Moses Road Lecture
Hi Modern NY students,

I hope you enjoy this week on Robert Moses, New Yorkers master building, dubbed the ‘Power Broker’ Robert Caro in his biography on Moses that helped to expose his impact on the city. This is one of my favorite sections of NY history and this course. If anyone wants to dive deeper into Robert Moses, I highly suggest reading “The Power Broker” by Robert Caro, then “Robert Moses and the Modern City” for some revisionist context. Good and bad, you can’t argue with the impact this one man had on our city.

Documentary Assignment
Video: Episode 7: The City and the World (1945-Present) During the seventh episode of NEW YORK: A DOCUMENTARY FILM, the turbulent and often harrowing years from 1945 to the present are explored. Emerging from the Depression and the Second World War as the most powerful metropolis on Earth, New York soon confronted urban woes of unprecedented proportions and fought for its very existence.

Watch the entire film.  Be prepared to be depressed . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr5iF8Zdobc&ab_channel=infinitypl

Southern State Parkway Bridges
https://www.nycurbanism.com/blog/2020/7/28/robert-moses-low-parkway-bridges?rq=robert%20moses

Robert Moses Unbuilt Projects
Mid Manhattan Expressway – https://www.nycurbanism.com/blog/2019/7/22/mapmondays-mid-manhattan-expressway?rq=robert%20moses

Battery Bridge – https://www.nycurbanism.com/blog/2019/10/10/brooklyn-battery-bridge?rq=robert%20moses

What Google Maps would look like if Robert Moses got his way: https://www.vanshnookenraggen.com/_index/2015/09/unbuilt-highways-of-new-york-city-and-robert-moses/

Metropolis Mag: Robert Moses (Revisionist history)
https://www.metropolismag.com/cities/rethinking-robert-moses/

Answer each question around 120 words.
Robert Moses Questions
1. Why did LaGuardia say Robert Moses has too much power? What did he mean and how would this drastically shape the city in the following decades?

2. A. How did Robert Moses view the city as a whole and what new resources were available to him?

B. How did he use these resources for slum clearance and other redevelopment?

C. How did this facilitate the development of the suburbs?

3. Using your personal opinion pick six projects Robert Moses built, three positive and three negative. Explain each and why you classified them as such. What impact did they have on the city?

4. Robert Moses has been labeled as racist and a classist due to the bridges he designed on a parkway in Long Island. Explain why this is and share your thoughts.

5. A recent revisionist history has reevaluated Robert Moses in his context, exploring his impact decades after his career ended. Explain the recent perspective Jackson and Ballon reveal in Robert Moses and the Modern City? Do you agree?