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Documentary, American Experience - S01 E15 - The World That Moses Built (January 10, 1989)
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00:00Robert Moses was probably the greatest builder of public works, perhaps, of the world.
00:10He's a man of great confidence, great ego, and thought he knew best.
00:17Robert Moses did not know when to stop.
00:20When he started throwing people down like they were pawns, that's destructive and that is evil.
00:27Tonight on The American Experience, the world that Moses built.
00:57The American Experience
00:59The American Experience
01:01The American Experience
01:03The American Experience
01:05The American Experience
01:07The American Experience
01:13The American Experience
01:21Major funding for the series is provided by the Corporation for Half-Briters.
01:25Major funding for this series is provided by
01:37the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
01:38and by this station and other public television stations nationwide.
01:45Corporate funding for the American experience
01:47is provided by Aetna, Insurance and Financial Services,
01:51for more than 130 years, a part of the American experience.
02:00Hello, I'm David McCullough.
02:03It was soon after the turn of the century
02:05when the renowned Chicago architect Daniel Burnham
02:08admonished his fellow builders,
02:11make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's blood.
02:16They were words that spoke for a whole era
02:18and that echoed down the years as cities grew.
02:21And technology made more and more change possible.
02:25Tonight's film is about an American master builder,
02:28a brilliant, abrasive, hard-driving heir to Burnham's creed,
02:33who did more than anyone else to transform the look and character of New York
02:37and indeed much of urban America.
02:41Robert Moses was born into a wealthy German-Jewish family,
02:44part of the circle in New York known as Our Crowd.
02:47He was a star swimmer at Yale, tall, energetic, and ambitious.
02:53The important thing is to get things done, he would say.
02:56Those who can, build.
02:57Those who can't, criticize, was another of his maxims.
03:02Before he was through, he would build bridges, highways, tunnels, civic centers, parks,
03:07some 658 playgrounds, Jones Beach, Shea Stadium, Lincoln Center, the United Nations,
03:14and the World's Fair of 1964.
03:17His projects cost billions and earned billions for the city.
03:22Yet he died with an estate worth less than $50,000.
03:26Personal wealth didn't interest him.
03:29Power did.
03:30New York, 1924.
03:41A 19th century city stumbling into the modern era.
03:52Immigrants are swelling already overcrowded neighborhoods.
03:55The economy is booming.
04:19Fortunes are being made.
04:20For the city's growing middle class, a new fact of American life, leisure time.
04:33Streets designed for horse-drawn traffic are now jammed with automobiles.
04:43It is an American city seeking a vision of what it might become.
04:48Over the next half century, one man, in love with progress, would transform this place.
04:56A man who would have a greater impact on the American city than any other person.
05:03His name was Robert Moses.
05:04Robert Moses was probably, with the possible exception of some of the Roman emperors,
05:29and maybe the Medici, the greatest builder of public works, the greatest creator of public works
05:38in the history, certainly, of this country, perhaps of the world.
05:44He had the intelligence to form a rational vision of what the future needed.
05:52Recreation, roads, better housing.
05:55Over a span of 50 years, Robert Moses embodied the American belief in thinking big.
06:07But this man, who symbolized progress for one generation,
06:11came to symbolize ruthlessness for the next.
06:15Robert Moses did not know when to stop.
06:18When he built all these other things in the 20s, it was fine.
06:23He didn't destroy anybody, and he did help.
06:26But when he started throwing people down, like they were pawns,
06:31that's destructive, and that is evil.
06:35The story of Moses' rise to power begins in 1924.
06:41Moses was rich, the son of a department store owner,
06:44a reformer who believed in using government to improve the lives of working people.
06:51He worked for the Bureau of Municipal Research, an early think tank.
06:56But Moses was a visionary without power,
06:59until he met New York Governor Al Smith.
07:02The popular governor had risen from the slums of New York
07:18and was a masterful politician.
07:21Smith hired Moses and converted the young idealist into a man of action.
07:25All that I know that's of any practical value
07:31about the basic things in politics, I learned from him.
07:36He was a man who liked people, and he was ambitious also.
07:40He had a way of getting at the heart of things
07:43and popularizing very abstruse questions
07:48so that the average fellow could understand them.
07:50And there was a tremendous human quality of humor about the man.
07:54And I figure that my graduation, commencement,
08:00whatever you want to call it,
08:01and getting away from the performers is when I met Smith.
08:06They were an improbable team.
08:09The governor left school in the eighth grade.
08:12Moses went to Yale and Oxford,
08:14quoted Shakespeare and the English poets.
08:17He became Al Smith's right-hand man.
08:19They just seemed to click from the beginning
08:23that this was a team, and together they could do things.
08:27Father gave him a pretty free hand on anything.
08:29If he asked him to help in the project,
08:33he had a free hand to do it
08:35because father had that much trust in him.
08:40But Bob could run a little roughshod over people
08:43if he thought it were necessary to get the job done.
08:48And many a times it was necessary.
08:53In 1924, the governor appointed Moses
08:56commissioner of state parks for Long Island.
09:00Suddenly, Moses had a power base of his own.
09:03At the time, Long Island was home
09:07to some of the richest families in the United States.
09:10The Morgans, the Vanderbilts, the Whitneys.
09:16This was their private preserve.
09:20Their pleasures were pursued in splendid isolation.
09:22To their horror,
09:38Moses set out to build a public park
09:41at a place on Long Island's south shore
09:43called Jones Beach.
