Robert Allan Caro (born October 30, 1935) is an American journalist and author known for his biographies of
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
.
After working for many years as a reporter, Caro wrote ''
The Power Broker
''The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York'' is a 1974 biography of Robert Moses by Robert Caro. The book focuses on the creation and use of power in New York local and state politics, as witnessed through Moses' use of unelected ...
'' (1974), a biography of New York urban planner Robert Moses, which was chosen by the Modern Library as one of the hundred greatest nonfiction books of the twentieth century. He has since written four of a planned five volumes of ''
The Years of Lyndon Johnson
''The Years of Lyndon Johnson'' is a biography of Lyndon B. Johnson by the American writer Robert Caro. Four volumes have been published, running to more than 3,000 pages in total, detailing Johnson's early life, education, and political career. A ...
'' (1982, 1990, 2002, 2012), a biography of the former president. Consequentially, he has been described as "the most influential biographer of the last century."
For his biographies, he has won two Pulitzer Prizes in Biography, two
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
s (including one for Lifetime Achievement), the
Francis Parkman Prize
The Francis Parkman Prize, named after Francis Parkman, is awarded by the Society of American Historians for the best book in American history each year. Its purpose is to promote literary distinction in historical writing. The Society of American ...
(awarded by the Society of American Historians to the book that "best exemplifies the union of the historian and the artist"), three
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Texas Institute of Letters
The Texas Institute of Letters is a non-profit Honor Society founded by William Harvey Vann in 1936 to celebrate Texas literature and to recognize distinctive literary achievement. The TIL’s elected membership consists of the state’s most respe ...
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
awarded Caro the
National Humanities Medal
The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the human ...
.
Due to Caro's reputation for exhaustive research and detail, he is sometimes invoked by reviewers of other writers who are called "Caro-esque" for their own extensive research.
Life and career
Caro was born in New York City, the son of Jewish parents Celia (née Mendelow), also born in New York, and Benjamin Caro, born in Warsaw, Poland. He grew up on
Central Park West
Eighth Avenue is a major north–south avenue on the west side of Manhattan in New York City, carrying northbound traffic below 59th Street. It is one of the original avenues of the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 to run the length of Manhattan, ...
at 94th Street. His father, a businessman, spoke
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...
as well as English, but he didn't speak either very often. He was 'very silent,' Caro said, and became more so after Caro's mother died, after a long illness, when Robert was 12. It was his mother's deathbed wish that he should go to the
Horace Mann School
, motto_translation = Great is the truth and it prevails
, address = 231 West 246th Street
, city = The Bronx
, state = New York
, zipcode = 10471
, countr ...
, an exclusive private school in the Riverdale section of
The Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
. As a student there, Caro translated an edition of his school newspaper into Russian and mailed 10,000 copies to students in the USSR. Graduated in 1953, he went on to
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, where he majored in English. He became
managing editor
A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication.
United States
In the United States, a managing edit ...
of ''
The Daily Princetonian
''The Daily Princetonian'', originally known as ''The Princetonian'' and nicknamed the Prince, is the independent daily student newspaper of Princeton University.
Founded on June 14, 1876 as ''The'' ''Princetonian'', it changed its name to ''T ...
'', second to Johnny Apple, later a prominent editor at ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''.
His writings, both in class and out, had been lengthy since his years at Horace Mann. A short story he wrote for '' The Princeton Tiger'', the school's humor magazine, took up almost an entire issue. His 235-page long senior thesis on
existentialism
Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and valu ...
in
Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fi ...
, titled "Heading Out: A Study of the Development of Ernest Hemingway's Thought", was so long, Caro claims, that the university's English department subsequently established a maximum length for senior theses by its students. He graduated ''cum laude'' in 1957.
According to a 2012 ''
The New York Times Magazine
''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...
'' profile, "Caro said he now thinks that Princeton, which he chose because of its parties, was one of his mistakes, and that he should have gone to Harvard. Princeton in the mid-1950s was hardly known for being hospitable towards the Jewish community, and though Caro says he did not personally suffer from
anti-Semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
, he saw plenty of students who did." He had a sports column in the ''Princetonian'' and also wrote for the ''
Princeton Tiger
''Princeton Tiger'' or ''Tiger Magazine'' is the second oldest college humor magazine in the United States, published by Princeton University undergraduates since 1882. It is best known for giving the start to literary and artistic talent as wid ...
