In the Saddle (Part 3 of 3)

Core idea

The third part of In the Saddle shifts to Moses's relationship with the New York Times publishers — Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger in particular, who was a parks-and-conservation enthusiast and a personal friend of Moses for decades. Caro presents the relationship as power infrastructure: the Times family's editorial line on Moses was friendly because the Sulzbergers themselves were friendly. Iphigene had reservations — she understood by the late 1930s that engineers' values and parks' values were not compatible — but the institutional line held for forty years.

Why it matters

Iphigene Sulzberger as personal ally

Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger — daughter of Times owner Adolph Ochs, wife of publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger — was a conservationist and parks enthusiast. She and Moses corresponded for decades. She had reservations; she once told an interviewer that engineers are straight-line crazy — but she remained politically aligned with him on parks.

Press relationship as power infrastructure

Caro's argument: a single publisher-family relationship sustained Moses's press protection across forty years and multiple changes of Times editorial board. The relationship was not strategic in a calculating sense; Iphigene genuinely liked Moses. The strategic effect — that the Times line on Moses was protective from 1925 through 1965 — was real regardless of intent.

Key takeaways

Mental model

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Practical application

Example

The protective coverage of Henry Kissinger by the Washington Post across decades rested on his personal friendship with Katharine Graham, not on any specific editor's evaluation. When Graham died in 2001, the coverage line shifted noticeably. Publisher families are durable; editors are not.

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