The power broker : Robert Moses and the fall of New York
Page 187
North Shore Almanack: Sept. 27, 1934. "No one questioned" and crucial meeting: Davison. "None can say": Buffalo Evening News, Sept. 29, 1929. "One of the most hectic": Rochester Times-Union, Sept. 20, 1934. "At last!": WT, Sept. 29, 1934. RM had written most of the platform himself: Davison.
"Some kind of a record": Windels. "A fearful row": Davison. Rabinowitz dinner party: Rabinowitz. Feeling of RM's old associates: Rabinowitz, Proskauer, McGoldrick.
First press conference: WT, Oct. 2, 1934; HT, Oct. 3, 1934, is best. LaG "support": One typical headline, in NYT, Oct. 2, 1934, said: "Moses Confident of La Guardia Aid." He also said, when cornered, "The Mayor doesn't talk much politics. He doesn't to me."
Upstate tour disaster: WT, Oct. 25, 27, 1934; Fearon, Davison. Campaign plans: Davison.
First speech: Best in Brooklyn Eagle, Oct. 5, 1934. The Union League Club had recently called for a "justifiable war upon the New Deal theorists" (Mitgang, p. 332). Disparaging remarks about Jews: Windels heard them.
Threatened to sue Jewish Encyclopedia: Confidential source. McGoldrick's shock: McGoldrick. Shuls in the Bronx: When the author—thirty-five years after the gubernatorial campaign—interviewed Bronx Jews for the "One Mile" chapter, many vividly recalled Moses "trying to say he wasn't Jewish."
"These stuffed shirts": WT, Oct. 5, 1934. "I am a liberal": RM at press conference reported in HT, Oct. 3, 1934.
RM on Lehman: Dangerous Trade, p. 878; RM interview. Donating million to depositors: RM.
Notes for pages 413^29
"Moses Calls Lehman Weak": HT,
Oct. 10, 1934. "Stupid": American, Oct. 14. "Puppet": Post, Oct. 16. "Respectable front": NYT, Oct. 24.
Lehman handled Moses just right: Proskauer, Davison. And Moses knew it: "I made an honest campaign and pulled no punches, which meant little in view of Governor Lehman's strategy, dictated by clever campaign managers, to keep out of range and avoid any real infighting," he wrote in Dangerous Trade, p. 883. Speech in Binghamton: Text in HT, Oct. 25, 1934. "Cannot dispose of: Brooklyn Eagle, Oct. 5, 1934.
Court of Claims corruption: NYT, Oct. 26, 1934. City Trust report: HT, Oct. 14. In an interview with the author, RM admitted this charge was false. O'Connells: RM quoted in WT, Nov. 1. Accusing Lehman of being utilities' ally: Full text of charge in HT, Oct. 25. "Scrupulous": Nevins, p. 153. O'Ryan: NYT, Oct. 28. Cluett's campaign manager Charles E. Cole: WT, Nov. 2; Mc-Goldrick. WT editorial: Nov. 3. Libel insurance: Davison.
RM on Farley: HT, Oct. 31, 1934. On O'Connor: HT, Oct. 30; NYT, Nov. 3. On Seabury: HT, Nov. 4. On Copeland: HT, Oct. 24. On Tremaine: HT, Oct. 24. On Straus: HT, Oct. 27. Straus's friends: Rabinowitz. On Murray: HT, Oct. 16 (italics added). Flynn reply: HT, Nov. 3.
RM and Smith: The source has asked that he not be identified. Smith's feelings: Emily Smith Warner. Dinner party: Proskauer, who was the host. One observer: McGoldrick. Reporter: Julian Grey Mason in The North Shore Almanack, Oct. 11, 1934. "He made no gestures": WT, Oct. 28. How he affected audiences: McGoldrick, who sat behind him on the platform during speeches. "More attacks on personalities": NYT, Nov. 4.
Election results: HT called it: "The greatest defeat the Republican Party has ever suffered in this state. . . . Mr. Moses . . . suffered the worst defeat of all Republicans who ever ran for Governor in this state." Political reporters astonished: Moscow interview.
"An attempt to swim up Niagara": RM interview in HT, Nov. 7, 1934. Lehman on RM: Rodgers, p. 224. "He was terribly sensitive": RM.
