Republicans attacked Moses through private property rights rhetoric

Evidence

The Republicans tried to shift the focus back to the Governor’s controversial appointee and his actions. Replying on the radio the next evening, John Knight, Senate majority leader, said: The issue is one of law and order as against lawlessness and a violation of sacred constitutional property rights. With scarcely a dollar in sight or available for payment, Robert Moses, with the written approval of Governor Smith and with the aid of the State Police, seized property of the admitted value of $250,000 and excluded the owners from such property. The question as to the legality of that action is one for the courts, and it appears that the owners of this property have brought an action against Mr. Moses for large damages. That is the big reason why Mr. Moses is so much concerned at this time and why he wants an extra session and funds to pay for this property. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 862

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Moses ordered state troopers to back his unpermitted private surveyors onto a farmer’s land — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 797; Republican legislators seized on Moses’s lawbreaking to embarrass Governor Smith — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 830