Paper #2

The Legendary Robert Moses

Robert Moses was the “Master Builder” of mid-20^th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County.  He transformed the neighborhoods by changing the shorelines, building bridges, tunnels and roadways, etc.  He was never trained to be a planner, architect, lawyer, or engineer.  He attained unprecedented power without ever being elected to public office (en.wikipedia.org, 2011).  However, without him, there will be no Triborough Bridge, Jones Beach State Park, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Westside Highway, Long Island Parkway System, Niagara and St. Lawrence Power projects and the United Nations Headquarters, Lincoln Center, the New York Coliseum, and the 1964-1965 World's Fair facilities, and a lot more (Goldberger, 1981).  He built 658 playgrounds in New York City, 416 miles of parkways and 13 bridges.  He was not only a builder, but also a major theoretical influence on the shape of American cities.  His work in NYC proved a new model for the nation.  His vision of a city with highways and towers influenced the planning of the cities around the nation (Goldberger, 1981). 

Robert Moses was born on December 18, 1888 in New Haven, CT to a Jewish family of three children.  His father Emanuel Moses owned department store business and became a millionaire after he retired.  The family moved to New York City in 1897 after Emanuel’s retirement (en.wikipedia.org, 2011).  Robert Moses graduated from Yale University in 1909 at age of 21 (2 years younger than regular graduates), received a Master’s degree in political science from Oxford University in 1911, and a PhD from Columbia University in 1914 (Thomson, 2011).  Robert married Mary Louise Sims in 1915, and they had two daughters Barbara and Jane in their marriage (Thomson, 2011).  After his wife died in 1966, Moses married Mary Grady who was a staff member of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (Goldberger, 1981).  Moses’ family lived at 1 Gracie Terrace in Manhattan and a small house in Gilgo Beach in Long Island (Goldberger, 1981). 

Moses was appointed as a technical adviser to the Mayor John Puroy Mitchell’s Civil Service Commission in 1914.  He was removed from the office when Mayor Mitchell lost his re-election.  Moses worked briefly again with the Bureau of Municipal Research and the US Food Commission.  Then he became New York Governor Alfred Smith’s key adviser for a commission charged with reorganizing the state’s administrative structure in 1918-1924 (Thomson, 2011).  These experiences in practical politics prepared Moses to be the “Master Builder” later on in his life.

Moses started his first “Master Builder” work in 1924 when he was appointed by Gov. Smith to the presidency of the newly created Long Island State Park Commission (Thomson, 2011).  Moses fought for automobile highways and recreational facilities on Long Island.  Every success increased his power as a planner and a builder.  The Northern and Southern State Parkways on Long Island and the development of Jones Beach for Public recreation was a huge success (Wright, 2008).   He did enormous amount of work to modernize New York City in his career.  He had Tompkins Square Park designed with many small patches of green interrupted by curving walkways to prevent crowd gatherings (Wright, 2008).  The steel arched 2000-feet long Henry Hudson Bridge over the Harlem River was originally built by Robert Moses in 1936 (Wright, 2008).  Daniel Chester French’s statues of Manhattan and Brooklyn formerly stood near Manhattan Bridge on Brooklyn side were removed to the Brooklyn Museum due to Moses’ proposal of an expressway through lower Manhattan in 1960s (Wright, 2008).  Coney Island was originally settled by the Dutch.  Its golden age began around the 20^th century when Steeplechase Park, Luna Park, and Dreamland opened from 1897 to 1904.  It was very crowded from the 20’s to the 30’s.  However, the crowd started to thin down in the 40’s due to over-crowdedness.  Moses was the one to build parks and beaches to lure people to more salutary forms of entertainment in Coney Island and regained Coney Island’s popularity (Wright, 2008).  Flushing Meadows Corona Park was built from dump to the park of the first World’s Fair in 1939-40 by Robert Moses (Wright, 2008).  These are only few examples of Robert Moses’ master builder work.  

From 1924 to 1968, Moses occupied 12 positions, including NYC Parks Commissioner, head of the State Park’s Council, head of the State Power Commission and chairman of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority.  In these 44 years, he built parks, highways, bridge, playgrounds, housing, tunnels, dams, beaches, zoos, civil centers, exhibition halls, and the 1964-65 New York’s World’s Fair (Goldberger, 1981).

Throughout his career, Moses was pointed with pride of “getting things done” ability.  He gained his administrative power to get things done “his way.”  He was one of the most powerful figures in the 20’s.  Franklin Roosevelt had conflict with Moses during Gov. Smith’s administration.  When Roosevelt became the Governor in 1928, he could not remove Moses from his position in the park system which was appointed by former Gov. Smith (Thomson, 2011).  Moses’ growing network of political connection and his good relationship with Mayor Fiorello LaGuadia helped him going through the Great Depression and other political changes invulnerably.  He ran for Governor in 1934 which was defeated by his opponent Gov. Herbert H. Lehman (Goldberger, 1981).  He lost by an enormous margin due to his speeches with hostile attacks on his opponent.  After Lehman became the Governor, he was not able to remove Moses from his position, either.  When Roosevelt was the president of the United States, he attempted to remove Moses’ federal assistance for his $44 million Triborough Bridge project.  Moses was able to take the matter to the press and forced the administration to back down (Thomson, 2011).  Moses’ powerful management ability also allowed his projects survived through the great Depression and WW II.  Many officials believed that they could not have public projects built without Mr. Moses’ help.  Moses worked way pass his retirement age for state officials.  He was finally relieved from his final position – head of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority in 1968 when he was almost 80 years old.  Governor Rockefeller had to regularly sign special extensions to permit him to stay on the job (Goldberger, 1981). 

Moses once said: “Those who can, build; those who can’t, criticize” (Goldberger, 1981).  Sure enough, his reputation began to suffer when Robert Caro published the book “The Power Broker” in 1974.  This book was written for the newer approach to city planning and re-development.  It criticized Mr. Moses of destroying traditional fabric of urban neighborhood and callously removed neighborhood residents undergoing urban renewal of auto-mobilization (Goldberger, 1981).  This book was the only full-length biography of Moses ever.  The book won the Publizer Prize and got a great amount of attention from the public.  Moses was deeply hurt by this book.  He spent his remaining 13 yeas promoting his favorite projects and defending himself against the large scale autocratic planning opponents who held public attention in the 1970s (Thomson, 2011).  Later on, Moses understood the difference between him and the mainstream city planners and politicians. He published an autobiography of things he presented in 1969, which he called “Public Works: A Dangerous Trade” (Goldberger, 1981).  He was happier after that.

Robert Moses left behind millions acres of state parks, hundreds miles of parkways, more than a dozen of bridges, two dams, hundreds of playgrounds, and numerous historical public buildings.  He spread his urban public works through consultations in other cities in the nation.  His public authority power and impact are unique.  He was not a trained professional planner, but a genius political scientist eager to put his talent and education to work for the public welfare.  He only accepted salaries from a few of his positions.  Ironically, with all the parkways he built, he never learned to drive a car himself (Goldberger, 1981).  He is a great person to be remembered for his work, his effort, and his contribution to the neighborhood, the city, and the nation.  

 References

en.wikipedia.org. (2011, June 8). Retrieved June 23, 2011, from www.google.com.

Goldberger, P. (1981, July 30). Robert Moses, Master Builder, is Dead at 92. Retrieved June 23, 2011, from www.nytimes.com.

Thomson, G. (2011). Robert Moses Biography. Retrieved June 23, 2011, from http://www.bookrags.com/biography/robert-moses/.

Wright, C. v. (2008). Blue Guide New York. New York: Blue Guides Limited, a Sumerset Books Company.