Robert Allan Caro (born October 30, 1935) is a biographer most noted for his studies of United States political figures Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson. He is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. October 30 is the 303rd day of the year (304th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 62 days remaining. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article needs cleanup. ... Robert Moses (1888–1981) Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was the master builder of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, and other suburbs. ... Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States (1963–1969). ... The gold medal awarded for Public Service in Journalism The Pulitzer Prize is an American award regarded as the highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievements, and musical compositions. ...

Background

In 1953, Caro graduated from the Horace Mann School; in 1957 he received a degree in English from Princeton University, where he was managing editor of The Daily Princetonian. He then earned a master's degree from Columbia. He began his professional career as a reporter with the New Brunswick Daily Home News in New Jersey. He also spent six years as an investigative reporter with the Long Island, New York newspaper Newsday. The Horace Mann School is an independent college preparatory school in New York City. ... Princeton University is a coeducational private university located in Princeton, New Jersey in the United States of America. ... Editing is the process of preparing language, images, or sound for presentation through correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications. ... The Daily Princetonian is the daily student newspaper of Princeton University. ... A masters degree is an academic degree usually awarded for completion of a postgraduate (or graduate) course of one to three years in duration. ... A reporter is a type of journalist who researches and presents information in certain types of mass media. ... Investigative journalism is a kind of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a topic of interest, often related to crime, scandals, government corruption, white collar crime. ... Mercator projection of Long Island Long Island is an island in New York, USA. It has an area of 1,377 square miles (3567 km²) and a population of 7. ... Official language(s) English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ... Newsday is a daily tabloid-size newspaper that primarily serves Long Island and the New York City borough of Queens, although it is sold throughout the greater New York City metropolitan area. ...

The Power Broker

Main article: The Power Broker

After spending a year as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, Caro began work on his first book, The Power Broker, which is both a biography of New York urban planner Robert Moses and a study of Caro's favorite theme, the acquisition and use of power. Not finished until 1974, the work was based on extensive research and numerous interviews, including those with Moses himself. His wife, Ina Caro, functioned as his research assistant. In fact, her master's thesis on the Triborough Bridge stemmed from this work. The Power Broker was a commercial and critical success, winning the Pulitzer Prize in biography and the Francis Parkman Prize, among others. The Power Broker is a 1973 biography of Robert Moses, New York Citys Master Builder, by Robert Caro. ... Nieman Fellowship is an award given to mid-career journalists by The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... Official language(s) English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ... The Triborough Bridge is a complex of three bridges connecting the New York City boroughs of the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens, using what were two islands, Wards Island and Randalls Island as intermediate rights-of-way between the water crossings. ... Francis Parkman Prize is awarded by the Society of American Historians for the best book in American history each year. ...

The Power Broker is widely viewed as a seminal work because it combined painstaking historical research with a smoothly flowing narrative writing style. The success of this approach was evident in his chapter on the construction of the Cross-Bronx Expressway, which Caro reported the controversy from all perspectives, including that of neighborhood residents. The result was a work of powerful literary as well as academic interest. The Cross-Bronx Expressway is an expressway in New York City. ...

The Years of Lyndon Johnson

Main article: The Years of Lyndon Johnson

Following this success, Caro turned his attention to Lyndon B. Johnson. Caro retraced Johnson's life by temporarily moving to rural Texas and Washington, D.C., in order to better understand Johnson's upbringing and to interview anyone who had known Johnson. The work, entitled The Years of Lyndon Johnson, will eventually comprise four volumes. The Path to Power (1982) covers Johnson's life through his failed 1941 campaign for the United States Senate. The second volume, Means of Ascent (1989), commences in the aftermath of that defeat and continues through his election to that office in 1948. The third and most recent published volume, Master of the Senate (2002) chronicles Johnson's rapid ascent and rule as Senate Majority Leader; it garnered Caro a second Pulitzer Prize. Caro is currently at work on the last volume, tentatively titled The Presidency. The Years of Lyndon Johnson is a biography of Lyndon Johnson, the 36th President of the United States, by the American writer Robert Caro. ... Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States (1963–1969). ... Rural area in Dalarna, Sweden Qichun, a rural town in Hubei province, China Rural areas (also referred to as the country, countryside) are sparsely settled places away from the influence of large cities. ... Official language(s) None See: Languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Area  Ranked 2nd  - Total 268,581 sq mi (695,622 km²)  - Width 773 miles (1,244 km)  - Length 790 miles (1,270 km)  - % water 2. ... Nickname: DC, The District Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Location of Washington, D.C., in relation to the states Maryland and Virginia. ... Seal of the U.S. Senate The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress, the other being the House of Representatives. ... Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson is the third volume of Robert Caros biography of Lyndon Johnson, covering the years he spent in the United States Senate, especially his struggle to pass a civil rights bill addressing African-Americans, the first such bill since Reconstruction. ... The Senate Majority Leader is a member of the United States Senate who is elected by his or her party conference to serve as the chief Senate spokesman for his or her party and to manage and schedule the legislative and executive business of the Senate. ... The gold medal awarded for Public Service in Journalism The Pulitzer Prize is an American award regarded as the highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievements, and musical compositions. ...

Caro's books portray Johnson as alternating between scheming opportunist and visionary progressive. Caro argued, for example, that Johnson's victory in the 1948 runoff for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate was achieved through extensive fraud and ballot box stuffing. Caro also highlighted some of Johnson's campaign contributions, such as those from the Texas construction firm Brown and Root; in 1962 the company was acquired by another Texas firm, Halliburton, which became a major contractor in the Vietnam War. In addition, Caro argued that Johnson was awarded the Silver Star in World War II mainly for political reasons, and that he later lied to journalists and the public about the circumstances for which it was awarded. Despite these criticisms, Caro's portrayal of Johnson also notes his struggles on behalf of progressive causes such as the Voting Rights Act. Seal of the U.S. Senate The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress, the other being the House of Representatives. ... KBR (formerly Kellogg, Brown and Root) is an American engineering and construction company, a private military contractor and a subsidiary of Halliburton. ... Halliburton Energy Services (NYSE: HAL) is a multinational corporation with operations in over 120 countries. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... The Silver Star is the fifth highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Armed Forces, and the third highest given for valor (in the face of the enemy). ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... Political Progressivism or simply Progressivism is an ideology and political philosophy whose adherents promote policies that they believe would reform a countrys government, economy, or society. ...

Pop culture references

In the television series' The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horrors XVI" the character Lisa is seen reading Master of the Senate in the vignette "Bart A.I." Simpsons redirects here. ...

Family

His grandson, Jesse, is a New York State Private School Wrestling Champion.

External links

• Robert Caro's official website
• Short essay about Caro by Morgan Meis of 3 Quarks Daily