09:48Don't think that Jones Beach was easy to build.
09:51The biggest state owners on Long Island
09:55considered Moses was the devil incarnate.
09:58He was taking their playground
10:00and turning it into a public beach
10:04for the scum and rabble of New York City
10:08to come out to Long Island
10:09and enjoy the beautiful ocean
10:11and take it away from the rich people.
10:14Moses talked the state into granting him
10:17the power to seize private property,
10:19and he used it.
10:21One man named Ellison
10:23owned a hotel that stood in Moses' way.
10:26I sent some fellows over,
10:27and we told the bulldozer to go ahead.
10:29We wrecked the bathhouse.
10:32And I went over in the morning
10:34with some of our fellows,
10:36and there was Ellison on the porch of his hotel
10:39and cursing and yelling,
10:42and I said, well, hotel is going next.
10:44There were questions whether Moses
10:50exceeded his legal authority,
10:52but the New York Times said
10:53he was acting in the interest of future generations.
11:00There were questions whether it was even possible
11:03to transform an inaccessible sandbar
11:05into a large public beach.
11:08Questions about the budget,
11:09But Moses ignored them all.
11:12He ordered the largest floating dredges in the country,
11:16pumped sand over a distance of 17 miles,
11:19raised the beach 14 feet
11:21to support a complex of buildings
11:23and a network of highways.
11:24He drove his men relentlessly.
11:30Moses was a man possessed.
11:33This was in the wintertime,
11:35and it was really cold.
11:37But we slept two in a bunk
11:40to keep each other warm.
11:44So there was very little heat
11:46except from the old kitchen rain that was there.
11:50But sometimes it would be blue in the face.
11:57But we never said quit
11:59because of Robert Moses,
12:01which would never have liked that
12:03if anybody said quit.
12:09On the day Jones Beach opened,
12:12Robert Moses became a folk hero.
12:15Jones Beach was a kind of utopia by the sea,
12:18a gift from the government
12:20to the people of New York.
12:22A hundred thousand people
12:24came out from the city on a summer weekend
12:26to play where only a privileged few
12:28had been able to play before.
12:41Moses had personally supervised every detail.
12:44He'd chosen the brick and stone
12:48for the bathhouses.
12:50He'd chosen recreation
12:51he considered wholesome and uplifting.
13:00The playgrounds, pools, beaches, and boardwalks
13:04were kept spotlessly clean.
13:06Jones Beach exuded a style and spirit
13:13that were the essence of the Moses vision.
13:16The people loved it.
13:18The breadth of the concept
13:21was something that was unknown.
13:23It was revolutionary
13:25in its impact.
13:29I mean, people came from all over the world
13:31to see it
13:32because nothing like this
13:33had ever been done.
13:34Where would the little guy from Olive Street,
13:43how does he get out to Jones Beach?
13:47Supposedly he gets a little car for himself.
13:49How does he get out there?
13:51Tirt roads?
13:52You're going to need some way
13:53of getting out there.
13:55I think that's one of the things
13:57that started the park race.
13:59Moses himself never learned to drive,
14:05but he became one of America's
14:07great highway builders.
14:09To make Jones Beach accessible,
14:12he constructed a system
14:13of beautifully landscaped roads.
14:16He called them parkways.
14:17To build his roads,
14:24Moses continued to invade private property
14:26all over Long Island.
14:29These battles with the rich
14:30only enlarged his reputation
14:32as a champion of the common man.
14:38Sometimes he had to be tough.
14:40Sometimes he would plead with people.
14:43Other times he would just,
14:46say you might say, bulldoze them.
14:48But he was always fair
14:52to anybody that ever worked for him.
14:54And he was always honest.
14:56He never lied.
14:58And he accomplished so much
15:00in such a short time
15:03that nobody ever thought
15:05that that much could ever be done.
15:08And I don't think it could ever be done again today.
15:11Three months after Jones Beach opened,
15:20the stock market crashed.
15:24The swaggering optimism of the 20s vanished.
15:28The Great Depression had begun.
15:32Like the rest of the country,
15:35New York was ravaged.
15:37A city that symbolized
15:38America's economic muscle
15:40was brought to its knees.
15:44Parks became shanty towns.
15:52Workers became paupers.
16:02With each year,
16:04the depression deepened.
16:10It was the federal government
16:11that put Americans back to work
16:13with an emergency program
16:15of public works projects.
16:18Never in peacetime
16:19have Americans been mobilized
16:21in such numbers.
16:24Moses saw the depression
16:26as a time of opportunity.
16:28In 1934,
16:30he became the city's parks commissioner
16:32and boss of all public works.
16:35He used federal money
16:38to create projects
16:39on a scale
16:40only Moses would dare to dream of.
16:42He had everybody so
16:44worked up and enthused
16:46that
16:47they were thinking of more ideas
16:49than they ever thought
16:50they were capable of.
16:52And Robert Moses made
16:53these people do that.
16:55He
16:55he really
16:57brought out the best in them.
16:59The thing was to create work,
17:01not just
17:03leaf-breaking work,
17:05but work that would
17:06remain
17:08and be appreciated
17:10and used
17:10after the
17:12after the labor
17:13was finished.
17:16Moses put more men
17:18to work
17:18than any local official
17:19in the United States.
17:211900 architects
17:22supervised a crew
17:24of 70,000 men.
