Moses attacked absent, dying park commissioners via rumor campaigns

Evidence

So Moses moved against the Niagara commissioners. First, although they had a superintendent and an engineer to direct the commission’s staff and day-to-day affairs, Moses demanded that they appoint an “executive officer”—who they suspected would be one of his men. They refused. … Then there ensued in April and May 1926 a number of Parks Council meetings at which the commission had no representative present. Clearwater, its authorized representative, was suddenly struck down by an illness so severe that doctors gave him no chance of living. Wilcox, his authorized substitute, was too weak to take his place. And council members who were friends of the two old men reported that in their absence rumors—vicious rumors—were being circulated about them in whispers at council meetings. Someone—Wilcox felt sure he knew who—was hinting darkly that the Niagara Commission, in making its park and parkway plans, had sold out to the interests of Schoellkopf’s power company. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 1102

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Moses’ feared public support had long since evaporated without political insiders noticing — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 4397; Moses’ park-defender image survived only through press secrecy — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 4061

Broader Connections

• Moses’ feared public support had long since evaporated without political insiders noticing #corroborates (0.82) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 4397
• Moses’ park-defender image survived only through press secrecy #responds-to (0.75) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 4061