Robert Moses, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Robert Moses

American urban planner

Date of Birth: 18-Dec-1888

Place of Birth: New Haven, Connecticut, United States

Date of Death: 29-Jul-1981

Profession: architect, engineer, politician, urban planner

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius


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About Robert Moses

  • Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American public official who worked mainly in the New York metropolitan area.
  • Known as the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and was one of the most polarizing figures in the history of urban development in the United States.
  • His decisions favoring highways over public transit helped create the modern suburbs of Long Island and influenced a generation of engineers, architects, and urban planners who spread his philosophies across the nation despite his not having been trained in those professions.
  • Moses would call himself a "coordinator" and was referred to in the media as a "master builder".Robert Moses at one point held 12 titles simultaneously (including New York City Parks Commissioner and Chairman of the Long Island State Park Commission), but was never elected to any public office (he ran only once, for governor of New York as a Republican in 1934 and lost to Herbert H.
  • Lehman in a landslide).
  • Nevertheless, he created and led numerous public authorities that gave him autonomy from the general public and elected officials.
  • Through these authorities, he controlled millions of dollars in income from his projects, such as tolls, and he could issue bonds to borrow vast sums for new ventures with little or no input from legislative bodies.
  • This removed him from the power of the purse as it normally functioned in the United States, and from the process of public comment on major public works.
  • As a result of Moses' work, New York has the United States' greatest proportion of public benefit corporations, which are the prime mode of infrastructure building and maintenance in New York and account for most of the state's debt. Moses' projects were considered by many to be necessary for the region's development after the Great Depression.
  • During the height of his powers, New York City built campuses to host two World's Fairs: one in 1939 and the other in 1964.
  • Moses also helped persuade the United Nations to locate its headquarters in Manhattan, instead of in Philadelphia, by helping the state secure the money and land needed for the project. Moses' reputation for efficiency and nonpartisan leadership was permanently damaged by Robert Caro's Pulitzer-winning biography The Power Broker (1974), which exposed Moses's lust for power, questionable ethics, and racism.

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