17:26They built new parks
17:27and playgrounds,
17:28golf courses,
17:29a zoo,
17:30and swimming pools
17:31all over New York.
17:33Moses' appetite
17:34for work
17:35was extraordinary.
17:38This was a man
17:39who took
17:39charge,
17:41put together
17:42all the ideas
17:43that were presented,
17:45did it forcefully,
17:46came out
17:47with a plan
17:48that
17:48was practical,
17:50could be done,
17:51and he took
17:52the responsibility
17:52for doing it.
17:53He didn't just
17:54come out with it
17:55and then say,
17:56well,
17:57your fellas
17:58go ahead and do it.
17:58He took the responsibility
17:59for doing it
18:00and got it done
18:01and that was
18:01his great quality.
18:03My experience
18:03has been
18:04that many
18:06of the people,
18:07by no means all,
18:08who call themselves
18:09planners,
18:11are people
18:12who make
18:14pretty pictures.
18:15They draw
18:16things.
18:18They present
18:19a plausible
18:20and often
18:21dramatic,
18:22melodramatic
18:23program,
18:24but they're not
18:24people that get
18:25anything done.
18:26And many of them
18:27are entirely satisfied
18:28when they've
18:29finished the plan,
18:30when they've
18:30announced the plan.
18:31That's the end of it.
18:32Because they don't
18:32have the stick-to-itiveness,
18:35they don't have the guts,
18:36they don't have the
18:37ability to combat,
18:39to fight in the forum
18:41to get things accomplished.
18:44Moses described
18:45his public works
18:46as the silver lining
18:48of the Depression.
18:49The city seemed
18:50to agree.
18:51And we shall
18:52continue
18:53on our
18:54onward march
18:56of progress
18:57to make this
18:58a better
18:59and a happier
19:00city.
19:03Mayor LaGuardia
19:04gave Moses
19:05the chance
19:06to change
19:06the landscape
19:07of New York City.
19:10The automobile
19:11was reshaping
19:12every American city.
19:16In the early 30s,
19:19New York
19:19was not prepared
19:20to deal
19:21with 800,000 cars.
19:23The simplest trip
19:24had become
19:25an ordeal.
19:28New York
19:28is a city
19:29of islands.
19:30In 1934,
19:32they were
19:32tenuously linked
19:33by an antiquated
19:35system of ferries
19:36and bridges
19:37designed for
19:37horse traffic.
19:39The new
19:40Moses project,
19:41the Triborough Bridge,
19:42would be the first
19:43step in turning
19:44New York
19:44into a viable
19:45modern metropolis.
19:47The main purpose
19:48which it will achieve
19:49will be to end
19:50the isolation
19:51of Long Island
19:52and to connect
19:53Long Island
19:54with the other
19:55boroughs of New York City.
19:57The cost of the
19:58entire structure
19:59when completed
19:59will be well
20:01over $45 million.
20:02The Triborough
20:17was a triumph.
20:18Four separate bridges
20:19and a maze
20:20of connecting roadways
20:22linking the boroughs
20:23of the Bronx,
20:24Manhattan,
20:25and Queens.
20:26It was the most
20:27expensive and ambitious
20:28project Moses
20:29had yet attempted.
20:30As the Triborough grew,
20:53so did Moses'
20:54sense of himself.
20:56He said,
20:56it has long been
20:58a cherished ambition
20:59of mine
20:59to weave together
21:01the loose strands
21:02and frayed edges
21:03of New York's
21:04metropolitan
21:05arterial tapestry.
21:09In search of
21:11even greater power,
21:12Moses became
21:13the Republican
21:14candidate
21:14for governor
21:15of New York.
21:18When he went
21:19into politics
21:20and tried to run
21:21for governor,
21:22it was a disaster.
21:23He was a terrible
21:26candidate
21:27and blew
21:29whatever chances
21:30he had
21:31in almost the
21:32opening days
21:33of the campaign
21:34by attacking
21:35Herbert Lehman,
21:36who was very popular
21:37in New York,
21:38and he couldn't
21:39have done anything
21:40worse.
21:40And he was
21:41a terrible candidate.
21:43I asked
21:44Governor Lehman
21:45the total
21:45of contributions
21:46by himself
21:48and his family
21:49to Tammany
21:50since 1912.
21:51and how much
21:53went into
21:54New York City
21:55campaigns
21:55against good
21:57government.
21:58Apparently,
21:59we shall have
21:59to use a can opener
22:01to get an answer
22:02from Governor Lehman
22:03to any question.
22:05Moses ran
22:06an arrogant
22:07and caustic campaign.
22:09He called
22:10his opponent
22:10a liar.
22:12Even the leaders
22:13of Moses'
22:14own party
22:14turned against him.
22:17He lost
22:18by the biggest
22:18margin
22:19in state history.
22:22He used to
22:23joke about
22:24the fact
22:24that it was
22:25the worst defeat
22:25that anyone
22:26had ever
22:26suffered in
22:28the history
22:28of the
22:30governorship
22:30of New York State.
22:32And he certainly
22:33recognized
22:34that he was
22:35not the type
22:36for
22:37political
22:39elective office.
22:41He just
22:42gave forth
22:44with his thoughts
22:45in a straightforward
22:47fashion,
22:48which is not
22:49practical
22:49from an elective
22:51political position.
22:53The following day,
22:55he was back
22:56at work.
22:57He could have
22:57been fired
22:58by the victorious
22:59Governor Lehman,
23:00but he wasn't.