22. Order Number 129
SOURCES
Books, articles and documents:
Ickes, The Secret Diary of Harold L.
L201
Ickes, Vol. I: The 1 rsi Thousand D
I( JJ3-i936 (Ickes furnishes 1:; tails, however, in "Mv Twelve with F.D.R.," 7 Uurda)
Post, June 26, 194K); Moses, Dangei Trade; Rodgers, Robert Moses Schkt-inger, The Age of Roosevelt, Vol. II: The Coming of the New Deal.
La Guardia, Price and FDR Papers.
William D. Guthrie, "Opinion of Counsel as to the Legality of Order No. 129 issued under date of December 26, 1934, by Hon. Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior, as Administrator of the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, if intended or held to be applicable to the pending Loan Agreement dated September 1, 1933, between The United States of America and the Triborough Bridge Authority" . . . March 11, I935-
Oral History Reminiscences:
Frances Perkins, Joseph M. Price.
Author's interviews:
Howard S. Cullman, Reuben A. Lazarus, Sidney M. Shapiro, Paul Windels.
NOTES
"I don't trust him": FDR quoted in Frances Perkins OHR, Vol. Ill, p. 372.
LaG's thinking: Windels, Lazarus.
"LaG regretted the situation": Ickes, pp. 148-49. RM threatens to resign from both positions: RM later revealed he had said this to LaG; NYT, Jan. 4, 1935.
Berle telegram: Mar. 1, 1934. FDR replied the next day: "I love your suggestion that Bob Moses' real name is the due d'Enghien. Also, though I do not mind your calling me Caesar, I hate your suggestion about Napoleon! As a matter of fact, the case of your friend, the due, is in no sense a personal one . . . ," FDR Papers. Roosevelt "implacable": Ickes to Burlingham, Aug. 13, 1948, quoted in Moses, Dangerous Trade, pp. 181-82. Farley and Howe urging FDR on: Ickes, p. 148. LaG stalling, Ickes threatening: Ickes, p. 229. "It seems that Moses is a bitterly persistent enemy of the President's, and the President has a feeling of dislike of him that I haven't seen him express with respect to any other person," he diaried. "He would make promises": Ickes, p. 267; Windels. "Naturally I had to declare a truce": Ickes, p. 229. A further threat. He wrote this in his diary on Nov. 23, 1934 (p. 229).
"Almost the incarnation": Schlesinger,
Notes for pages 429-443
1202
p. 282. "A modern Horatius": Rodgers, p. 100. Ickes telephoning LaG: Ickes, p. 229.
Order Number 129; assurance it would not apply to Post: Windels. "The President helped me draft this order," and discussed it personally with LaG: Ickes, p. 268. LaG shows order to RM: RM, Windels, Lazarus. RM's narration: Statement issued Jan. 3, 1935, printed in newspapers the following day.
"I had to lie": Ickes, p. 268. One of his advisers: Lazarus. Resolutions: LaG Papers; various newspapers. "Our Mayor has . . . crawled": Edward M. Chase, Mar. 4, 1935, printed in HT, Mar. 5. "A crooked course": Ickes, p. 268.
"I need steel": LaG quoted in HT, Jan. 5, 1935. Shouldering through reporters: NYT, Jan. 9, 1935. Reasonable men; "at least Post is on the high seas": LaG in, for example, HT, Jan. 5. "Making a martyr out of him": Ickes, "My Twelve Years with F.D.R.," p. 83. "At PWA headquarters": HT, Jan 17, 1935.
The definitive word: Burlingham to LaG, Feb. 15, 1935, Price Papers. Price and FDR: Price to FDR, Jan. 30, 1935; FDR to Price, Feb. 2, 1935; Price Papers; FDR Papers. The mail tally: FDR Papers. Burlingham to FDR: Feb. 22, 1935, Price Papers. "Almost a national issue": Ickes, "My Twelve Years with F.D.R.," p. 82. Krock: NYT, Jan. 25, 1935. Lippmann: HT, Jan. 24, 1935.
Huey Long: HT, Mar. 7, 1935. An in-depth series on RM in PM, by John K. Weiss, says that one reason FDR backed down is that Long threatened to release RM's figures on Farley.
