Spotlight on Books: WFM’S All Time Best: “The Power Broker” by Robert Caro
Robert Caro is a legend in literary circles- widely recognised as the “master” contemporary biographer. I use “contemporary” loosely. He has been working at his craft for over 50 years and is now in his 90’s. The primary source of his public renown is his award winning monumental series, The Years of Lyndon Johnson. This multi-volume set is characterised by unparalleled depth of research and spare, no nonsense prose. The individual titles and years of publication are:
1The Path to Power (1982).
Johnson’s childhood through his unsuccessful 1941 Texas Senate campaign.
Means of Ascent (1990).
The years 1941-1948, including “Landslide Lyndon’s” controversial Senate victory over Coke Stevenson.
Master of the Senate (2002).
Domination of the US Senate from 1949 to 1960.
The Passage of Power (2012).
Johnson’s 1960 Presidential run. Vice Presidency under JFK and ascending to the Presidency after the Kennedy assassination in Dallas in November, 1963.
Caro continues to work on Volume 5, covering the LBJ Presidency, The Great Society, the Civil Rights era, Vietnam, growing civic unrest and ultimately his 1968 decision not to run for another term. I look forward to its publication and recommend the entire series to all who love politics, policy and power. Mr Caro made a staggering commitment to documenting the life of Mr Johnson and absorbing the author’s life’s work will require an equally formidable commitment by the reader- 4000 plus pages. Go for it!
BUT- The Caro-LBJ love match is not the focus of today’s posting. Instead, I introduce a new feature of Montaigne and me, a “Spotlight” on my all time favourite books. Basically, lifetime achievement awards. Works of fiction or non fiction that rocked my world, moved the emotional and intellectual needle and had a permanent impact on my life outlook. Instead of reviews of recent releases- we will make recommendations of works going back to the 1970’s. The criteria is they were wonderful at first reading and have stood the test of time- worth consuming TODAY!
Our first gold medal is The Power Broker by our friend Robert Caro. It is his signature pre-LBJ biography, published in 1974. The subject is Robert Moses, the uncrowned, unelected and unofficial “King of New York City” from 1924 to 1968. A 44 year reign. Moses is not a particularly well known public figure, not a Pope or President, but Caro definitively demonstrates that he was the primary actor in New York’s 20th century development and history. He dominated his times, overwhelmed his political adversaries, including Mayors and Governors, and built the New York you see today. How Mr Moses did what he did is the best study I have ever encountered on the accumulation and exercise of power. His fingerprints are everywhere in NYC. The book was recommended to me during my University of Illinois Law School years. My Urban Planning Professor, John Costonis, took an interest in me and recommended The Power Broker- stating it put the bland and academic textbooks to shame on the critical nexus between law, money, power and politics. I took his advice and read this 1300 page tome when I should have been studying for my “Real Estate Financing” final. I don’t regret it.
I learned that leadership is a complicated matter, requiring multiple skill sets-some subtle, some not. You need to master your brief, memorise the details, use all tools available, persuade and if necessary manipulate your audiences and be willing to aggressively and ruthlessly destroy your adversaries in pursuing your vision. Leadership is hard work and dirty work, going far beyond soaring rhetoric and magnificent and inspiring speeches and oratory. The lessons of power and influence have been engrained in my memory by The Power Broker. I re-read it recently and it retains a special place in my library- lots of underlining from the late 70’s. How Moses succeeded and how Caro captured his essence make this volume a great read. It is the BEST political biography I have ever read and I urge you to jump in the deep end and tackle it. You will not be disappointed! It is VERY relevant today!
My selection is not an unconventional or revolutionary choice. The Power Broker is on Time Magazine’s Top 100 non fiction works, Modern Library’s 100 best non-fiction works of the 20th century and The New York Times List of “The Best Works of American History.” Mr Caro’s treatment of Mr Moses is widely recognised for the breadth and depth of his investigation and the scope dogged research. He read EVERYTHING . The archivists were exhausted by Mr Caro’s persistence. Award winning authors today regularly cite Mr Caro as the trailblazer who set the gold standard for biography.
