A wealthy donor named August Heckscher financed Moses’s contested land seizure

Evidence

Smith was doubtful. He knew that Heckscher, a seventy-six-year-old multimillionaire philanthropist, was a recreation enthusiast who had already donated a playground to New York City. But a playground cost a few thousand dollars; what was required here was a quarter of a million. And Heckscher was an elf of a man—so short that when he sat on a chair his shoes dangled several inches above the floor—with a snow-white goatee, a snow-white fringe of hair around his bald pate, spectacles and a perpetual serene little smile. He would know that he would probably become involved in the lawsuit if he gave the money, and he hardly seemed the type of man who would voluntarily enter so savage a fight. But Mrs. Moskowitz, who had worked with Heckscher on various charities, thought he would, and she telephoned him. He agreed immediately. If it was true—as Moses’ opponents were to charge—that the little millionaire demanded in return that the park be named after him, Moses must have considered this a cheap price to pay for the opportunity to be able to say in court that he had money to pay for what he had taken. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 893

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Moses appropriated private land before completing state-mandated negotiations or funding — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 808

Broader Connections

• Moses appropriated private land before completing state-mandated negotiations or funding #expands (0.90) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 808