"An arbitrary and capricious fiat": Guthrie brief, p. 13. Price: Quoted in Rodgers, p. 102. Price also related the conversation he said he had with the President to Windels and Lazarus. "The President, I know": Ickes, p. 291. Secret meeting between FDR and LaG: No account of this can be found in the Secret Diary, but Ickes states that it took place in "My Twelve Years with F.D.R.," p. 83. Hiding behind the shades: Windels. The letter stratagem: Ickes, "My Twelve Years with F.D.R.," p. 83. The letters made public are quoted in the press, Mar. 12, 1935. Smith stepping in: RM, Cullman; Ickes, p. 317. Ickes reminiscing to Burlingham: "A dozen years after the dedication of the Triborough Bridge," RM wrote in Dangerous Trade (p. 181), "I received [from Burlingham] a letter which threw some additional light on the impact of Mr. Ickes' curious char-
Sara Delano Roosevelt Park: Windels, Shapiro.
Triborough Bridge opening ceremony: "It is very small indeed": Ickes, p. 623. "I understand that there will be a national hookup": Ickes to FDR, June 23, 1936, FDR Papers. Handwriting on the letter, probably that of Marvin Mclntyre, mentions that RM had previously invited FDR. FDR's memo: FDR to Ickes, June 25, 1936, FDR Papers. RM promises not to introduce the President, gives him six minutes: Windels. Ickes overwhelmed by RM's charm: Ickes, pp. 636-37.
23. In the Saddle
SOURCES
Books, articles and documents:
Catledge, My Life and the Times; Cuneo, Life with Fiorello; Fowler, Beau James; Garrett, The La Guardia Years; Gluck, My Story; Ickes, The Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes, Vol. I: The First Thousand Days, 1933-1936; La Guardia, The Making of an Insurgent; Limpus and Ley son, This Man La Guardia; Mann, La Guardia: A Fighter Against His Times and La Guardia Comes to Power; Morris, Let the Chips Fall; Moses, Dangerous Trade, La Guardia: A Salute and a Memoir and Working for the People; Rankin, New York Advancing: I 934~35 and World's Fair Edition and Victory Edition; Rodgers, Robert Moses; Talese, The Kingdom and the Power; Tugwell, The Art of Politics; Whalen, Mr. New York; WPA, New York City Guide and New York Panorama; Zinn, La Guardia in Congress.
Among scores of magazine articles and reports, in particular: Hubert Herring, "Robert Moses and His Parks," Harper's, Dec. 1937; Moses, "Municipal Recreation," American Architect and Architecture, Nov. 1936; Moses, "The Changing City," Architectural Forum, Mar. 1940; New York City Park Department, Park Progress reports, 1937, 1939, 1941; "New York's Mr. Moses," Common weal, Mar. 14, 1941; "Pattern for Parks," Architectural Forum, Dec. 1936; "Robert (Or-I'll-Resign) Moses," Fortune, June 1938; Triborough Bridge Authority, "Fifth Anniversary of the Opening of the Triborough Bridge," June II, 1941; O. G. Villard, "Great Public Servant," The Nation, Oct. 17, 1934.
Notes for pages 445-458
Davison, Exton, La Guardia, Morgen-thau and FDR Papers. Park Department Files.
Oral History Reminiscences:
Charles C. Burlingham, Stanley M. Isaacs, Marie Fischer La Guardia, Reuben A. Lazarus, Newbold Morris, Paul Windels.
Author's interviews:
Adolf A. Berle, Jr., Walter D. Binger, William C. Chanler, Ernest J. Clark, Gilmore Clarke, Jackson Dykman, William Exton, Jr., George R. Fearon, William McD. Griffin, Joseph T. Ingraham, Saul Kaplan, Paul J. Kern, Jacob Lutsky, Michael J. Madigan, Joseph D. McGold-rick, F. Dodd McHugh, John Mulcahy, Lawrence M. Orton, Wallace Sayre, Sidney M. Shapiro, Florence Shientag, P. Fearson Shortridge, Ole Singstad, Iphi-gene Ochs Sulzberger, Rexford G. Tug-well, Robert C. Weinberg, Samuel White, Paul Windels.
Author's correspondence: William Fel-lowes Morgan, Nov. 18, 1967.