What was the source of Mr Moses titanic power. He was never Mayor or Governor and even never ran for public office. Instead, he methodically accumulated positions in New York’s vast bureaucracy and crazy quilt governance structure. His most crucial position was Chairman of the Triborough Bridge Authority- sounds innocent enough. Eventually, he ran 12 different offices, commissions or authorities. Every bridge, road, park, canal constructed in NYC was approved and funded by Mr Moses. Every public works and infrastructure project required his imprimatur. He selected the contractors. He wrote the legislation that created the agencies he ran- legislation that gave him broad authority independent of the Mayor or Governor. He controlled the purse strings and wrote the budgets. He started the toll system which gave him control of the enormous and never ending revenue stream from vehicles entering and leaving New York. He then used that money to pursue new projects- all with boards controlled by him and with his total personal control over the expenditure of funds. Public power is based on money and favors and Moses had financial independence which gave him political leverage. He clashed regularly with political giants, including FDR and Fiorella La Guardia. He “managed" governors of incredible stature, including Dewey and Harriman. Roosevelt detested him, but never succeeded in firing him. Eventually, he clashed with Rockefeller and Lindsay.
Caro lists EVERYTHING Moses built. 13 bridges, 17 state parks, 416 miles of parkways, 658 playgrounds, 150,000 housing units- complete urban renewal and transformation. No leader history has erected more physical infrastructure than Robert Moses. Highlights are the Jones Street State Park, The Triborough Bridge Complex, The West Side Highway, the Henry Hudson Parkway, the Cross Bronx Expressway, Lincoln Center, Shea Stadium, the Long Island Expressway. He didn’t limit his efforts to Manhattan- he connected all the boroughs and made NYC one urban unit. Obviously, the scope of his efforts and his high powered mode of leadership made him a controversial figure, particularly as he garnered more and more power. Caro is great in detailing Moses’ character and the policy and social conflicts that erupted during his 44 years in power.
Caro clearly is awed by the force of the Moses personality, but ultimately it isn’t clear whether he genuinely admires him. He does present a multi-layered picture. Moses is brilliant, educated at Yale and Oxford. He was a polymath- mastering finance, architecture and engineering. He worked 15 hours a day -7 days a week. He combined his formidable intellect with a photographic memory. He was witty and had a natural talent at public relations. He originated the ribbon cutting openings and was a genius at press conferences. He could control the public media spaces. He was bipartisan and worked both sides of the aisle. His unmatched communication skills would “Make the Complex Simple” for legislators and journalists. He was expert at accessing federal funding when that largesse became available. He would flatter those who needed flattering and bully those who needed bullying. Charming, formidable and intimidating. BUT, he was paradoxical and complex. He could be rigid and abusive. He kept an enemies list. He would humiliate enemies publicly and did not suffer fools gladly. He was a misogynist. He didn’t respect women as intellectual creatures, refused to hire them, didn’t like Jane Jacobs or Eleanor Roosevelt and hated female emotionalism and sentimentality. He was married twice, but Caro essentially gives up at dissecting those partnerships. Moses was more focused on his public duties. He was not a two timer tho- women seemed to bore him generally and his personal and professional relationships with women were either horrible or completely absent. A chauvinist from the “Mad Men” era.
He was an young idealist and an protege of Governor Al Smith. His early years in public service were dedicated to eliminating corruption and opening up opportunities and public spaces for the working class. He believed in progressive and efficient government and despised the political machines. However, as his power grew, he began to display less admirable qualities. He was a bad listener, arrogant, intolerant of criticism, contemptuous of public opinion, outraged by challenges to his authority and increasingly unaccountable. He seemed to associate the public interest with his personal interest in power. He also made choices in his urban renewal projects that harmed New York long term. He believed in highways, expressways and automobiles and was not fond of public transportation. His public work projects destroyed neighbourhoods and communities- think San Juan Hill neighborhood and West Side Story. He was not racially progressive and was comfortable with segregation and his projects encouraged racial distance and separation. The parks and public service component of his projects were less impressive in Black and Latino neighbourhoods. He hated historical preservationists and community activists. Eventually, he left in bitterness in 1968.
Overall, Caro paints a vivid picture of a complex man; Brilliant, but flawed. In the process, you learn a ton about America’s most important city, New York and the social, political and cultural milieu which shaped its development. Human nature is centre stage in all its glory and the nuanced portrayal of “A Man In Full” like Robert Moses is a magisterial work and an amazing literary achievement. Thank You Robert Caro! You are a teacher!