'' humor magazine.
Caro began his professional career as a reporter with the ''New Brunswick Daily Home News'' (now merged into the ''
Home News Tribune
The ''Central New Jersey Home News Tribune'' is a Daily newspaper serving Middlesex County, New Jersey. The paper has an average daily weekday circulation of about 49,000. The newspaper is the result of the 1995 merger of ''The Home News'' of E ...
'') in New Jersey. He took a brief leave to work as a publicist for the Middlesex County
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
. He left politics after an incident where he was accompanying the party chair to polling places on election day. A police officer reported to the party chair that some African Americans Caro saw being loaded into a
police van
A police van (also known as a paddy wagon, meat wagon, divisional van, patrol van, patrol wagon, police wagon, Black Mariah/Maria, police carrier, or in old-fashioned usage, pie wagon) is a type of vehicle operated by police forces. Police vans ...
, under arrest, were
poll watchers
A scrutineer (also called a poll-watcher or a challenger in the United States) is a person who observes any process which requires rigorous oversight. Scrutineers have the tasks of preventing the occurrence of corruption and of detecting genuine ...
who "had been giving them some trouble." Caro left politics right there. "I still think about it," he recalled in the 2012 ''Times Magazine'' profile. "It wasn't the roughness of the police that made such an impression. It was themeekness isn't the right wordthe acceptance of those people of what was happening."
After briefly enrolling in the English doctoral program at
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
(where he served as a teaching assistant), he went on to six years as an
investigative reporter
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...
with the Long Island newspaper '' Newsday''. One of the articles he wrote was a long series about why a proposed bridge acrossLong Island Sound from Rye to Oyster Bay, championed by Robert Moses, would have been inadvisable, requiring piers so large it would disrupt tidal flows in the sound, among other problems. Caro believed that his work had influenced even the state's powerful governor Nelson Rockefeller to reconsider the idea, until he saw the state's
Assembly
Assembly may refer to:
Organisations and meetings
* Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions
* General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...
vote overwhelmingly to pass a preliminary measure for the bridge.
"That was one of the transformational moments of my life," Caro said years later. It led him to think about Moses for the first time. "I got in the car and drove home to Long Island, and I kept thinking to myself: 'Everything you've been doing is baloney. You've been writing under the belief that power in a democracy comes from the ballot box. But here's a guy who has never been elected to anything, who has enough power to turn the entire state around, and you don't have the slightest idea how he got it.'"
Caro gave a speech to introduce Senator
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...
on the second day of the
2004 Democratic National Convention
The 2004 Democratic National Convention convened from July 26 to 29, 2004 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston, Massachusetts, and nominated Senator John Kerry from Massachusetts for president and Senator John Edwards from North ...
.
Work
''The Power Broker''
Caro spent the academic year of 1965–1966 as a
Nieman Fellow
The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University awards multiple types of fellowships.
Nieman Fellowships for journalists
A Nieman Fellowship is an award given to journalists by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University ...
at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
. During a class on
urban planning
Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
and
land use
Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long ...
, the experience of watching Moses returned to him.
To do so, Caro began work on a biography of Moses, ''
The Power Broker
''The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York'' is a 1974 biography of Robert Moses by Robert Caro. The book focuses on the creation and use of power in New York local and state politics, as witnessed through Moses' use of unelected ...
: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York'', also a study of Caro's favorite theme: the acquisition and use of power. He expected it would take nine months to complete, but instead it took him until 1974. The work was based on extensive research and 522 interviews, including seven interviews with Moses himself, several with Michael Madigan (who worked for Moses for 35 years); and numerous interviews with Sidney Shapiro (Moses's general manager for forty years); as well as interviews with men who worked for and knew Moses's mentor, New York Governor Al Smith. During the 1967–1968 academic year, Caro worked on the book as a
Carnegie Fellow
Carnegie may refer to:
People
*Carnegie (surname), including a list of people with the name
*Clan Carnegie, a lowland Scottish clan
Institutions Named for Andrew Carnegie
*Carnegie Building (Troy, New York), on the campus of Rensselaer Polytec ...
at the
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City.
Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...
.
