Electoral politics in 1926 made Republicans afraid to oppose park programs

Evidence

Republican ranks were already under severe pressure over parks. In New York City, Al Smith, taking command of Tammany Hall in fact if not in title after Charlie Murphy’s death, had snatched the Democratic mayoral nomination away from Red Mike Hylan and handed it to Jimmy Walker, and Walker, at his inauguration on January 1, 1926, had announced support of the vast program of city park-land acquisitions prepared by the city’s Park Association with Moses’ help. There would be a referendum in November to authorize the necessary bonds, and women’s clubs and a reformers’ Committee of One Thousand had already launched a mammoth public education campaign. All in all, 1926 was not the year to be opposing parks. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 923

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Parks once united voters across class lines as an unopposable political issue — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 746; Legislators’ fear for party allies in 1926 elections drove their park policy votes — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 924; A political vote can express dwelling with uncertainty rather than a positive program — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 523 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Legislators’ fear for party allies in 1926 elections drove their park policy votes #corroborates (0.95) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 924
• Electoral competition for expellee votes fossilized symbolic irredentism that no longer meant return #expands (0.72) — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 741
• A political vote can express dwelling with uncertainty rather than a positive program #qualifies (0.70) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 523