0:00

This is a ridiculous special bonus

0:02

episode of the 99% of

0:05

us will breakdown of the

0:07

power broker. I'm Roman Mars.

0:09

A few months ago, Elliot

0:11

had an idea. Roman, I just

0:13

want to say, you did an amazing

0:15

job of... condensing the last episode down

0:18

really little and I just want to

0:20

say there should be a podcast called

0:22

the 99% visible power broker breakdown breakdown

0:24

where it's just those sections at the

0:26

beginning just the catch-up section you string

0:28

those together you could digest this whole

0:30

book probably in like I don't know

0:32

15-20 minutes when the series is over

0:34

so keep that mind for the future

0:36

for the ultra-bridge edition say you started

0:38

the book But you put it down

0:41

for a while and you want to

0:43

get back up to speed before you

0:45

dive back in. Or you read the

0:47

whole book, but you want a little

0:49

refresher. For you, we present the 99%

0:51

Invisible Power Broker Breakdown, breakdown. It starts

0:54

with the summary of the first five

0:56

chapters way back in our second episode

0:58

from February 2024. So

1:01

let's just start where we left

1:03

off last time. At the end

1:05

of Chapter 5, it's November, it's

1:07

1918, Robert Moses is about turn

1:10

30, his career in public service

1:12

has almost ended at this point,

1:14

like he's complete failure, all of

1:16

his different programs he has proposed,

1:18

have failed, but then he gets

1:20

a call from his former boss's

1:22

wife, Belle Mosquitz. Let's

1:25

get to our recap. We're going to

1:28

sort of pick up where we left

1:30

off at the end of Chapter 10.

1:32

It's 1924, and the New York State

1:34

Legislature has just passed a bill written

1:36

by Robert Moses, giving him enormous, like

1:39

hidden power to appropriate and govern land

1:41

to the new state council parks, that

1:43

is run by Robert Moses. He wants

1:45

to build a string of parks connected

1:48

by parkways on Long Island, with his

1:50

biggest dream being... Jones Beach, which he

1:52

envisions as the greatest bathing beach in

1:54

the world. And the part that we're

1:56

going to be talking about today is the use

1:58

of power, where we find out where he gets

2:00

things done. So when we left

2:02

off last episode in a stunning

2:04

turnabout young idealist reformer Robert Moses

2:07

has turned around and embraced corruption

2:09

and dirty dealings to get things

2:11

done and this is the freight

2:14

train that has been coming at

2:16

us from page one. The heel

2:18

turn is taking place. And as

2:20

a result, in three years with

2:23

the backing of Governor Al Smith,

2:25

he massively expanded the amount of

2:27

public park space in New York

2:29

State. He turned Jones Beach into

2:32

the world's greatest weekend spot and

2:34

built expressways leading to all that stuff.

2:36

And he has become this absolute hero

2:38

to New Yorkers. He's seen as this

2:40

man who stands up to the wealthy,

2:42

and he can get stuff done. He

2:44

creates parks for the people, even though

2:47

we've seen that. You know, he will

2:49

totally get in bed with these powerful

2:51

people to make his projects possible and

2:53

he will ruin some small-time farmers. He

2:55

does some dastardly stuff, but the public

2:57

doesn't see that. They just see these

2:59

beautiful parks he's made. And this public

3:01

idea of Robert Moses and the private

3:04

reality of how Moses gets things

3:06

done. are really diverging at this

3:08

point. And through this, and the reason

3:10

why, he's able to get all

3:12

this stuff done is he has

3:14

the support of Al Smith. And unfortunately,

3:16

in 1928, Al Smith runs for

3:18

and loses the presidency. He cannot

3:20

run for president and run for governor

3:23

at the same time. So he

3:25

goes for the presidency. He reaches

3:27

for that brass ring, at all. and

3:29

Robert Moses is left trying to

3:31

do the things he's trying to do,

3:33

but there's a new governor in office

3:36

and this is the man who Carol

3:38

promises will be one of Moses's most

3:40

powerful enemies. He is known as the

3:43

Feather Duster. So when

3:45

we last left the power broker,

3:47

the depression is dawning, Robert Moses

3:49

keeps opening state park projects, and

3:51

to great public acclaim, he's just

3:54

a hero, Moses gets Governor Lehman

3:56

and Mayor LaGuardia to give him

3:58

total control over anything remotely park

4:00

related in New York City. It passes a

4:03

new law where a state person and a

4:05

city person can do all this stuff at

4:07

once. He immediately refurbishes New York City's major

4:09

parks. He's unveiled this massive plan for building

4:12

expressways and bridges. through and around the cities

4:14

that people don't have to go through Manhattan

4:16

to get to places on either side anymore.