23:02The governor
23:02swallowed his pride
23:04and kept
23:04Moses on.
23:07By 1939,
23:09Moses held
23:10eight jobs,
23:11accepted salary
23:12for only one.
23:13He ran the state
23:16parks,
23:17the Long
23:18Island parks,
23:19New York City's
23:20parks and parkways,
23:21three lucrative
23:22toll bridges,
23:23and held sway
23:24over all city
23:25planning.
23:26He was building
23:27an empire.
23:28If you worked
23:29with him
23:30and began
23:31to understand
23:32how he worked,
23:34it was very easy
23:35to do the job
23:36with him,
23:36because all he
23:37demanded of you
23:38was you do
23:39your best
23:40and you'd know
23:40soon enough
23:41if you and he
23:43could work together
23:44or if you couldn't,
23:45and in which case
23:46he would kindly
23:48but effectively
23:50put you out
23:52of the picture.
23:52I don't ever
23:54remember a meeting
23:55with him myself
23:57that took more
23:58than seven
23:59or eight minutes
24:00because he,
24:02I would say,
24:04had done his
24:04homework.
24:05He knew it.
24:06And you damn
24:07well had to
24:08have done
24:09your homework
24:10in order to
24:13have had the
24:17nerve to meet
24:18with him.
24:19You didn't go
24:20in unprepared
24:21because he
24:22could be
24:22scornful
24:23if you were
24:24wrong about
24:25something.
24:27Moses was as
24:28tough with his
24:28bosses as he
24:29was with his
24:30own men.
24:31He threatened
24:32to resign
24:32if he didn't
24:33get his way.
24:34I believe in
24:34being tough
24:35about your job
24:36but as I said
24:36before,
24:37if you can't
24:38get along
24:38with the head
24:38of the government
24:39in which you're
24:40working,
24:40you're not going
24:40to accomplish
24:41anything.
24:43Nothing.
24:46Now,
24:46you can go
24:46about getting
24:47along with him
24:48in your own
24:48way.
24:49your methods
24:51may not be
24:51popular with
24:52him but he
24:53always has the
24:54power and the
24:56privilege of
24:56saying that he
24:57doesn't want you
24:57anymore.
24:59Never mind what
24:59your term is,
25:00you get out
25:00then.
25:02You're finished.
25:03I used to tell
25:03LaGuardia and he
25:04cracked jokes about
25:05my resigning,
25:07you see.
25:08LaGuardia used
25:09to have a form
25:09he'd give me,
25:10resignation form,
25:12you see.
25:12Then he laughed,
25:13you know, he said
25:13that was one of the
25:14funniest things.
25:15and I said
25:16that's an old
25:16gag, Mr. Mayor.
25:17I said, I'll tell
25:18you what you do.
25:20Accept the
25:21resignation.
25:22You don't think
25:23I mean it,
25:24you just accept it.
25:26He never did
25:27that.
25:28The power that
25:29Moses had was
25:31more than
25:31properly should
25:33have been held
25:33by any
25:34non-elected
25:35official,
25:36maybe even
25:37by any
25:37elected official.
25:38But it was
25:39conceded to
25:40him by the
25:42elected officials
25:43who found
25:44it easier
25:44to go along
25:45with Moses
25:46than to
25:46battle him.
25:47And they
25:48took credit,
25:49of course,
25:49for the
25:49improvements
25:50in their
25:50distance.
25:56Robert Moses
25:57had reshaped
25:58his city.
26:00Where shanty
26:01towns once
26:01stood and
26:02freight trains
26:03had run,
26:04he'd created
26:04a gateway
26:05to New York,
26:06the Henry
26:06Hudson Parkway.
26:08His bridges
26:09and highways
26:10connected the
26:11city with
26:12the rest of
26:12the state
26:13and the
26:13nation.
26:20In the
26:21ten years
26:22since Jones
26:22Beach opened,
26:24Moses had
26:24touched the
26:25life of
26:25every New
26:26Yorker.
26:27The New
26:27York Times
26:28called it
26:28little short
26:29of miraculous.
26:31It is almost
26:31as if Mr.
26:32Moses had
26:33rubbed a
26:33lamp or
26:34murmured
26:35some incantation
26:36over an
26:36old jar and
26:38actually made
26:39the genie
26:39leap out
26:40to do his
26:41bidding.
26:42fortune
26:43magazine called
26:45him a
26:45great and
26:46good man,
26:47a man who
26:48has stayed
26:48on the side
26:49of the
26:49angels.
26:51There were
26:52those who
26:53complained about
26:54his arrogance,
26:55his high-handedness,
26:56his lack of
26:57accountability.
26:58But now,
26:59he was about
27:00to harness a
27:01source of
27:01power that
27:02would put him
27:03beyond the
27:03reach of any
27:04elected official.
27:06Money.
27:07in 1939,
27:11Moses got
27:12the state
27:12legislature to
27:14grant him
27:14permanent
27:15financial control
27:16of the
27:17independent
27:17body that
27:18owned the
27:18Triborough
27:19Bridge.
27:20Over the
27:21next 30
27:21years, the
27:23Triborough
27:23Bridge Authority
27:24collected
27:25hundreds of
27:26millions of
27:26dollars.
27:29With this
27:30bankroll,
27:31Moses could
27:32build whatever
27:33he wanted.
