For other people named Robert Moses, see Robert Moses (disambiguation).
Robert Moses
Moses in 1939 with a model of his proposed Battery Bridge
49th Secretary of State of New York
In office January 17, 1927 – January 1, 1929
Governor
Al Smith
Preceded by
Florence E. S. Knapp
Succeeded by
Edward J. Flynn
1st Chairman of the New York State Council of Parks
In office 1924–1963
Preceded by
Position established
Succeeded by
Laurance Rockefeller
1st Commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
In office January 18, 1934 – May 23, 1960
Appointed by
Fiorello H. La Guardia
William O'Dwyer
Vincent R. Impellitteri
Robert F. Wagner Jr.
Preceded by
Position established
Succeeded by
Newbold Morris
Personal details
Born
(1888-12-18)December 18, 1888 New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
Died
July 29, 1981(1981-07-29) (aged 92) West Islip, New York, U.S.
Resting place
Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York
Political party
Republican[1]
Spouses
Mary Sims
(m. 1915; died 1966)
Mary Alicia Grady
(m. 1966)
Children
2
Education
Yale University (BA)
Wadham College, Oxford (BA, MA)
Columbia University (PhD)
Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid-20th century. Moses is regarded as one of the most powerful and influential people in the history of New York City and New York State. The grand scale of his infrastructure projects and his philosophy of urban development influenced a generation of engineers, architects, and urban planners across the United States.[2]
Never elected to any office, Moses held various positions throughout his more-than-40-year career. He held as many as 12 titles at once, including New York City Parks Commissioner and chairman of the Long Island State Park Commission.[3] By working closely with New York governor Al Smith early in his career, he became expert in writing laws and navigating and manipulating the workings of state government. He created and led numerous semi-autonomous public authorities, through which he controlled millions of dollars in revenue and directly issued bonds to fund new ventures with little outside input or oversight.
Moses's projects transformed the New York area and revolutionized the way cities in the U.S. were designed and built. As Long Island State Park Commissioner, Moses oversaw the construction of Jones Beach State Park, the most-visited public beach in the United States,[4] and was the primary architect of the New York State Parkway System. As head of the Triborough Bridge Authority, Moses had near-complete control over bridges and tunnels in New York City as well as the tolls collected from them; he built, among others, the Triborough Bridge, the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel, and the Throgs Neck Bridge, as well as several major highways. These roadways and bridges, alongside urban renewal efforts that destroyed huge swaths of tenement housing and replaced them with large public housing projects, transformed the physical fabric of New York and inspired other cities to undertake similar development endeavors.
Moses's reputation declined after the publication of Robert Caro's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography The Power Broker (1974), which cast doubt on the purported benefits of many of Moses's projects and further cast Moses as racist. In large part because of The Power Broker,[5] Moses is today considered a controversial figure in the history of New York City.
^Robert Caro, The Power Broker, 1975.
^Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Sarachan, Sydney (January 17, 2013). "The legacy of Robert Moses". Need to Know | PBS. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
^"Jones Beach". Long Island Exchange. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
^Burkeman, Oliver (October 23, 2015). "Review: The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
RobertMoses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during...
The Power Broker: RobertMoses and the Fall of New York is a 1974 biography of RobertMoses by Robert Caro. The book focuses on the creation and use of...
The RobertMoses Causeway is an 8.10-mile-long (13.04 km) controlled-access parkway in Suffolk County, New York on Long Island. It is named for the master...
The RobertMoses Niagara Hydroelectric Power Station is a hydroelectric power station in Lewiston, New York, near Niagara Falls. Owned and operated by...
wrote The Power Broker (1974), a biography of New York urban planner RobertMoses, which was chosen by the Modern Library as one of the hundred greatest...
RobertMoses State Park - Long Island is a 875-acre (3.54 km2) state park in southern Suffolk County, New York. The park lies on the western end of Fire...
complicated legacy of RobertMoses". Curbed. Retrieved May 19, 2020. "Edward Norton on Why He Placed 'Motherless Brooklyn' in RobertMoses' New York". "'Motherless...
Rockefeller, coordinated efforts with the Coordinator of Construction, RobertMoses, and Mayor William O'Dwyer, to assemble acceptable interim facilities...
RobertMoses "Lefty" Grove (March 6, 1900 – May 22, 1975) was an American professional baseball pitcher. After having success in the minor leagues during...
RobertMoses Playground is a 1.3-acre (0.53 ha) playground and park in Manhattan, New York City. It is located in the Murray Hill neighborhood on First...
1953. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 27, 2018. Caro, Robert (1974). The Power Broker: RobertMoses and the Fall of New York. New York: Knopf. ISBN 978-0-394-48076-3...
Moses was a Hebrew teacher and leader considered the most important prophet in Judaism and one of the most important prophets in Christianity, Islam,...
decline in the early 20th century, New York City parks commissioner RobertMoses started a program to clean up Central Park in the 1930s. The Central...
York". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 July 2022. "Ralph Fiennes To Star As RobertMoses In New York Staging Of David Hare's 'Straight Line Crazy'; Nicholas Hytner...
the 19th century and half of the 20th century, to cronyism during the RobertMoses era. The shape of New York City's transportation system changed as the...
September 23, 2010. "RobertMoses Causeway Historic Overview". Eastern Roads. Retrieved March 28, 2011. This final link of the RobertMoses Causeway opened...
neighborhoods from urban renewal and slum clearance, in particular plans by RobertMoses to overhaul her own Greenwich Village neighborhood. She was instrumental...
London. In the play, Fiennes portrays New York's legendary urban planner RobertMoses. His performance has received rave reviews with Variety declaring, "Fiennes...
Embury frequently worked with RobertMoses in the latter's various city and state capacities, especially, early on, in Moses’ capacity as New York City Parks...
ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 12, 2017. RobertMoses' proposal Archived 2020-10-04 at the Wayback Machine. "RobertMoses' Highway and Housing Proposal, 1975"...
and Georges-Eugene Haussmann in Paris planned cities from scratch, and RobertMoses and Le Corbusier refurbished and transformed cities and neighborhoods...
Global Information