The power broker : Robert Moses and the fall of New York
Page 189
Harper's: Herring, "Robert Moses and His Parks," Dec. 1937. Time: Oct. 17, 1938. The Saturday Evening Post: "From Dump to Glory," Jan. 15, 1938. Architectural Forum: "Pattern for Parks," Dec. 1936. Fortune: "Robert (Or-I'll-Re-sign) Moses," June 1938.
Boston award: NYT, Feb. 5, 1942. Reading speeches over telephone: A description of him doing so in NYT, Feb. 5, 1942. Stored in packing cases: Nettie Greenberg. Shore and Beach Preservation Society: HT, Sept. 12, 1939. Hartsfield: Brooklyn Eagle, May 26, 1939. More miles of through highways than in next five largest cities combined: Statistics furnished by BPR Library.
"Kidnap Robert Moses": "Pattern for Parks," Architectural Forum, Dec. 1936. Engineers from other cities applying his principles: Among those who told the author that highways in their cities were laid out on RM's principles were Lloyd Reid, then chief engineer of the Michigan Highway Department, and Bertram D. Tallamy of Buffalo. British urban planners: HT, Apr. 17, 1943.
Suggested as Republican nominee: Among many articles mentioning the possibility—and suggesting that he would be a good choice for 1940— Harper's, Dec. 1937, "Robert Moses and His Parks." The Saturday Evening Post commissioned him in 1936 to write two articles as a spokesman for the national GOP—"To My Party," Jan. 25, and "End of Santa Claus," June 27.
No room for dissent: Hotel Pennsylvania dinner: Apr. 4, 1937- Kiwanis luncheon: NYT and HT, Mar. 18, 1934-
"We owe much": Moses, Six Years of Park Progress, p. 56 "Well undoubtedly": McGoldrick.
Al Smith: Interviews with Coleman Cullman, Emily Smith Warner, confidential sources. "A slender reed": Warner.
26. Two Brothers
SOURCES
Author's interviews:
With Dolie McWhinney Adams, Jane Moses Collins, Joan Ganz Cooney, Mrs. Hilda E. Hellman, Mrs. Elmer B. Howells, Joseph T. Ingraham, William Latham, Michael J. Madigan, Emily Sims Marconnier, General Harry L. Meyers, Mrs. Harold Morse, Lawrence M. Orton, Elwood Rabenold, Sidney M. Shapiro, Florence Shientag, Mae Smisek, Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger, Rexford G. Tugwell, Rebecca Vollmer. Interviews in connection with Paul E. Moses are noted below.
NOTES
Paul's personality: A composite drawn from the author's interviews with Mrs. Hilda E. Hellman, Emily Sims Marconnier and two other members of the Moses family who prefer to remain anonymous; with Paul's wife, Louise Benjamin Moses; with his stepdaughter, Dr. Patricia Kendall Lazarsfeld; with four of his friends: Joseph Lewin, Mrs. Carl Proper, Louis Schulman and one who prefers to remain anonymous; with six officials of the La Guardia administration who knew him: Paul J. Kern, Reuben A. Lazarus, Joseph D. McGoldrick, Paul Windels, Wallace S. Sayre, and one who insists on remaining anonymous; with one of Robert Moses' aides, who insists on remaining anonymous; and with Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr., Jan. 26, 1972. The author got to know Paul Moses during eleven long interviews, Dec. 1966-Mar. 1967.
Lexicon: Lazarsfeld. Most knowledgeable: Windels. "Genuinely friendly": Confidential source. RM knew servants only as servants: RM. Paul knew them as people: PEM. Romance at Princeton: PEM, confidential source. Con Ed: PEM.
Llanerch Pool: PEM, but he didn't want to talk about it much. The most complete account comes from Dr. Lazarsfeld, who, as a teen-ager, spent several summers working there. The most complete account of its finances comes
Notes for pages 581-606
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from an affidavit by PEM filed Oct. 24, 1941, in "In the matter of Louise B. Moses, Plaintiff, against Paul E. Moses, Defendant," Supreme Court, County of New York. Hounded by creditors, sued by own lawyer: PEM affidavit, March 8,
I943-
Reconciliation with mother: PEM, Lazarsfeld, Mrs. Proper. Con Ed: PEM, Windels. Believed they were still friends: PEM.
Never went to see his mother: Mrs. Hellman. She refused to see him: Confidential family source.
Her will: File 1463, Liber 1446, p. 93, Surrogate's Court, County of New York.
"I'm trying all this time": PEM. Explanation for mother's decision: PEM.
RM unable to pay tuition: confidential sources. Bill for $10,000: RM to FDR, date missing, FDR Papers. "More than she could afford": RM to LaG, Mar. 31, 1936, LaG Papers.
