A Cub Reporter in Albany in 1963

Paul Grondahl talks to two-time Pulitzer-winning biographer Robert Caro, who visits today, about his days as a young reporter covering the New York State Legislature in 1963.

"It was fascinating to see how state government worked," he said. "I learned a lot working under Newsday's chief political reporter, Dick Zander. What I discovered was that Robert Moses, who was not elected, had a tremendous amount of power up in Albany. Nobody really understood where that power came from. That spurred my initial interest in Moses."

"That was the first time I saw how political power works," Caro said. "It was not what you read about in textbooks. The bridge was a destructive idea, and yet I could see that it was moving forward and I had to understand why. I started thinking who is this Moses guy? He's not elected to anything. How'd he get so much power?" More.