NOTES
"Treated his commissioners like dogs":
Tugwell, pp. 96-97. Peering between fingers: Lazarus, Windels. "Boners": Garrett, p. 130; Lazarus. "If you were any dumber": Moses, La Guardia, p. 30. Turnover unprecedented: Tugwell, p. 97. Firing secretary: Lazarus. Sealing commissioners' files: McGoldrick, confidential source.
LaG-RM relationship: General picture from interviews with Berle, Binger, Chanler, Kern, Lazarus, Madigan, McGoldrick, Orton, Sayre, Shientag, Tugwell, confidential sources. Sending Andrews: Lazarus, Windels. "Come to blows": Confidential source. RM's nicknames for LaG: Madigan, Lazarus, Windels. "His Grace": McGoldrick, Windels. Resignation threats: Kern, Lazarus, McGoldrick, Windels. LaG dropping investigation: Dykman.
Astoria ferry: By coincidence, The New Yorker had a writer on the very ferry which found its slip being destroyed when it returned, and Madigan was in Kracke's office when the first call to Kracke came in: The New Yorker, Aug. 1, 1936; Madigan. Other descriptions of event: NYT, HT, July 23, 1936. Later developments: NYT, July 30, 1936; HT, Aug. 1. RM's earlier attempts to force action: RM to Kracke, Feb. 4, 1936; Kracke to RM, Feb. 10; RM to
Kracke, Feb. 11; to RM I
14; RM to Kracke Fel [8, June to Wharton Green ■< ideal project
gineer, Triborough uthonty, July
23; all in PD Files.
Burlingham on "brutalities": Quoted in Mann, La Guardia Comes to Power, p. 30. "Nurtured that like a plant": Mis LaG OHR. "You'd see the two of them": Madigan. "That's the way you get thinus done": Shientag.
Playing on LaG's enthusiasm for engineering; constantly pressing him to go on tours: The LaG Papers are filled with RM invitations; Madigan states that RM realized—and deliberately played on— LaG's enthusiasm. "Stood like a child": Kern. Chinning himself on the fence: Picture in PD Files. Watching lift span hoisted: HT, May 4, 1936. "The greatest engineer in the world": HT, July 26,
1936, for example.
Playground openings: The LaG Papers contain sheafs of photographs taken by RM's photographers to remind the Mayor of the scenes of which he had been the centerpiece. RM even had the photographers take pictures, from directly in front of the platform, of the faces of listeners staring up at the Mayor and sent those to LaG, too, to heighten the effect. John Mulcahy and Samuel White, two Park Department officials, outlined for the author the elaborate preparations that went into these openings; White was in charge of the chrysanthemums, which he would have loaded onto trucks the minute a ceremony was over and rushed to another ceremony that the Mayor was scheduled to attend later that day. Of innumerable newspaper accounts of these events, those in NYT, July 27, 1935 (the "Babe Ruth opening"), and July 21,
1937, and in HT, July 16 and Aug. 12, 1934, are particularly detailed. LaG's unmitigated delight in the pageantry was related to the author by, among others, Kern. Glowering at the organ grinders: Shapiro.
Swimming pools: "Moses," Fortune, June 1938. Hopkins quote: NYT, July 3, 1936. "The best thing": RM to LaG, May 26, 1936, LaG Papers.
RM and the press: The author, as a reporter for Newsday during the 1960's, observed personally the lengths RM went to in order to charm and entertain News-day's publishers and key editors and reporters. Left-wing leaflets: Shapiro. Merz: Ingraham. Ingraham believes—and Shapiro's reply when the author questioned him about the statement was a wordless, sly smile—that RM selected the building
Notes for pages 458-473
1204
next to Merz's deliberately, wanting one where he could casually "drop in" on Merz, but feeling that moving into the very same building would be too obvious. Emphasis on reporters: Shapiro explained how RM learned this from Mrs. Mos-kowitz.