Down to $1,000,000: PEM, confirmed by NYT, June 4, 1930. "Advances": PEM. Net worth down to $690,422: PEM, confirmed by NYT, May 15, 1931. $50,000 to charity: In fact, she left $40,-000 (including $20,000 to Madison House) and $10,000 to a friend.
LaG administration officials: Interviews with author. "While it is nobody's business": RM to LaG, Mar. 19, 1934, LaG Papers. In charge of 33-man staff: HT, Apr. 29, 1936. No firm would hire him: PEM.
The Moses prodigality toward money: Account of his free-spending habits from Lazarsfeld. Llanerch Pool finances, living on $25 a week: Depositions by Davidson Sommers, Oct. 22, 1941; by Louise Benjamin Moses, Oct. 22, 1941; by PEM, Oct. 24, 1941; Supreme Court, County of New York, "In the Matter of Louise B. Moses, Plaintiff, against Paul E. Moses, Defendant."
He wasn't getting a cent: PEM, confidential source. These accounts are confirmed by various documents submitted to Surrogate's Court, County of New York, "In the Matter of the Judicial Settlement of the Account of Proceedings of Robert Moses, Edna M. Hurt, Wilfred A. Openhym ... as Trustees for Paul E. Moses, under Paragraph Sixth of the Last Will and Testament of Bella Moses, Deceased." These documents include "Affidavit of Services of Attorney-Trustee under Section 285 of the Surrogate's Court Act" (affidavit filed by Openhym, July 16, 1941); "Memoran-
dum in Support of Objections Filed by Paul E. Moses, Life Tenant" (Oct. 27, 1941); and "Memorandum on Behalf of Accounting Trustee" (filed by Openhym, Sept. 5, 1941). Also "Schedule K— Statement of Commissions Due Upon This Accounting" and "Schedule F-i— Statement of Distribution of Income to Paul E. Moses, the Life Beneficiary of the Trust" (filed by Robert Moses, Edna M. Hurt and Wilfred A. Openhym, Mar. 11, 1941).
"He had some sort of independent income" : Schulman. "Damned strange": Confidential source.
Visitors to his apartment: Schulman, Lewin, confidential sources.
Hanging around City Hall: Mayor Wagner, Schulman, Orton.
The two gifts from RM: PEM; confirmed—as are the subsequent events— by a confidential source in RM's office.
RM's treatment of his sister: PEM; confirmed by confidential source.
Tugwell biography: Tugwell, Shapiro. "Thanks particularly": RM to PM, Sept. 4, 1946.
Attitude toward relatives: Confidential sources.
RM at home: Jane Moses Collins, Mrs. Marconnier, Ingraham, Shapiro, Madigan, Mrs. Howells, among others. "He never acted busy": Mrs. Howells. "No side": Adams.
Robert and Mary: Above interviews, but particularly interviews with Mary's close friend Mrs. Harold Morse. Her sister: Mrs. Marconnier. The captain's sister: Mrs. Mae Smisek.
"Bob's on one of his rampages": Latham. Markel incident: Mrs. Vollmer. "Those of us who are privileged": Kalten-born, "Introduction" to Rodgers, Robert Moses, p. xvi.
"A mouse": Confidential source. Florence Shientag: Interview with author. "Mary was a darling": Mrs. Sulzberger. The one interview: WT, Nov. 2, 1934. Joan Ganz Cooney: Interview with author. "An alcoholic": Arsenal party: Mrs. Hellman. Hospitalized: Shapiro, General Meyers.
27. Changing
SOURCES
Books and documents:
Mann, La Guardia: A Fighter Against His Times. La Guardia Papers.
Notes for pages 607-615
Author's interviews:
For Tunnel Authority fight, with the Authority's chief engineer, Ole Singstad, deputy chief engineer William McD. Griffin, general manager P. Fearson Short-ridge, and with Reuben A. Lazarus and Walter D. Binger. (All three Authority commissioners are dead.)
For Housing Authority fight, with Adolf A. Berle, Jr., Paul J. Kern, Reuben A. Lazarus, Joseph D. McGoldrick and Paul Windels.
NOTES
"Leave the son of a bitch off": Lazarus.
RM attempted to have bill killed: Lazarus, Singstad. Overtures to Singstad: Singstad. Ickes adaman
t: Singstad, Win-dels. RM sought delay: Singstad, Windels, Lazarus; NYT, Apr. 15, 19, 20, 21, 30, May 6, 8, 12, 1936.
RM interested in housing because that was where the money was: Windels had a private luncheon with him at this time at which, he says, RM's thinking was obvious. RM had made almost no public statements on housing up to this time. LaG's personal interest in housing: Mann, p. 140.
No one suspected the truth: Windels, Berle. RM's housing proposal was detailed the next morning in NYT, and HT, Nov. 23, 1938.
