In revealing how Moses did it--how he developed his public authorities into a political machine that was virtually a fourth branch of government, one that could bring to their knees Governors and Mayors (from La Guardia to Lindsay) by mobilizing banks, contractors, labor unions, insurance firms, even the press and the Church, into an irresistible economic force--Robert Caro reveals how power works in all the cities of the United States. Moses built an empire and lived like an emperor. He personally conceived and completed public works costing 27 billion dollars--the greatest builder America (and probably the world) has ever known. Without ever having been elected to office, he dominated the men who were--even his most bitter enemy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, could not control him--until he finally encountered, in Nelson Rockefeller, the only man whose power (and ruthlessness in wielding it) equalled his own.
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Background Information
New York City at the mouth of the Hudson River is the largest city in America. New York State grew to be most populous state in the nineteenth century as a result of its strategic position in water transportation, both oceangoing and inland. Fiorello La Guardia was elected mayor of New York City in 1933, running as a fusion candidate in opposition to the entrenched Tammany Hall machines.