NYT; Ochs: See "Notes," Chapter n. Sheeny had never been in Central Park: Mrs. Sulzberger. Giving him the scroll: NYT and HT, Jan. 19, 1935. Her view of RM: Mrs. Sulzberger. Not that she always agreed: Mrs. Sulzberger. "Iphigene gave us many arguments": Madigan. Great lawn: DN charged, on Feb. 7, 1935, that "he did knuckle under to Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger (daughter of Adolph Ochs), the landscape architects and wealthy residents in the matter of the lower reservoir site in Central Park. . . . Moses resurrected the 'Great Lawn for Play' scheme at [their] behest. These people were acting in good faith. They honestly believed that the parks should be for trees, shrubs and rich or middle class people, just as we honestly believe that they should be for children and poor people primarily." Shapiro confirms that it was Mrs. Sulzberger's feelings that were decisive.
Taking her to In wood Hill: Madigan. The quarrel: Mrs. Sulzberger to RM, Dec. 23, 1935; RM to Mrs. Sulzberger, Dec. 24, 1935—both printed in NYT, Dec. 25, 1935. "Now you tell her you're sorry": Mrs. Sulzberger. Public apology: Mrs. Sulzberger to RM, Jan. 2, 1936, printed in NYT, Jan. 4.
Influence on NYT: Talese, pp. 15-16; Catledge, p. 222. NYT's special treatment of RM: Author's analysis of articles and editorials. Mrs. Sulzberger visiting LaG's office: Mrs. Sulzberger.
LaG "didn't dare" fire him: Kern. "What'H the Times say?": Windels, Lazarus. "Stop interfering": Numerous letters from RM to LaG aides, mostly to Deputy Mayor Henry H. Curran, who had been assigned as liais
on with various departments, in LaG Papers, particularly in folders marked "Parks, Department of—1934" and "Parks, Department of —1935." Threats to resign: For example, RM to LaG, June 9, 1934, LaG Papers. Let him have his way: Numerous letters in LaG Papers, PD Files. Coney Island tract: Brooklyn Eagle, date missing; HT, June 22, 1934. Other reasons why it was unfeasible for LaG to crack down on RM: Analysis by Windels, Lazarus, Berle, Jacob Lutsky, Kern, McGoldrick. "You've got to understand": Lutsky.
Size of federal contribution: Deputy
Comptroller William E. Wilson to LaG, Oct. 17, 1937, LaG Papers (a complete tabulation requested by the Mayor).
RM's relationship with State Legislature: Interviews with Fear on, Kaplan, Lazarus, Windels and various legislators who wish to remain anonymous. Patronage; "a practical fellow": Kaplan, confirmed by various confidential sources. Upstaters distrusted LaG: Windels, Lazarus. RM making himself the broker: Typical letter showing this—one of many in LaG Papers—are RM to LaG and RM to Fearon, Jan. 12, 1934. An inoffensive bill: Lazarus.
24. Driving
SOURCES
See "Sources" for Chapter 23. Also, author's interviews with Richard S. Childs and Jeremiah Evarts.
NOTES
Municipal Art Commission: Charter, Section 637. Submitted on very day:
Childs; HT, Jan. 2, 1937.
Insinuations about Corporation Counsel: RM to Windels, May 8, 1936, LaG Papers.
Stepping up the pressure: Telegrams between Windels and RM, May 7, 1936, LaG Papers. Not only Windels but McGoldrick, Lazarus, Sayre and several confidential sources described RM's use of this technique to the author.
Matthewson episode: NYT, June 21, 1934; HT, June 22, 24, 28; NYT, Dec. 22.
Kern episode: Almost a member of the family: Windels. "I was a Moses fanatic": Kern. Refusing to allow RM to circumvent regulations: Kern, Sayre. Among many conflicts documented in the LaG Papers, one specific issue—RM's attempt to have the WPA pay several employees $90 per month as "electrician foremen" at the same time that the city was paying them $150 per month as civil service "public address operators" —is unfolded in Nov. 10, 1938, George Spargo memo (recipient not indicated); RM to LaG, Nov. 11, 1938; LaG to RM, Nov. 16, 1938; Dayton to LaG, Nov. 29, 1938; LaG Papers. Lying to LaG about Kern: The lie is documented in RM to LaG, Feb. 1 and Apr. 7, 1938; LaG to RM, Apr. 12, 1938; RM to LaG Apr. 29, 1938; LaG to Kern, Kern to LaG, Apr. 2 9, 1938. The last was furnished to the author by Kern; the others are in the