Cutting him off the air: When questioned about it, LaG at first said blandly (NYT, Nov. 24, 1938) that it had been due to a "misunderstanding": WNYC, the Mayor said, was prohibited by law from incurring expense in broadcasting "private" functions; the station had set up the equipment under the impression that the speech was a Park Department function; when it discovered that was not the case, it had no choice but to cancel it. "It's a pity," the Mayor said. "If some responsible person had only telephoned me at my home I would have been glad to arrange for the broadcast." Reported the Times: "Mr. Moses has no comment to make." On June 24, 1939* LaG indirectly admitted having ordered the cutoff (HT) .
Maneuvering on the committee: Windels. Orders McGoldrick not to pay the bill: McGoldrick.
LaG convinced RM seeking personal power: Windels, Kern, Lazarus, McGoldrick. With McGoldrick, in particular, LaG made his feelings about "priorities" clear. Cuts off two park projects: They were RM's plans for a huge new "Sound-
1211
view" park in the Bram ami fa | complete renovation <>» ( :v Mall I' a feeling of the rt tony develi
between LaG and KM at this tune. LaG to RM, Oct. 27, Nov. 30, [938, I Papers. In a development whose outcome was significantly different from the past, RM personally insulted Coi notation counsel Chanler (RM to Chanler, Nov. 2 , 1938), Chanler protested to LaG (same date), LaG demanded that RM apologize (Nov. 26), RM refused (Dec. 1, 1938)—and LaG cut off the Soundview appropriation. All in LaG Papers. Tells McGoldrick and Morris to take harder line: McGoldrick.
28. The Warp on the Loom
SOURCES
Books, articles and documents:
Bard, The Port of New York Authority; Bird, A Study of the Port of New York Authority; Cohen, They Builded Better Than They Knew; Garrett, The La Guardia Years; Nevins, Herbert H. Lehman and His Era.
Temporary State Commission on Coordination of State Activities (William J. Ronan, Director of Studies), "Staff Report on Public Authorities under New York State," hereafter referred to as "Ronan Report."
Edward T. Chase, "Lindsay Challenges the Port Authority," The Reporter, June 30, 1966. William S. Fairfield, "The New York Port Authority: Guardian of the Tollgates," The Reporter, Sept. 29,
1953.
Charles Haydock, "Municipal Authorities: Their Backgrounds and Postwar Possibilities," an address before the Pennsylvania Municipal Association, Harris-burg, Nov. 1943.
Reuben A. Lazarus, "Public Authorities," 1965 or 1966 (unpublished).
William S. Lebwohl (TBTA counsel), "Memorandum—Power of Port Authority to Construct Third Tube of Lincoln Tunnel," Mar. 23, 1951.
Author's interviews:
Reuben A. Lazarus, Michael J. Madi-gan, Joseph D. McGoldrick, Lawrence M. Orton, Sidney M. Shapiro, Paul Windels.
NOTES
History of authorities: Primarily Hay-dock, Bird and Lazarus. Named "Author-
Notes for pages 615-636
1212
ity": Cohen, p. 290. Jimmy Walker: Lazarus, who was asked by Walker to draft the legislation for it. Port Authority: Cohen, pp. 289-90. All authorities created in a single pattern: Haydock, Bird, Bard. Port Authority members expect its tolls to be eliminated: Cohen, pp. 262-63. First "general bond": Bird, pp. 17-19; Bard, p. 248.
But RM's thinking was changing: The entire following discussion of RM's thinking is based primarily on the observations of two men who were privy to it— Paul Windels, first counsel of the Tri-borough Bridge Authority under RM, and Jack Madigan, RM's most trusted financial confidant—and one man who was not: Reuben A. Lazarus, who had to analyze RM's handiwork for LaG and whose bill-drafting genius made him perhaps the man best able to do it. The author is indebted to these three men for the substantial amounts of time they gave him in helping him to follow the intricacies of the authorities' enabling legislation.
Carrying and maintenance charges on Henry Hudson: Madigan. Traffic counts: TBTA Annual Reports. Revenues could be used in only one way: Lazarus, "Public Authorities." Bankers willing to settle for lower coverage: Madigan. LaG's new firmness: See last note, Chapter 27. Albany drying up: Nevins, pp. 172-74. Early in 1938, in fact, the Governor, showing a new firmness toward RM, vetoed bills that would have authorized state contributions for construction of RM's proposed Cross County, Southern, Pelham, Hutchinson River and Marine parkways, stating, "It is clear that the state in its present financial condition cannot possibly, with safety, assume [such] large financial operations." NYT, Apr. 12, 1938. Legislative leaders said they could see no time in the foreseeable future when these parkways could be started. Brooklyn Eagle, Apr. 17, 1938. City's financial difficulties: Garrett, pp. 142-51. RM in interview with author summed up this view of the difficulties, and the fact that there was no reasonable possibility of the city's being able to finance his dreams.