His wife, Ina, functioned as his research assistant. Her master's thesis on the
Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge
The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge ( ) is a suspension bridge connecting the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn. It spans the Narrows, a body of water linking the relatively enclosed New York Harbor with Lower New York Bay and t ...
stemmed from this work. At one point she sold the family home and took a teaching job so Robert would be financially able to finish the book.
''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, where 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. Upon its publication, Moses responded to the biography in a 23-page statement.
''The Years of Lyndon Johnson''
Following ''The Power Broker'', Caro turned his attention to President
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
. 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
''The Years of Lyndon Johnson'' is a biography of Lyndon B. Johnson by the American writer Robert Caro. Four volumes have been published, running to more than 3,000 pages in total, detailing Johnson's early life, education, and political career. A ...
'', was originally intended as a trilogy, but is projected to encompass five volumes:
# '' The Path to Power'' (1982) covers Johnson's life up to his failed 1941 campaign for the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
.
# ''
Means of Ascent
''The Years of Lyndon Johnson'' is a biography of Lyndon B. Johnson by the American writer Robert Caro. Four volumes have been published, running to more than 3,000 pages in total, detailing Johnson's early life, education, and political career. A ...
'' (1990) commences in the aftermath of that defeat and continues through his election to that office in 1948.
# '' Master of the Senate'' (2002) chronicles Johnson's rapid ascent and rule as
Senate Majority Leader
The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding t ...
.
# ''
The Passage of Power
''The Years of Lyndon Johnson'' is a biography of Lyndon B. Johnson by the American writer Robert Caro. Four volumes have been published, running to more than 3,000 pages in total, detailing Johnson's early life, education, and political career. A ...
'' (2012) details the 1960 election, LBJ's life as vice president, the
JFK assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
and his first days as president.
# One as-of-yet unpublished final volume.
In November 2011, Caro announced that the full project had expanded to five volumes with the fifth requiring another two to three years to write. It will cover Johnson and Vietnam, the Great Society and civil rights era, his decision not to run in 1968, and eventual retirement. As of January 2020, Caro had completed 600 typed manuscript pages and was working on a section relating to the passage of Medicare in 1965. In a 2017 interview, Caro expressed his intent to embark shortly on a research trip to Vietnam. In an interview with ''
The New York Review of Books
''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...
'' in January 2018, Caro indicated he did not know when the book would be finished, mentioning anywhere from two to ten years.
Caro's books portray Johnson as a complex and contradictory character: at the same time a scheming opportunist and visionary progressive. Caro argues, for example, that Johnson's victory in the 1948 runoff for the Democratic nomination for the
U.S. Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
was only achieved through extensive fraud and
ballot box stuffing
Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...
, although this is set in the practices of the time and in the context of Johnson's previous defeat in his 1941 race for the Senate, the victim of exactly similar chicanery. Caro also highlighted some of Johnson's campaign contributions, such as those from the Texas construction firm
Brown and Root
KBR, Inc. (formerly Kellogg Brown & Root) is a U.S. based company operating in fields of science, technology and engineering. KBR works in various markets including aerospace, defense, industrial and intelligence. After Halliburton acquired Dress ...
; in 1962 the company was acquired by another Texas firm,
Halliburton
Halliburton Company is an American multinational corporation responsible for most of the world's hydraulic fracturing operations. In 2009, it was the world's second largest oil field service company. It has operations in more than 70 countries ...
, which became a major contractor in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
. In addition, Caro argued that Johnson was awarded the Silver Star in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
for political as well as military reasons, and that he later lied to journalists and the public about the circumstances for which it was awarded. Caro's portrayal of Johnson also notes his struggles on behalf of progressive causes such as the
Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement ...
, and his consummate skill in getting this enacted in spite of intense opposition from
Southern Democrats
Southern Democrats, historically sometimes known colloquially as Dixiecrats, are members of the U.S. Democratic Party who reside in the Southern United States. Southern Democrats were generally much more conservative than Northern Democrats wi ...
.
Among sources close to the late president, Johnson's widow
Lady Bird Johnson
Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson (''née'' Taylor; December 22, 1912 – July 11, 2007) was First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969 as the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson. She previously served as Second Lady from 1961 to 1963 whe ...
"spoke to
aro
ARO (short for Auto Romania) was a Romanian off-road vehicle manufacturer located in Câmpulung. The first ARO vehicles were produced in 1957, and the last in 2003. For a short while, Daihatsu-powered AROs were sold in Spain and produced in Portu ...
several times and then abruptly stopped without giving a reason, and
Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers (born Billy Don Moyers, June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Counci ...