27:34He did not
27:37want to answer
27:38to the
27:38legislature for
27:39monies in
27:40respect to
27:40the Tribor
27:42and Tunnel
27:43Authority.
27:43He didn't
27:44want the
27:44mayor or
27:45the city
27:45government to
27:46be involved
27:47in that.
27:48So he
27:48set himself
27:50up outside
27:51of those
27:52regular
27:53controls and
27:54checks and
27:55balances.
27:56He had
27:56designed a
27:58kingdom, a
28:00fiefdom of
28:01his own to
28:02keep the
28:03cotton-picking
28:04hands of the
28:05politicians and
28:06his expressions,
28:08I think you'll
28:08find quotes
28:09from him of
28:10the idiotic
28:11persons that
28:12had been
28:12elected to
28:15office.
28:16He did not
28:17want interference.
28:18He was a
28:18man of great
28:19confidence, great
28:20ego, and
28:21thought he
28:22knew best.
28:24There was one
28:25politician who
28:26refused to put
28:27up with the
28:28Moses ego, the
28:29president of the
28:30United States.
28:31Franklin Roosevelt's
28:33differences with
28:33Moses dated back
28:35to New York
28:35State political
28:36battles of the
28:371920s.
28:39During World
28:39War II, he
28:41was responsible
28:41for one of
28:42Moses' rare
28:43disappointments.
28:45Moses attempted
28:46vigorously to
28:48assist in the
28:50Second World
28:51War and was
28:52turned down
28:52cold by
28:54President
28:55Roosevelt.
28:56He wanted to
28:57put his
28:57administrative
28:58talents at
29:01the service of
29:01the national
29:02government, and
29:03he was turned
29:04down cold.
29:08During the
29:08war years, with
29:10civilian building
29:10at a standstill,
29:12Moses began to
29:13spread his
29:13gospel of civic
29:14planning across
29:15the country.
29:17He developed
29:17plans for
29:18Detroit, Pittsburgh,
29:20Baltimore, New
29:21Orleans, and
29:22Portland, Oregon.
29:23An entire
29:24generation of
29:25officials now
29:26recognized Moses
29:27as America's
29:28leading urban
29:29planner.
29:30When World
29:31War II ended,
29:33America was at
29:35the pinnacle of
29:36a sense of its
29:37power.
29:38We had been
29:39through the
29:39Depression when
29:40people were very
29:42discouraged, but
29:43when the war
29:44ended, there was a
29:45spirit in America
29:46that despite
29:48uncertainties in
29:49the world, that
29:51this country had
29:52proven its
29:53capacity to
29:55produce on a
29:56scale that never
29:57had been dreamed
29:58of before, and
30:00that we were
30:01going to produce
30:01a wonderful
30:03society.
30:13Post-war
30:14America.
30:16The country was
30:17sure of itself,
30:18ready to direct
30:19its energy to
30:20building for the
30:21future.
30:22So was Robert
30:23Moses.
30:24It was a time
30:25perfectly suited to
30:26his style and
30:27temperament.
30:31The remedies are
30:33neither easy nor
30:36cheap nor
30:38immediately
30:39realizable.
30:41But the task you
30:42have set is not
30:44beyond the capacity
30:46of the aroused
30:48American people.
30:50The American dream
30:54for every family, a
30:57new house, a new
30:58car, escape from the
31:00confinements of the
31:01city.
31:07Like Moses, we
31:09believed in suburbs and
31:10expressways to get
31:11there.
31:13And in our cities, we
31:15believe that older
31:16neighborhoods where poor
31:18and working-class people
31:19lived were slums that
31:21should be demolished.
31:26We believe that the
31:28new was intrinsically
31:29better than the old.
31:31in 1949, the federal
31:42government launched an
31:43aggressive program to
31:44clear the nation's slums.
31:46One of the most
31:47unsatisfactory features of
31:49American life was housing.
31:52People who have grown to
31:54maturity since 1950 and
31:571955 have no idea how bad
32:00the housing was in the
32:01United States.
32:03They were not provided
32:04with bathrooms or
32:05toilets within the
32:07dwelling.
32:07Many of them had no
32:09bathtubs at all.
32:10You bathed in the
32:11kitchen sink.
32:12They didn't have heat.
32:14Heat was not a
32:15requirement in housing
32:16in New York City in
32:18those days.
32:19It didn't become a
32:20requirement until about
32:2110 or 12 years after the
32:23war.
32:24Most housing reformers
32:25felt that these tenement
32:27houses, as we call them,
32:29these slums, had to go.
32:33This was to be the
32:34solution.
32:36High-rise housing
32:37complexes with modern
32:38conveniences and
32:39landscaped greenery.
32:42This promotional film was
32:44made in 1949 for
32:46Stuyvesant Town, a slum
32:48clearance project built at
32:50the suggestion of Robert
32:51Moses.
32:53A comparison of
32:53yesterday and today makes
32:55plain the modern miracle
32:56in housing that has
32:57taken place.
32:59Here in the Gas House
33:00area, we are on a
33:01street that today is
33:03just a memory, transformed
33:05by modern construction
33:06magic.
33:08What was once a run-down,
33:10dying section of the
33:11great city of New York
33:12has been recreated.
33:14And today, this section
33:15is a beautiful, park-like
33:17community.
33:19Yesterday, there was
33:19hardly a patch of green to
33:21be found anywhere in the
33:22district.
