Moses, Robert

Robert Moses (1888–1981) was a U.S. city planner who radically transformed the urban landscape of New York City and its suburbs during an impressive public service career that lasted more than half a century. Born December 18, 1888, in New Haven, Connecticut, a graduate of Yale, Oxford, and Columbia universities, he aspired to reform civil service and started working for the state and the city of New York in 1913.

In 1924, Moses was appointed chairman of the New York State Council of Parks and president of the Long Island State Park Commission, and for the next four decades, under various administrations and titles, he led the state's park system, holding up to 12 titles simultaneously. He expanded the park system, built a full network of parkways, and became famous for his expertise in public works planning and management.

In 1934, Moses lost the New York gubernatorial election and became head of the New York City Parks Department and the Triborough Bridge Authority, later consolidated into the Triborough Bridge and New York City Tunnel Authority. He held these positions until 1960 and 1968, respectively. From 1946 to 1965, he was New York City construction coordinator, and from 1948 to 1960, he chaired the mayor's Slum Clearance Committee. From 1960 to 1967, he presided over the New York World's Fair Corporation. He resigned from most of his state jobs in 1962 and retired in 1968, having executed public works costing a total of $27 billion.

Moses's achievements are monumental, and although his huge public-works projects shaped New York City into a 20th-century metropolis, his influence was not confined to the city and its suburbs. He built 35 highways, 12 bridges, 658 playgrounds, more than 2 million acres of parks, beaches such as Jones Beach and Orchard Beach, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Shea Stadium, numerous private and public housing projects, hydroelectric dams, and the 1964 New York World's Fair. Although he never obtained a driver's license, he played a vital role in favoring the domination of the car culture to the detriment of other modes of transportation.

Despite Moses's achievements, his autocratic power became controversial, and his reputation waned in the 1960s as people like Jane Jacobs emphasized the qualities of traditional neighborhoods in opposition to large urban renewal projects. Moses was criticized for having dispossessed hundreds of thousands of low-income people through eminent domain and having obliterated entire neighborhoods such as the South Bronx to realize his projects. The publication of The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro in 1974 furthered Moses's negative image and left him isolated. Moses died July 29, 1981, in West Islip, New York.

Notwithstanding the great dissent he fostered, Moses's legacy remains considerable. His bitterest critic, Lewis Mumford, claimed that Moses's influence on American cities was likely greater than anyone else's in the 20th century.