Definition
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the four-term U.S. president (1933–1945) who led the country through the Great Depression and most of the Second World War. He had been governor of New York before, and during, the early years of Robert Moses's rise — a parallel ascent that bred a personal animus between the two men lasting the rest of their lives.
For The Power Broker, Roosevelt is the federal counterweight that ultimately bounded Moses's empire. Federal money flowing into New York could be turned on and off in Washington; that switch was, for two decades, in the hands of a man Moses had publicly humiliated.
Why it matters
How it works
In a federal system, a state-level operator depends on national money — and the national executive can ration that money for political reasons. FDR did so with Moses, routing public-works funding around him whenever possible and forcing the New York governor's office to choose between its star administrator and Washington's good graces.
The structural lesson is general. Even a near-unaccountable subordinate within a city or state hits a ceiling when the next layer up holds the purse strings and remembers a grudge. Power below is finite when power above is hostile.