, Johnson's press secretary, has never consented to be interviewed, but most of Johnson's closest friends, including
John Connally
John Bowden Connally Jr. (February 27, 1917June 15, 1993) was an American politician. He served as the 39th governor of Texas and as the 61st United States secretary of the Treasury. He began his career as a Democrat and later became a Republic ...
and George Christian, Johnson's last press secretary, who spoke to Caro practically on his deathbed, have gone on the record".
While writing the book, Caro read the works of the novelist
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
and the historian
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English historian, writer, and member of parliament. His most important work, '' The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, is ...
, alternating between the two. "There's almost a view that if it's well written it can't be good history," he told Mark Rozzo of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' in 2002. "In my view, it's not good history unless it is well written. History is a narrative. History is a story. If you're not telling a story, you're not being faithful to history."
Publisher–editor
Caro's books have been published by
Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...
, first under editor in chief
Robert Gottlieb
Robert Adams Gottlieb (born April 29, 1931) is an American writer and editor. He has been editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster, Alfred A. Knopf, and ''The New Yorker''.
Early life and education
Robert Gottlieb was born to a Jewish family in New Y ...
and then by
Sonny Mehta
Ajai Singh "Sonny" Mehta (9 November 1942McFadden, Robert D. (31 December 2019) ''The New York Times''. – 30 December 2019) was an Indian editor and the editor-in-chief of Alfred A. Knopf and chairman of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
...
, "who took over the Johnson project – enthusiastically – after Gottlieb's departure in 1987." Gottlieb continued as editor of Caro's books after leaving Knopf and excerpted Volume 2 of the Johnson biography at ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' when he was editor in chief there. Gottlieb, five years Caro's senior, initially suggested the Johnson project to Caro in 1974 in preference to the planned follow-up to the Moses volume, a biography of
Fiorello LaGuardia
Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (; born Fiorello Enrico LaGuardia, ; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the House of Representatives and served as the 99th Mayor of New York City from ...
that was then abandoned. The ex-president had recently died and Caro had already decided, before meeting with Gottlieb on the subject, to undertake the Texan's biography; he "wanted to write about power". "We have these unbelievable angry exchanges, but it's always worth it to me," Caro said of his relationship with Gottlieb. "Sometimes we can spend two hours discussing whether to combine two paragraphs."
Future projects
Caro has expressed hope of writing a "full-scale memoir" after completing ''The Years of Lyndon Johnson''. His 2019 book ''Working'' has been described as a "semi-memoir" focused on "Caro's selection of observations...on the arts of researching, interviewing and writing."
When asked about other works he would have pursued, Caro replied a biography on Al Smith, commenting "the more you realize he is probably the most forgotten consequential figure in American history."
Writing process
After conducting his years-long research, Caro attempts to "see the whole book right down to the last line," by putting up an outline on a twenty-two-foot corkboard before writing the first manuscript as a way to prevent
writer's block
Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...
. He writes several successive drafts in longhand on discontinued "legal pads, white with narrow lines," which Caro has mass ordered and keeps in East Hampton. Subsequently, Caro types his books on
Smith Corona
Smith Corona is an American manufacturer of thermal labels, direct thermal labels, and thermal ribbons used in warehouses for primarily barcode labels. Once a large U.S. typewriter and mechanical calculator manufacturer, it expanded aggressively ...
Electra 210 typewriters, which ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
'' called "a model practically synonymous with him." Upon the publication of ''The Passage of Power'' in 2012, Caro owned fourteen Smith Coronas, which came down to eleven in 2019, one of which, the one used when writing ''The Power Broker'', was on display in the 2021 New-York Historical Society's ''"Turn Every Page": Inside the Robert A. Caro Archive'' exhibition. Since production of these was discontinued, Caro uses his reserve to supply parts when these become defective. The typewriters are supplied to him from individuals who, upon knowing his use of the Smith Coronas, send theirs to him. Other individuals have attempted to sell Caro theirs, however he only answers to letters offering them as gifts. Since Caro retypes several versions of his manuscripts before submitting for publication, he prefers a bolder text, which he achieves by using cotton ribbon, instead of the now-common nylon. As the former were discontinued, his wife Ina found a supplier that would manufacture them on the condition that Caro order a dozen gross, or 1728 units. He edits with the use of red 314
Berol
Berol is a former British stationery manufacturing company, based in Lichfield. The company, established in 1845, manufactured a wide range of products including writing implements and art materials. In 1995 it was acquired by Sanford L.P., a ...
