Six decades before his son Donald tore down the East Wing of the White House, Fred Trump sent out engraved invitations to take part in a big demolition of his own.

The invites were for a “V.I.P. Farewell Ceremony” at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 1966, at Steeplechase Park in Coney Island.

The guests arrived to see Fred outside the park’s Pavilion of Fun, with the vast, smiling face painted on its glass facade. He was holding an ax as he posed for news photos in front of an earth mover. Four beaming fashion models stood in the loader, two in bikinis, all in white hard hats.

Champagne was served. Waiters in black tie distributed bricks on silver trays. The big moment approached.

Fred had purchased the shuttered amusement park the year before with the intention of building seaside apartment towers. The area was not zoned for residential construction, but Fred had previously overcome such obstacles simply by reaching out to his friends in the Brooklyn Democratic machine.

But, later in 1965, New York City elected John Lindsay as its........

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