1888–1981

Robert Moses suffered heavily from the delusion that bigger is better, and in his long and influential career in municipal offices he did more to shape the infrastructure of modern New York than any other. Between 1924 and 1968, he held as many as twelve municipal offices at once, and the massive power he wielded allowed him to do pretty much anything he wanted. His heavy–handed policies led to massive protests and infuriated hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. He was particularly infamous for clearing vast areas he deemed slums and building in their place housing projects, superhighways, and bridges. Some of his most notable projects were the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, the Triborough Bridge, Stuyvesant Town, Lincoln Center, and a total of 416 miles of superhighways.