Date finished 05 Apr 2021
Recommendation: 7/10
How the unelected Robert Moses built an empire of public authorities that gave him the power to defy Mayors, Governors and a President. The power to shape New York to his own will, which became the end unto itself. This book is a masterpiece; it speaks to Caro’s genius that pages and pages on politics, the passing of bills and construction can read ‘almost’ like a thriller. It’s heavy going but provides an outstanding insight into how Moses began to appreciate the need for power in order to get things done, and how that power corrupts.
After losing his job, having not made his dreams a reality “… idealism was gone from the stage. In its place was an understanding that ideas – dreams – were useless without power to transform them into reality.”
Working to reform the civil service, encounters subversive but not open opposition from the authorities. Delay tactics.
Moving from being theoretical (forward thinking ideas) to practical (getting things done, compromise). Under Mrs Moskowitz.
Relationship with Al Smith, another remarkable character. Coming from poverty, becoming a champion of reform.
He became a creature of the machine.
Misleading and underestimating, in fact, might be the only way to get a project started.
Systems Thinking example. Moses’ bridges were intended to alleviate traffic problems but saw increased traffic and led to new congestion. New bridges were built but it continued to get worse. p519.
“By dumping a tremendous new load on the long island parkways, the Bronx Whitestone bridge made the traffic tie-ups on the noticeably worse.“
“One must wait until the evening, to see how beautiful the day has been” - Sophocles
“As long as you’re on the side of parks, you’re on the side of the angels. You can’t lose.“
“Once you sync that first stake, they’ll never make you pull it up“.
“Hospitality has always been a potent political weapon. Moses used it like a master. Coupled with his overpowering personality, a buffet often did as much for a proposal as a bribe.”
“Science, knowledge, logic and brilliance might be useful tools but they didn’t build highways or civil service systems. Power built highways and civil service systems. Power was what dreams needed, not power in the hand of the dreamer himself necessarily but power put behind the dreamer’s dream by the man who it to put there, power that he termed “executive support”.”
Used in Albany “You can get an awful lot done in the world if you’re willing to let someone else take the credit for it.”
“Politics is a thieves game. Those who stay in it long enough are invariably robbed.”
“Bob Moses had learned what was needed to make dreams become realities. He had learned the lesson of power. And now he grabbed for power with both hands. To free his hands for the grab, he shook impatiently from them the last crumbs of the principles with which he had entered public service and for which, during his years of idealism, he had fought so hard.”
“…his success in public relations had been due primarily to his masterful utilization of a single public relations technique: identifying himself with a popular cause. This technique was especially advantageous to him because his philosophy–that accomplishment, Getting Things Done, is the only thing that matters, that the end justifies any means, however ruthless–might not be universally popular. By keeping the public eye focused on the cause, the end, the ultimate benefit to be obtained, the technique kept the public eye from focusing on the methods by which the method was to be obtained.”