Sublime

Moses may have mocked to their faces men of wealth and influence and insulted the most powerful members of the State Legislature; he treated Al Smith with a respect that to those who saw the two men together was unforgettable.

After the campaign, Moses himself would say that Lehman “was essentially a cautious, dependable citizen of the old school” who “carried on the work of Smith and Roosevelt without basic innovation” but who was “enormously conscientious and hard-working…. I would classify him as a distinguished Governor.” Herbert Lehman, Robert Moses would say after

He and FDR became lifelong friends, and their partnership endured until Roosevelt’s death. The president often used O’Connor to transmit messages he did not wish to entrust to political associates—a confidential conduit he knew he could rely on.

But Robert Moses didn’t have to worry about enemies as long as his friend stuck by him. And his friend stuck. Smith’s unprecedented popularity—proven by the ease with which he defeated Mills, a popular Republican running in a heavily Republican state—had given him unprecedented power in the state. And he let the Senate know that he would, if

“Without his loyalty to me,” Moses was to say about Al Smith, “I could have done nothing.” He had had Al Smith—and his loyalty—for ten years. But now he was to have Al Smith no more. And the man who was to follow Moses’ greatest friend into the Governor’s chair was Moses’ deadliest enemy.

Just as important to the Old Guard as this facet of Moses’ personality was the fact that the public didn’t know about it. Thanks to his genius for public relations, to the people he was still the fighter for parks and against privilege.

Smith was not only a politician; he was a Tammany politician. In the simple Tammany code, the first commandment was Loyalty. Smith’s loyalty to his appointees was legendary. Once he gave a man a job, he was fond of saying, he never interfered with him unless he proved himself incapable of handling it.

Marne explains her background, that she’s relatively new to Facebook, having most recently worked at the White House under Larry Summers.