Money he would be free to use: Windels, Madigan, Lazarus, Shapiro. Author's analysis of the Triborough acts RM wrote, plus interviews. City had no alternatives: The above interviews, plus McGoldrick, Orton.
Powers of a different type: Interviews and analysis cited above. The Lebwohl
memo, although written in 1951, shows RM's thinking at work.
State cannot interfere with bonds: Best
statement, .Lazarus, "Public Authorities,"
p. 4.
He had to conceal his purposes from everyone: Lazarus, Windels. The various devices he used are shown in sections of bond resolutions of RM's various authorities. While Lazarus, Windels and Madigan assisted the author in understanding them, the following section is the author's own interpretation of the enabling legislation creating the various Moses authorities, and he assumes full responsibility for its conclusions. Fiscal agent: Ronan Report, pp. 466-72, 478.
"To be a caretaker": RM. Authority officials traditionally unsalaried: Cohen, p. 289; Ronan Report, p. 116. "If I may be permitted": TBTA, "Fifth Anniversary of the Opening of the Triborough Bridge," June 11, 1941, p. 6. Jones Beach, Jacob Riis: Ronan Report, p. 462.
LaG's awakening: RM to LaG, Apr. 7, 1938; LaG to RM, Apr. 11, 1938; RM to LaG, Apr. 12, 1938; LaG Papers. Description of LaG's thinking: Windels, Lazarus, McGoldrick.
29. ''And When the
Last Law Was Down . . ."
SOURCES
Books, articles and documents:
Andrews, The Iconography of the Battery and Castle Garden and New York As Washington Knew It; Bolt, A Man for All Seasons; Garrett, The La Guardia Years; Gilder, The Battery; Isaacs, Love Affair with a City; Lewinson, John Pur-roy Mitchel; Nevins and Krout. The Greater City; Moses, Dangerous Trade; Pritchett, New York Proclaimed; Stokes, The Iconography of Manhattan Island; Talese, The Kingdom and the Power; Ulmann, A Landmark History of New York; Wilson, New York Old and New; WPA, New York City Guide and New York Panorama.
New York City Tunnel Authority brochure comparing a bridge and a tunnel, referred to hereafter as "Singstad brochure."
Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, "The Brooklyn-Battery Bridge," Jan. 22, 1939; "Is There Any Reason to Suppose They Are Right Now?," 1939; "A Preposterous Scheme: The Regional
Notes for pages 639-654
Plan Association's Alternate to the Brooklyn-Battery Bridge," 1939; "Brooklyn-Battery Bridge: memorandum in support of revised application to War Department for approval," May 24, 1939; "Brooklyn-Battery Bridge: appeal from decision of Secretary of War Woodring denying a permit for construction," Oct. 19, 1939.
A complete record of the Moses-La Guardia maneuverings and machinations can be found scattered an
d misfiled throughout the La Guardia Papers, but particularly in Box No. 842, folders labeled "Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel—1935-39" and "Tunnels—Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel—1940-45," and Box No. 2643 —"Tunnel Authority—Brooklyn - Battery Bridge."
Oral History Reminiscences:
Stanley M. Isaacs, George McAneny, Frances Perkins.
Author's interviews:
Walter D. Binger, Richard S. Childs, William Exton, Jr., William McD. Griffin, Reuben A. Lazarus, Joseph D. Mc-Goldrick, Lawrence M. Orton, Sidney M. Shapiro, P. Fearson Shortridge, Ole Sing-stad, Rexford G. Tugwell, Paul Windels.
NOTES
Bypass route costs: True costs, different from newspaper figures, in RM to LaG, Sept. 3, 7, 1938, and in suggested draft by RM of LaG to Ickes, undated, LaG Papers. The Mayor would have to allow him to take over the Tunnel Authority: RM to LaG, Sept. 8, 1938, LaG Papers. $39,000,000 to $43,000,000 and various LaG maneuverings: McGoldrick.
Tunnel becomes bridge: TBTA, "The Brooklyn-Battery Bridge," Jan. 22, 1939. "The finest architecture": RM introduction to TBTA, "Three Decades of Progress," 1966. "A vehicular bathroom": Moses, Dangerous Trade, p. 220. "A hole in the ground," taking LaG out on yacht: Shapiro.
"He's going to bankrupt the city": McGoldrick quotes Frank Taylor, the last pre-Fusion Comptroller, as telling him this upon McGoldrick's appointment to the post in 1934.
The capital budget situation was even more ominous: McGoldrick's feelings were based on these figures: In Oct. 1938, the money left to the city under the state ceiling was only $70,943,125— and $55,568,056 of this amount was already committed for future expenditures