33:22today, there are many
33:24acres of lawns and shady
33:26trees and miles of
33:28winding walks close to
33:29everybody's apartment.
33:32Yesterday, children had to
33:33play on the sidewalks or
33:34fire escapes or in the
33:35dangerous streets, while
33:37today, there are safe play
33:39facilities for boys and
33:41girls of all ages.
33:42In New York, Robert Moses took
33:50charge of slum clearings.
33:52For the first time in his
33:53career, he would get almost as
33:55much attention for what he
33:57destroyed as for what he
33:58built.
34:02He often quoted that old
34:04French proverb to the effect
34:06that you can't make an omelet
34:08without breaking some eggs.
34:09I mean, you can't clear
34:12slums without moving people
34:14out of them and tearing them
34:18down.
34:19You can't build new housing
34:21without a place to build it.
34:23And inevitably, he stepped on
34:26toes.
34:26He also got things accomplished.
34:29It was called urban renewal.
34:32Huge tracks were slated for
34:34demolition.
34:35Moses had plans to condemn the
34:37homes of tens of thousands.
34:39Suddenly, the press, long in
34:41the Moses camp, was critical.
34:44Well, we began to do stories
34:45that had to do with slum
34:46clearance and began to realize
34:49that he used his power through
34:50other people.
34:51And as a result of that, a lot
34:52of people were hurt.
34:53Parts of the city were
34:54destroyed.
34:55Our ethnic neighborhoods were
34:56ruined.
34:57Social fabric of the city was
34:58just totally destroyed.
35:01Moses' critics challenged a
35:03belief that had prevailed for
35:04generations, that the cities
35:06would be better off, that the
35:08poor themselves would be
35:09better off, if decaying
35:11neighborhoods were destroyed.
35:13The one thing that either
35:16nobody understood or nobody
35:17cared about was that urban life
35:20and city neighborhoods and
35:23communities had something very
35:25valuable about them.
35:27That these streets, which look
35:30crowded and dirty to planners,
35:32and these ramshackle houses,
35:34brought people together in very
35:36important human ways and
35:38created values of care and
35:40solidarity.
35:42These words were completely
35:44absent from the vocabulary of
35:46planning up until the 1960s.
35:50Nobody realized that it was a
35:51factor that needed to be taken
35:53into account.
35:54You know, Moses, in this case,
35:56was an executor of a great many
35:58people's plans.
36:01Moses envisioned high-rises in
36:04every corner of New York City.
36:06He saw nothing of value in the
36:08old neighborhoods he was
36:09tearing down.
36:13When his relocation agents
36:15visited slum tenements scheduled
36:17for demolition, they saw only the
36:19problems.
36:20They saw a way of life that they
36:23believed would only perpetuate
36:24poverty.
36:25In the 1950s, almost no one in
36:31power recognized the vitality in
36:33poor communities, a vitality that
36:36would not survive in high-rise
36:38projects.
36:42Almost no one perceived what might
36:45be lost by the eradication of whole
36:48neighborhoods.
36:48I don't believe Bob Moses, and I
36:57know him as a human being and as a
36:59person.
37:00I don't believe at all that he was
37:02heartless.
37:03It may have been that his procedures
37:05and his techniques that he used in
37:08those days would now be considered to
37:10be heartless.
37:12They were designed to be efficient.
37:14Efficiency sometimes suggests
37:16heartlessness when you're on the other
37:19end of that efficiency.
37:21Someone has to design the project and
37:24has to get on with it.
37:27The largest and most ambitious urban
37:30renewal project in the United States
37:33was Lincoln Center.
37:35To build the giant performing arts
37:37complex, Moses would have to evict 10,000
37:40people.
37:41They fought back.
37:43The neighborhood organized to try to
37:45stop him.
37:47But their battle was hopeless from the
37:49start.
37:54He did not keep the people from
37:57talking.
37:58He did not seek to keep the people
38:00from talking.
38:01But he reserved to himself the right
38:04to answer them back in very strong
38:07language to singe them if he possibly
38:10could for disagreeing with them.
38:12And the moment he got approval
38:15by the lawful authorities, he went
38:18sailing right ahead to make their
38:21appeals from that approval as
38:23quickly moot as possible so that by
38:27the time they got really ready to
38:29organize a protest, it was already too
38:31late.
38:32It was done.
38:33That was Moses' method.
38:35Theoretically, according to some of the
38:38Google's and uplift organizations, we
38:41ought to negotiate with every individual
38:43until he's happy.
38:44Can you imagine when you build anything
38:46under those conditions?
38:49Moses believed that the ends justified
38:53his means.
38:54Those who protested the loss of their
38:56homes were overpowered.
38:59There was a popular consensus that the
39:02benefits of urban renewal were worth the
39:04price of dislocation.
39:10Lincoln Center became one of Moses' most
39:12popular creations.
39:15You have to move a lot of people out of
39:17the way of a big housing project or
39:20some clearance project like, say, Lincoln
39:23Square, whatever the objective may be, or
39:27out of the way of an approach to a bridge.
39:29That a lot of them are not going to like
39:33it.
39:33Many of them are misinformed.
39:36Many of them, in the end, come around to
39:38feel that they've done them a great
39:39service.
39:41But in the process, if there is somebody
39:44to excite them, to steam them up, somebody
39:46that is a ringleader, you get a terrific
39:50amount of criticism.
39:52And newspapers join in it, churches join in
39:55it, and there it is.
39:56And that frightens the elected officers.
