Governor Smith orchestrated instant counter-persuasion against hesitant park reformers.

Evidence

Smith sent Moses to see them. The younger reformers admired Moses; many of the older men were disenchanted with him, but they believed in the cause for which he was fighting, and they rallied to it: “Park development…should be determined by sound principles. These sound principles, the Citizens Union believes, were outlined by the State Council of Parks.” With reformers who still had doubts, Smith lent a hand. When, in a chat in the City Club lounge, lawyer Joseph M. Price told Moses that perhaps a central supervisory body such as the Land Board wasn’t a bad idea, Moses excused himself, went to a telephone and called Smith in Albany—and hardly had the chat ended when Price received a telegram from the Governor explaining why the Land Board idea was bad. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 881

Categorization

• XREF: Gov. Smith’s live-wire lobbying — real-time counterargument telegraphed from Albany while a skeptical ally sits in a Manhattan club lounge — is a vivid instance of coordinated top-down pressure politics that contrasts with Moses’s own later methods. — connects to: Governor Smith neutralized legislative opposition through social charm and fait accompli — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 935; Republican legislators seized on Moses’s lawbreaking to embarrass Governor Smith — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 830

Broader Connections

• Governor Smith neutralized legislative opposition through social charm and fait accompli #expands (0.85) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 935
• Republican legislators seized on Moses’s lawbreaking to embarrass Governor Smith #complicates (0.80) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 830