Is hindsight vision really 20/20? Can we really look back and know what the best move was in the past? While oftentimes in our personal lives things become clear when we examine our pasts, in history this is not such an easy thing to claim.
In his book, “The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York” Robert Caro explains how Robert Moses changed New York. Moses was the one that built New York. Without him New York would be a very different place today. Caro explains what New York was like before Moses came along; there was constant heavy traffic and a lack of parks or pools for recreation. Yet, Robert Caro still regards Moses with great disdain.
In a New York Times article, “A Tale of Two Cities” Michael Powell explains how Caro because “Moses bent the democratic processes and the city to his will”. The article questions whether with all the current problems we face in New York we need a man like Robert Moses today? Caro, as you might expect, answers this with an emphatic “no,” because our society today “would be repelled to see his methods” (Powell). Is this true? Moses was an innovator and without him New York wouldn’t be the same. As he gained power he just wanted more and the roads and parks he built weren’t necessarily built with the best intentions. Our current culture would not put up with someone like him today; he was racist and discriminatory and unsympathetic to the needs of the poor. However, today we all do benefit from the structures he created.
Caro is correct in saying that our culture today doesn’t want someone just like Robert Moses. We would not appreciate the cavalier attitude he had towards those he viewed as below him, including African-Americans and the poor. However, to say we would be better off without him is throwing out the baby with the bathwater. We might benefit from someone with a vision and the ability to to actually go through with it. Robert Moses, although he claimed he was not, was essentially a politician and we would be naive to believe that many of our politicians are much different than he was. At least he accomplished something.
Work Cited
Caro, Robert A. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York. New York: Knopf, 1974. 5-21, 323-346. Print.
Powell, Michael. “A Tale of Two Cities.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 05 May 2007. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/nyregion/thecity/06hist.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.
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