39:58They're scared.
40:00And even those that are, that have
40:03commissioned you to do the job, run out
40:05on you, or they weaken.
40:07And they always have the same phrase that
40:09they use.
40:10I've heard it ad nauseum for the last 30
40:13odd years.
40:14They say, you don't have to be elected.
40:17My stock reply to them is, you don't have to
40:19be either.
40:20One of the reasons I think that he was
40:22able to be so powerful in respect to the
40:26various elected officials, was that he was
40:29indeed doing the things that needed to be
40:31done.
40:32And if those, in doing those things, he had
40:35to do things which a normal politician would
40:37find to be very difficult to do, and may even
40:41shy away from doing it.
40:43To that extent, he was a lightning rod that
40:46drew all of the venom and the fire that was
40:51attendant upon those major projects.
40:54Yes, he would, he would, he was a godsend to
40:58many of the elected officials.
41:00And the politician could cluck at the
41:04mercilessness of Moses and yet be very, very
41:09happy that the project was getting done.
41:11Moses could do what elected officials could
41:17not.
41:18He could order people from their homes, seize
41:21land, condemn whole communities without fear of
41:25retaliation from the voters.
41:29Criticism only served to steal his resolve.
41:32But in the 1950s, criticism of Robert Moses took a
41:41personal turn.
41:42His character was called into question.
41:48There's a quotation from Francis Perkins, who was
41:51Roosevelt's secretary of labor, saying he loved the
41:55public, but he hated people.
41:56Ironically, as he designed and built on a bigger and
42:00bigger scale, for more and more people, this tension
42:03between the desire to serve the public and the hatred
42:06for people became more and more acute as he had to deal
42:10with more and more real people on his path.
42:14You know, and as that happened, the malevolent side of
42:18him opened up the real delight in smashing people's
42:22neighborhoods.
42:25In the 1950s, among the most densely populated areas in New
42:29York City was the Bronx, and Moses planned to build an
42:34expressway through the heart of it.
42:38I think when I first looked at it, I thought, how the hell are
42:41we ever going to get across here?
42:42It was probably one of the most challenging highway projects
42:46that was constructed up, even conceived up to that time.
42:50I would dare say that only a man like Mr. Moses, who would have the
42:58audacity to think that he'd go from one end of the Bronx to the other.
43:03The Bronx stood in the path of the most direct truck route between the
43:08northeastern states and the rest of the country.
43:10Every day, the streets of the Bronx were clogged.
43:17There were rumors that an expressway was coming through our area.
43:23But we heard the rumors for so many years that we thought they were rumors.
43:27That was it.
43:28And we continued our life as though this was never going to happen.
43:32We thought we were going to be here forever.
43:33Lillian Edelstein's neighborhood was not a slum.
43:41The neighborhood was very dense.
43:43Everybody lived out on the street a great deal of the time.
43:47In the summer, the kids would play till it got dark.
43:50Parents would sit out in folding chairs and watch us and play cards and gossip.
43:57There were always women leaning out of the windows who would comment on the
44:01action on what you were doing.
44:03And ask about the family.
44:06And say, why are you hanging out with that no good I saw you walking home from school with?
44:11Everybody was family.
44:13They lived here for so many years.
44:15I was married from the building.
44:17I had my children from the building.
44:19We still lived in the same area where our parents lived.
44:21And most of the girls in the area did the same thing.
44:25Because my daughter was born in this neighborhood.
44:27She went to this school, graduated.
44:29And it was a wonderful neighborhood in those days.
44:32I enjoyed the people that I grew up with.
44:35Everybody knew each other.
44:36You could not walk five steps without meeting someone that you knew.
44:40We had a lot of things in common.
44:42We were all predominantly in the same type of situation.
44:46It was just a happy memory.
44:48And that's why I think that I was so angry when this thing occurred.
44:54When we were told that we would have to move.
44:57One day in 1953, 1,500 families received a notice from the New York City construction coordinator, Robert Moses.
45:07It was a beautiful spring day, and it came in the mail.
45:11Of course, the husbands were out working.
45:13We all got the mail, and everybody started buzzing around.
45:17What does this mean?
45:18What is this?
45:1890 days we have to get out?
45:21And I remember my husband saying, there's nothing you can do.
45:24What can you do?
45:25I mean, if this is what we have to do, this is what we have to do.
45:30And I said, no way.
45:33And we formed a tenant's association.
45:37The Cross Bronx Expressway dispute was a more bitter and personal dispute than any of the disputes that I remember in any of the projects we had.
45:47We had had objections and disputes as to various slum clearance projects.
45:54But they never reached the personal animosity and the bitterness that was present in the Cross Bronx thing.
46:03The citizens protested bitterly.
46:06They urged adoption of an alternate route to be built around their neighborhood.
46:11Ultimately, the decision was up to the elected officials of New York City.
46:16On October 14, 1953, I had the rally here, which was standing room only.
46:22Every tenant that could walk was in this auditorium.
46:26The public officials were here, and they promised them that no one would be dislocated.
46:34No one would have to leave their homes, that they would definitely vote for the alternate route.
46:41And everybody went away very happy.
46:44But this was October.
46:46November was election.
46:47After that, it was different.
46:54They believed that if the government was doing something that was going to harm us, there were ways that we could respond to that.
47:04We could organize, and the government would listen.
47:08We might not win every fight, but at least our needs would be considered.