4:18

And the Tribal or Bridge Authority has begun

4:21

to actually start building the Tribal or Bridge,

4:23

which will become the centerpiece and provide all

4:25

the funding for his empire as well. But

4:27

there's a little bit going on here where.

4:30

his pettiness is starting to seep out

4:32

to people who are his staunch allies.

4:34

So, you know, he destroys the Central

4:36

Park Casino just because it was Jimmy

4:39

Walker's playground and he just, at a

4:41

spite, he just wants to level it

4:43

instead of turning into something equally good

4:46

or better, you know. And so, so

4:48

that's where we are. So he's still

4:50

like in that phase where he's getting

4:52

a lot done. Most people are on

4:55

his side, but that is about to

4:57

take a turn right now with Chapter

4:59

20. the candidate. When we last

5:02

left the power broker Robert

5:04

Moses had run for governor he

5:06

had been such an unlikeable, unpleasant

5:09

candidate that he lost more than

5:11

any major party candidate had ever

5:13

lost before and his reputation is

5:15

tarnished. He's completely on his ass.

5:18

But President Roosevelt, a unlikely savior,

5:20

in an attempt to remove him

5:22

for good, has an order issued

5:24

stating that New York City will

5:27

get no more WPA money until

5:29

it fires anyone holding both a

5:31

city and a state office. This

5:33

was an order. written just to expel

5:36

Moses. Moses leaks this to the press.

5:38

He's able to frame this as the

5:40

feral government trying to push around the

5:42

people of New York City, and it

5:44

is just what Moses needed to get

5:46

his halo affixed back over his head.

5:48

And under Mayor LaGuardia, Moses perfects the

5:51

system of providing physical achievements for politicians

5:53

to run on while threatening to resign

5:55

if he doesn't get his way, although

5:57

LaGuardia finds a way to take the

5:59

best. out of him in this regard

6:01

a little bit. Over the course

6:04

of the last section, Moses is

6:06

even more flagrant about ignoring orders

6:08

and laws that get in his

6:10

way. And he's even more ruthless

6:12

about just destroying people who are

6:14

trying to stop him from achieving

6:16

his hands. But at the same

6:18

time, he's beginning to get stretched

6:20

pretty thin. He's doing all these

6:22

jobs around the city. Most of

6:24

them are not as accomplished or

6:26

as thoughtful as like Joan's beach.

6:29

more of that ruthlessness and neglect

6:31

in this episode. Because what's clear

6:33

that Cairo is getting to at

6:35

the end of the last section

6:37

was that this is not a

6:39

man in love with his mission,

6:41

a man in love with Parks.

6:43

He's become a man who's just

6:45

in love with power, the love of

6:48

power. The rest of the 99%

6:50

Invisible Power Breaker breakdown breakdown,

6:52

when we come back. This

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or domain. We're

8:02

back with more of the power broker

8:04

breakdown breakdown so on the last episode

8:06

Robert Moses was showing what an

8:09

amazing visionary he was but also

8:11

what a petty tyrant he could

8:13

be on one hand He was

8:15

brilliantly taking advantage of these like

8:17

tax assessments and federal programs and

8:19

archival research to complete the funding

8:21

of this massive Westside Manhattan construction

8:24

project, which is this amazing chapter

8:26

and just like how he works

8:28

down $109 million to something that

8:30

the city can afford. On the

8:32

other hand, he's destroying neighborhoods, these

8:34

historic neighborhoods, he's destroying New York's

8:36

last natural wilderness space without taking

8:39

anyone else's need into account and

8:41

harassing the Columbia Yacht Club just

8:43

because he can, because he thought

8:45

that they were rude to him.

8:48

It's also becoming clear how much

8:50

he is using race and class

8:52

when it comes to his park

8:54

projects. Like he's deliberately underserving New

8:57

York's poor people and people of

8:59

color. And meanwhile... All these bridges and

9:01

expressways of these buildings that are meant

9:04

to relieve New York's traffic problems are

9:06

actually seeming to make traffic worse. And

9:08

this is becoming this thing that is

9:10

constant. It's almost a universal truth when

9:13

it comes to building bridges and more

9:15

roads and more lanes. But he cannot

9:17

see this. This is his only solution

9:20

no matter what the outcome actually proves

9:22

itself to be. And then we've also

9:24

learned in this. just horrible chapter,

9:27

a good chapter, but a

9:29

very sad chapter of Robert

9:31

Moses' relationship with his own

9:34

family, the decades he spent

9:36

undermining the career and the

9:39

success of his own brother

9:41

and his disdain and sort

9:43

of completely ignoring his sister

9:46

and just completely undermining the

9:48

vitality and the life force of

9:50

Mary, his wife. Blockbuster episode of

9:53

the power broke breakdown. We covered

9:55

Robert Moshe. He is literally busting

9:57

blocks. You're not wrong. He is

9:59

busting blocks. blocks full of people.

