Confrontation With Robert Moses
Later that year, he tangled with Robert Moses, a onetime ally who had named him secretary of the New York State Parks Council, a forerunner to the current New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, in order to help establish Letchworth State Park. Torrey opposed the route Moses wanted for the Northern State Parkway along Long Island's central glacial moraine. He had arranged for the reprinting of an article sharing this view in the ASHPS newsletter, which enraged Moses.
On September 12, Moses learned that Torrey had been providing information about Parks Council meetings, information that was available to the public in any event, to an attorney for wealthy North Shore landowners similarly opposed to the road project. He called Torrey to his office, where the council's finance committee was meeting, and berated him for this and the newsletter article, which he considered serious breaches of trust.
Torrey stood firm and defended both actions. When Moses responded to Torrey's telling him he had no right to tell him what he could and could not print by saying "Goddamn you! What do you mean by doing something like that?", Torrey, who had many Jewish friends, lost his temper and said "You big noisy kike; you can't talk to me like that." Moses attempted to choke him and had to be pulled off Torrey by other members of the committee; he threw a smoking stand at Torrey afterwards.
While Torrey apologized for the incident (and Moses did not), he eventually resigned from the Parks Council, a move which ultimately gave Moses control of that body.
Read more about this topic: Raymond H. Torrey
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