47:11People thought that politicians like Mayor Robert Wagner would bail them out.
47:19The newly elected mayor promised to support the alternate route.
47:24But Wagner was no match for a man who had held power for 30 years.
47:28Under pressure from Moses, Wagner caved in.
47:32Mayor Wagner did promise to look into it, promised to help us,
47:36until we got down to the Board of Estimates meeting.
47:40And then everything was like a double cross.
47:44When we got to the City Hall for the very last meeting,
47:49everybody was surprised to see Robert Moses at the dais table,
47:53because he always sent a representative.
47:55And when he showed up, everybody was wondering, what is he doing here?
48:02Before the meeting started, Robert Moses went from one borough president to the other.
48:08I had a speech prepared then, too.
48:10I was speaking while he was whispering to each and every one of them.
48:15He was very rude, but I think what he wanted to do came across to them.
48:24Because by the time I got through with my speech,
48:28they voted against the alternate highway.
48:36We lost.
48:37In Lillian Edelstein's neighborhood alone, 159 buildings were torn down.
48:475,000 people were removed.
48:51A community was destroyed.
48:56There was developing a kind of feeling
49:00that people were being pushed around too much.
49:04that those elements, which you could say are democratic elements,
49:07did come into conflict
49:08with the efficiency and accomplishment ideas
49:14that we had about getting a job done
49:16to handle the problems that we saw.
49:20By the 1960s,
49:22the public stopped listening to Robert Moses.
49:26More and more communities organized and fought him.
49:29There would be no more Cross Bronx Expressways.
49:34Despite his unpopularity,
49:36he managed for a time to retain the support of elected leaders
49:39and keep his empire intact.
49:44At Niagara Falls,
49:46he built the largest power dam in the nation.
49:53Across New York's harbor,
49:55he built the world's longest suspension bridge,
49:58the Verrazano.
49:59His final creation was the 1964 World's Fair,
50:09a testament to everything that he stood for.
50:12The power of technology,
50:14the inevitability of change,
50:16and man's obligation to seize control of the future.
50:19But attitudes in America had changed.
50:27Moses's autocratic style would no longer be tolerated.
50:31Power tends to corrupt if you're there too long,
50:34and Moses was never personally corrupt.
50:38And that was one of his...
50:40He really was too good for that.
50:42He was too good for that.
50:42But he was there a long time,
50:44and he was used to his own way a long, long time.
50:47And it was only until people like Nelson Rockefeller and I came along
50:52that he was frustrated in that.
50:56Ultimately frustrated in that,
50:57because finally Governor Rockefeller and I ganged up.
51:05In 1968,
51:07Moses lost his last bastion of power,
51:10the Triborough Bridge Authority.
51:12He was 79 years old.
51:16His career had spanned half of this century.
51:22He never wavered from the belief
51:25that technology had given us the means to build a better world.
51:30But Americans were seeing another side of progress,
51:34a side that was cold and impersonal,
51:36that threatened our homes, our families, and our communities.
51:42And you can't possibly build anything without disturbing something.
51:52Just impossible.
51:54It can't be done.
51:56You know, the quote,
51:57one of his sayings that he always said,
52:00critics never build anything.
52:03He did build things.
52:04He did get things done.
52:07Well, perhaps some people don't,
52:08many people don't agree with what he got done,
52:10but if they stopped to think what would have happened
52:13if he hadn't been there to do them,
52:16where would we, what would we have now?
52:20Something better?
52:20A man like Robert Moses is rare in any century.
52:29He was a genius
52:30who transformed America's largest city
52:33and set the standard of urban design for a nation.
52:38He was caustic and he was arrogant.
52:41He chafed at the impediments democracy put in his path.
52:44And there is no doubt that his zeal to build
52:48caused suffering for thousands.
52:52But his excesses were those of a visionary.
52:55His life, his passion, was building for the people.
53:01This was a man who never doubted
53:04that he was on the side of the angels.
53:06What do I believe?
53:14I believe in limited objectives
53:17and in getting things done.
53:21If you want a text,
53:24let me quote George Bernard Shaw
53:26from the dedication of man and Superman.
53:30This, says Shaw,
53:32is the true joy in life,
53:35the being used for a purpose
53:37recognized by yourself as a mighty one,
53:41the being thoroughly worn out
53:44before you are thrown on the scrap heap,
53:48the being a force of nature
53:50instead of a feverish, selfish little clod
53:54of ailments and grievances
53:56complaining that the world will not devote itself
54:00to making you happy.
54:01those were the words of a courageous man
54:05and I can add nothing to them.
54:09Next week on The American Experience,
54:29a haunting story that explores the morality
54:32and traditions of a 19th century New England town.
54:35Be with us next Tuesday at 9 for
54:38Sins of Our Mothers
54:40and stay with Eleven now
54:43for the premiere of
54:44Money in America,
54:45The Business of Banking.
54:47터�Aid
54:48The Business of Banking.
54:50MIT
54:56The American Experience
54:59The Business of Banking.
55:00To be continued...
55:01The business of Finance
55:01and stay with us...
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55:03The cheese of mãoz
55:04and sell its dauphin
55:04You mountains
55:06The big one
55:06to buy a uneven
55:07than the demon
55:08You can change
55:09The human
55:10For the炯
55:11The misery of
55:12Try to put
55:12Vitamin
55:13Besides
55:13The Earth
55:14The v Sharing
55:15Of Fire
55:15Do not
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