Kenneth T. Jackson Affidavit for February 14Th Mock Trial

Kenneth T. Jackson Affidavit for February 14th Mock Trial

Anthony Ventimiglia

My name is Kenneth T. Jackson. I am currently a professor of History and Social Sciences at Columbia University in New York City. As one of the key authors of The Encyclopedia of New York City, The Ku Klux Klan in the City 1915 – 1930, and past president of the Urban History Association, I am well versed in both urban planning and racism in urban areas. My knowledge in these fields makes me qualified to testify in defense of Robert Moses’ actions regarding the public works of New York City in the twentieth century.

In my testimony, I will explain the factors that led to the decline of many urban areas of the northeast and Midwest. I will also speak about the one area that largely avoided this post-World War II trend: New York City. Despite a brief weakening between 1950 and 1975, New York City remains one of the most prominent cities in the nation and the world. New York’s current international standing has been facilitated largely by the work of Robert Moses, who has been unjustly criticized by Robert Caro in The Powerbroker. I will make the argument that The Powerbroker was written during New York’s brief recession, and therefore wrongly accuses Moses for the city’s woes of that time.

Moses has been considered by many to be the greatest builder in American history. His contributions to New York City include pools, parkways, public housing projects, expressways, bridges, Lincoln Center, and the United Nations Building. Like many powerful men, Moses did have his critics. In particular, Moses has been criticized for destroying the New York public transportation system because of his preference for automobiles. However, emphasis on highways and parkways was a pattern apparent in many other cities across the nation at that time (a fact which The Powerbroker fails to mention). Further refuting this argument is the fact that New York’s public transportation still flourishes today while those of other cities are now defunct- in total contradiction to what Caro predicted. Moses cannot be blamed for the decaying state of the subways in the mid-twentieth century, as it was not his responsibility.

Its true that Moses was very fond of condemning slums. But to call Moses a ruthless tyrant is erroneous. Upon examining cities such as Detroit and New Haven during a similar time period, one will find that Moses was comparably milder in terms of slum clearance. This anecdote was yet another left out from Caro’s work. Furthermore, many of Moses’ slum removal projects had the support of New York City’s liberal establishment, which was happy to see the construction of colleges, medical centers, and luxury apartments. Moses has also been criticized for cutting corners in the construction of the New York projects as a result of his disdain for the poor. This accusation is proven false in light of legislation that limited the amount of money that could be spent on individual units. In the same vein, Moses was by no means the most prolific builder of projects- one could simply examine the history of Newark or Chicago to verify this fact.

Many of Robert Moses’ opponents have accused him of corruption and racism. However, critics (including Robert Caro) fail to recognize that he was not a particularly wealthy man- his estate was estimated to be worth only $50,000. He never acted out of a desire for wealth and lacked many of the luxuries common to his Upper West Side neighbors. Similarly, the claim that Moses’ decisions and actions were brought about by his racism is not supported by concrete evidence. There is no evidence that he deliberately built bridges low to prevent buses from traveling or controlled the temperature of pools to discourage minority patronage. On the contrary, Moses built many pools and playgrounds easily accessible to the minorities of New York City.

Robert Moses’ contributions to New York City- whether they were highways, parks, or bridges, were freely accessible to anyone. Without Moses, private interests may well have dominated New York City and prevented the infrastructure that makes it so great today from ever being constructed. He was the only politician powerful enough to garner resources for all phases of a project. And when he built, the final product was often constructed earlier than scheduled and under budget. Since 1975 New York City has experienced a renaissance: crime rates have plummeted, public transportation ridership is up 50%, 40 million tourists visit a year, and real estate prices remain at record highs. None of these feats would have been possible without Moses’ vision and direction, which continues to serve the people of New York in the form of his various projects.