10:01

Robert Moses had successfully gained control

10:03

of every ingress and egress to

10:05

the island of Manhattan. Like if

10:07

you are in a car and

10:09

you're trying to get Manhattan or

10:12

trying to leave Manhattan, and all

10:14

future river crossings, you have to

10:16

pay some told Robert Moses, he

10:18

controls everything. Robert Cara took us

10:20

through Robert Moses's like turning the

10:22

public authority into this mutant form

10:24

that allows him to just have

10:27

this. vast amount of wealth to

10:29

just keep him going and keep

10:31

him making new things without having

10:33

to rely on the thickle public

10:35

or any politician's approval for anything.

10:37

He controls so much of the

10:39

money and Moses nearly succeeds in

10:41

destroying Battery Park in downtown Manhattan

10:43

with his plans to make it

10:45

an en ramp to this enormous

10:47

bridge to Brooklyn, which the bridge

10:49

eventually doesn't happen, but it takes

10:51

the power of the President of

10:53

the United States to stop him

10:55

from doing this, but he takes

10:57

this years-long revenge. decade-long revenge of

10:59

closing New York City's aquarium in

11:01

place of Fort Clinton, and then

11:03

he spends a decade trying to

11:05

tear down the historic fort. Again,

11:07

it just takes the federal government

11:10

to stop him. And finally, this

11:12

last little bit of Moses turning

11:14

into the thing he hates by

11:16

lending his support to the Tamney

11:19

candidate, William O'Dwyer, and in exchange

11:21

for lending that support, Adwir gives

11:23

him the post of coordinator of

11:25

all construction. He's been the enemy

11:28

of Tammany for his entire life,

11:30

and now he's this eager ally.

11:32

He lends his name to support

11:34

and sort of clean up the

11:37

image of the Tammany candidate. And

11:39

we again visit a old,

11:41

you know, retired, unwell, former politician

11:43

in the form of Mayor LaGuardia

11:46

and he is talking about how

11:48

much he regrets giving Moses all

11:50

of this power. What LaGuardia is

11:53

really nervous about is that now

11:55

nobody could keep Moses in check.

11:57

Like he thought he was the

11:59

last bulwark. stopping Moses from running

12:01

roughshod all over the city of

12:03

New York. So

12:07

on the last episode of the 99

12:09

% visible breakdown of the power broker,

12:11

we covered chapters 33 and 34,

12:13

which detailed the ways in which Robert

12:15

Moses spent the 1940s and 50s

12:17

becoming the center of political corruption and

12:20

honest graft in New York City

12:22

construction world and his lust for power

12:24

that has transformed them into this

12:26

kind of political machine boss that he

12:28

used to despise when he was

12:30

a young reformer. And then, Carol, does

12:33

this delightful chapter on the three

12:35

mayors that followed LaGuardia, which did not

12:37

warrant their own chapters. It's

12:39

hard to imagine a version of the

12:41

book where Mayor MP gets a

12:43

full chapter to himself as much as

12:45

I love that section so much.

12:48

So it's just a series of mayors

12:50

that he dominated during this period

12:52

of time. So

12:55

on the last episode of the 99 % visible

12:57

breakdown of the power broker, Robert Carrow took

12:59

us on a lavish luxurious trip to Jones

13:01

Beach so we could see what it was

13:04

like to be wind and dined by Robert

13:06

Moses. And then we watched him ram one

13:08

mile of expressway through a Bronx neighborhood needlessly

13:10

destroying it and bringing misery to the many

13:12

lives of its occupants in the process. It

13:14

was a real roller coaster of an episode.

13:20

It was a real, here's the

13:22

good news, here's the bad news

13:24

about Robert Moses. Truly. And today we'll

13:26

be covering chapters 39 through 41 that's

13:28

pages 895 through 983 in my copy

13:30

of the book. At this point in

13:32

the story, Robert Moses is at the

13:34

height of his power and control. But

13:36

that doesn't mean it's always going to

13:38

be that way. We're going to be

13:40

finishing part six, the lust for power

13:42

and beginning to move into part seven, the

13:45

loss of power. We have arrived.