Draughting pencils and keeps "a ledger tracking how many words he has written against his stringent 1,000-word daily goal." Though he now works in an office, at one point he wrote "in the woods ... in a shack, a 12x15 ... put on cinderblocks."
Awards and honors
For his biographies of Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson, Robert A. Caro has twice won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography, three times won the
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
Francis Parkman Prize
The Francis Parkman Prize, named after Francis Parkman, is awarded by the Society of American Historians for the best book in American history each year. Its purpose is to promote literary distinction in historical writing. The Society of American ...
.
In October 2007, Caro was named a "Holtzbrinck Distinguished Visitor" at the
American Academy in Berlin
The American Academy in Berlin is a private, independent, nonpartisan research and cultural institution in Berlin dedicated to sustaining and enhancing the long-term intellectual, cultural, and political ties between the United States and Germany ...
, Germany but then was unable to attend.
In 2010, he received the
National Humanities Medal
The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the human ...
from President Obama, the highest award in the humanities given in the United States. Delivering remarks at the end of the ceremony, the President said, "I think about Robert Caro and reading ''The Power Broker'' back when I was 22 years old and just being mesmerized, and I'm sure it helped to shape how I think about politics." In 2011, Robert Caro was the recipient of the 2011 BIO Award given each year by members of Biographers International "to a colleague who had made a major contribution in the advancement of the art and craft of real life depiction."
* 1964 – The Society of Silurians Award for outstanding achievement in the field of Public Service History for a series entitled "Misery Acres", exposing fraudulent real estate sales by mail
* 1964 – The Deadline Club for outstanding newspaper reporting
* 1965 – The Deadline Club for outstanding newspaper reporting
* 1965–1966 – Nieman W. Lucius
Nieman Fellowship
The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University awards multiple types of fellowships.
Nieman Fellowships for journalists
A Nieman Fellowship is an award given to journalists by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University ...
from Harvard University Nieman Foundation
* 1975 –
Washington Monthly
''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alterna ...
American Political Book Award (''The Power Broker'')
* 1975 – The
Francis Parkman Prize
The Francis Parkman Prize, named after Francis Parkman, is awarded by the Society of American Historians for the best book in American history each year. Its purpose is to promote literary distinction in historical writing. The Society of American ...
awarded by the Society of American Historians to the book that best "exemplifies the union of the historian and the artist" (''The Power Broker'')
* 1975 – The Pulitzer Prize for Biography (''The Power Broker'')"Biography or Autobiography" ''Past winners & finalists by category''. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
* 1975 – AIA Special Citation
* 1982 – The
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Columbia Daily Spectator''
* 1983 –
American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
Award
* 1983 – The Carr P. Collins Award from the Texas Institute of Arts and Letters (''The Path to Power'')
* 1983 – The Mencken Award for the best book of 1982 (''The Path to Power'')
* 1986 – The Gold Medal in Biography from the American Academy of Art and Letters
* 1990 – The
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Washington Monthly
''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alterna ...
American Political Book Award (''Means of Ascent'')
* 2002 – ''The Power Broker'' chosen by the Modern Library as one of the hundred greatest non-fiction books of the twentieth century
* 2002 – The
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
(''Master of the Senate'')
* 2003 – The
Los Angeles Times Book Award
Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), history, mystery/thriller ...
in Non-Fiction (''Master of the Senate'')
* 2003 – The
Carl Sandburg
Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...
Award in Literature (''Master of the Senate'')
* 2003 – The
John Steinbeck Award
The John Steinbeck Award: "In The Souls of the People", is an annual award given to an individual or group that has contributed to society in the spirit of John Steinbeck. The award is given to artists who capture "Steinbeck’s empathy, commitme ...
in literature (''Master of the Senate'')
* 2003 – The Pulitzer Prize for Biography (''Master of the Senate'')
* 2008 – Elected into the
American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
*2009 – Elected a member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
* 2010 – Inducted into the
New York Writers Hall of Fame
The New York State Writers Hall of Fame or NYS Writers Hall of Fame is a project established in 2010 by the Empire State Center for the Book, which is the New York State affiliate of the U.S. Library of Congress's Center for the Book, and the Em ...
