army Air Corps to fight in World War II, where he served as an intelligence officer.

[2] Wagner held the rank of lieutenant colonel with the 19th Tactical Air Command and was awarded a Bronze Star Medal.

[2] Although New York City Comptroller Lazarus Joseph usually sided in the New York City Board of Estimate with Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri during the latter's term in office, Joseph supported Wagner for the Democratic nomination for mayor in the 1953 primary election, calling Wagner a "sure winner.

"[4] His nomination and election as New York City mayor in 1953 caused a rift in the Democratic Party, and instigated a long-standing feud between Eleanor Roosevelt and Carmine DeSapio, Boss of Tammany Hall.

In January 1957, President Eisenhower invited King Saud to the United States to discuss strategies for resolving the Suez crisis.

However, when he sought a third term in 1961, Wagner broke with DeSapio and won the Democratic primary anyway, beginning the decline of machine politics in New York City.

[1] A 1993 survey of historians, political scientists, and urban experts conducted by Melvin G. Holli of the University of Illinois at Chicago ranked Wagner as the seventeenth-best American big-city mayor to have served between the years 1820 and 1993.

In 1978 he was appointed by Jimmy Carter to be his representative to the Vatican, where the College of Cardinals had recently elected John Paul II.

By all accounts, the two had a very happy marriage, and although Susan was not particularly fond of politics, she enjoyed traveling with her husband and meeting many famous people.

[1] His funeral mass was offered by Cardinal William Wakefield Baum at St. Patrick's Cathedral, and he was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Maspeth, Queens.