Moses turned a nominally nonpartisan reform bulletin into partisan election weaponry
Evidence
In 1922, every issue of the Bulletin contained an attack on Miller. Because it was an election year, Moses wrote in one issue, “The Governor’s organ is keyed for harmony. The soft pedal will be on, and…someone will pull out the Republican vox humana stop if it is not jammed from disuse.” When Miller claimed that his economy measures had reduced the number of state employees by 2,500, Moses made his own analysis of civil service figures and wrote that the number had actually been increased by 983. A furious Miller called a press conference and declared that “like most all of the statements made by that association, it is untrue, and is a piece of the propaganda that this association is scattering all over the state.” — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 588
Categorization
- QUESTION: Worth checking whether Moses’ civil-service-count dispute with Miller was factually correct or pure propaganda — an early case of his selective use of statistics.
- XREF: connects to: Allies perceived Moses converting a reform body into a personal political vehicle — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 587; So-called nonpartisan religious voter guides carry an unambiguous partisan message. — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 90; Partisan newspapers divided in coverage when Moses’s attack on Miller proved baseless — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 589 (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Allies perceived Moses converting a reform body into a personal political vehicle
#corroborates(0.92) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 587 - Partisan newspapers divided in coverage when Moses’s attack on Miller proved baseless
#expands(0.85) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 589 - Moses’s false attack shattered the bipartisan unity of the reform association
#expands(0.80) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 590 - So-called nonpartisan religious voter guides carry an unambiguous partisan message.
#exemplifies(0.73) — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 90