13:50

So last time on the 99 % visible

13:52

breakdown of the power broker, Robert Carrow

13:54

went into incredible detail about how Robert

13:56

Moses refused to include mass transit as

13:58

part of his transportation plans. And it

14:00

doomed New York to a

14:02

future choked with cars and

14:05

traffic and really explicit detail

14:07

about how awful different railroads

14:09

were. It was very vivid.

14:11

But we also saw how

14:13

an assortment of activists were

14:15

starting to recognize the serious

14:18

issues with how Moses was

14:20

running his slum clearance programs

14:22

in the public housing construction

14:24

projects. So that was a

14:26

little bit of a glimmer.

14:28

There were rumors, rumors of

14:31

rumors. So on the last power broke

14:33

a breakdown, we learned that Robert

14:35

Moses tried to put a parking

14:37

lot in the tavern in the

14:39

green. In the tavern on the

14:42

green? I'm not sure. One of

14:44

those. Choose your own proposition. And

14:46

ran against some moms who did

14:48

not want it there. And it

14:50

was kind of his first big

14:52

New York newspaper defeat. which was

14:54

a big deal, even though the

14:57

crime itself was probably not as

14:59

big a deal. And it sort

15:01

of tarnished Moses' reputation for infallibility

15:03

and incorruptibility. The New York papers finally

15:05

got off their duffs and started reporting

15:08

on corruption in Moses' public housing projects.

15:10

One of Moses' aides, the mustache, tries

15:12

to pick a fight, or it does

15:15

pick a fight with Joe Pap over

15:17

allowing free Shakespeare in the park, and

15:19

this is another one of these just...

15:21

terrible, just fumbles that damages Moses' reputation

15:24

as the champion of the people. And

15:26

the news media discovers some fairly sort

15:28

of small ball scandals that are kind

15:31

of unfair to Moses as Carol sort

15:33

of freely admits, but they do actually

15:35

kind of stick to him for the

15:37

first time. And it encourages him to

15:39

drop housing as one of the things

15:41

he covers and resign his city jobs

15:44

in order to become president of the

15:46

1964 World's Fair. And then, after he's

15:48

lost those city jobs, or resigned from

15:50

the city jobs, Nelson Rockefeller calls Moses's

15:52

bluff they have a little bit of a

15:54

fight Moses decides to pull his old trick

15:57

threatens to resign from all of his state

15:59

appointments and rocker fellow calls his bluff and

16:01

he accepts the resignation for his state

16:03

jobs. And this is this is an

16:05

enormous cell phone that will be the

16:07

true beginning of the end of Moses. And

16:10

in the last section of the

16:12

power broker breakdown, Governor Nelson Rockefeller's

16:15

plans to create a new transit

16:17

authority leaves Robert Moses in the

16:19

dust, and after 44 years, Robert

16:21

Moses is out of a job.

16:24

He still dreams of big plans,

16:26

like the Fire Island Highway and

16:28

new housing projects, but instead he

16:30

finds himself waving his pencil around

16:32

in front of Robert Carrow and

16:35

giving speeches at various small events.

16:37

Always asking, why weren't they

16:39

grateful? The Power Broker breakdown

16:41

breakdown was produced by Isabel Angel,

16:43

edited by Committee. Music by Swan Real,

16:46

this episode was mixed by Martine Gonzales,

16:48

original Power Broker episodes mixed by Dara

16:50

Hirsch. Make sure you get your power

16:52

broker breakdown merch. There's a Robert Moses

16:55

band t-shirt with all the dates of

16:57

the episodes and the chapters on the

16:59

back, so you never forget how much

17:01

you read in 2024. We've got a

17:04

great sturdy tote bag that our producer

17:06

Isabel has been carrying her puppy around

17:08

in, and don't worry, we are working

17:10

on restocking those challenge coins, so keep

17:13

an eye on the website. That's 99pi.org/

17:15

store. 99% of Visible's executive producer

17:17

is Kathy too. Our senior editor is

17:19

Delaney Hall. Kirk Colstead is the digital

17:22

director. The rest of the team includes

17:24

Chris Baroupe, Jason De Leon, Emmett Fitzgerald,

17:26

Gabriella Gladney, Jacob Medina Gleason, Christopher Johnson,

17:29

Kivian Lay, Kelly Prime, Joe Rosenberg, and

17:31

Me, Roman Mars. The 99% Invisible logo

17:33

was created by Stefan Lawrence. The art

17:35

for this series was created by Aaron

17:38

Nester. We are part of the Stitcher

17:40

and Sirius XM podcast blocks North in

17:42

the Pandoraa in the Pandoraa in the

17:45

Pandora Building. and beautiful uptown Oakland

17:47

California. You can find me on

17:49

Blue Sky and Discord. Go link

17:51

to the Discord site at nine

17:53

on pi.org.