* 2010 – The
National Humanities Medal
The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the human ...
* 2011 – The BIO Award from
Biographers International Organization
Biographers International Organization (BIO) is an international, non-profit, 501 (c)(3) organization founded to promote the art and craft of biography, and to further the professional interests of its practitioners. The organization was founded in ...
for advancing the art and craft of biography.
* 2012 –
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
(Nonfiction), finalist, ''The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson''
* 2012 – National Book Critics Circle Award (Biography), finalist, ''The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson''
* 2012 – The
Los Angeles Times Book Award
Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), history, mystery/thriller ...
in Non-Fiction (''The Passage of Power'')
* 2012 – The New York Historical Society American History Book Prize (''The Passage of Power'')
* 2012 – The
Mark Lynton History Prize The Mark Lynton History Prize is an annual award in the amount of $10,000 given to a book "of history, on any subject, that best combines intellectual or scholarly distinction with felicity of expression". The prize is one of three awards given as p ...
(''The Passage of Power'')
* 2012 – Norman Mailer Prize, Biography.
* 2016 – The
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
(Lifetime Achievement)
Family
After graduation from Princeton, Caro married Ina Joan Sloshberg, who was then still a student at
Connecticut College
Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus. The college w ...
. The Caros have a son, Chase Arthur, and three grandchildren, who live in White Plains.
Caro has described his wife as "the whole team" on all five of his books. She sold their house and took a job teaching school to fund work on ''The Power Broker'' and is the only other person who conducted research for his books.
Ina is the author of ''The Road from the Past: Traveling through History in France'' (1996), a book which Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. called, at the presentation of her honorary
Doctor of Humane Letters
The degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (; DHumLitt; DHL; or LHD) is an honorary degree awarded to those who have distinguished themselves through humanitarian and philanthropic contributions to society.
The criteria for awarding the degree differ ...
from
The City University of New York
, mottoeng = The education of free people is the hope of Mankind
, budget = $3.6 billion
, established =
, type = Public university system
, chancellor = Fél ...
in 2011, "the essential traveling companion ... for all who love France and its history." ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...
'' reviewer Peter Prescott commented, "I'd rather go to France with Ina Caro than with
Henry Adams
Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian and a member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. Presidents.
As a young Harvard graduate, he served as secretary to his father, Charles Fr ...
or
Henry James
Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
. The unique premise of her intelligent and discerning book is so startling that it's a wonder no one has thought of it before." Ina frequently writes about her travels through France in her blog, Paris to the Past. In June 2011, W. W. Norton published her second book, ''Paris to the Past: Traveling through French History by Train''.
Robert Caro had a younger sibling, Michael, a retired real estate manager who died in 2018.
Caro's son, Chase, was disbarred automatically in November 2007 after pleading guilty "to second-degree
grand larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Engl ...
for stealing ver $750,000from three former clients in the course of real estate transactions." In April 2008, he was sentenced "to 2 1/2 to 7 1/2 years in prison" after admitting to stealing $310,000 meant for his grandparents' trust fund. Additionally, Caro "agreed to pay restitution of $1.1 million, which also includes funds from a third theft." All his sentences ran concurrently. As of 2012, Chase works "in the information-technology business".
Legacy
Due to Caro's work ethic and voluminous work several authors have been compared to him and labelled as "Caro-esque", "Caro-like" or "in the Caro mold" for their own extensive research, such as
Renata Adler
Renata Adler (born October 19, 1938) is an American author, journalist, and film critic. Adler was a staff writer-reporter for ''The New Yorker'', and in 1968–69, she served as chief film critic for ''The New York Times''. She is also a write ...
,
Taylor Branch
Taylor Branch (born January 14, 1947) is an American author and historian who wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning trilogy chronicling the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and much of the history of the American civil rights movement. The final volume o ...
David Garrow
David Jeffries Garrow (born May 11, 1953) is an American author and historian. He wrote the book ''Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference'' (1986), which won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Biogr ...
Gerard Henderson
Gerard Henderson (born 1945) is an Australian author, columnist and political commentator. He founded and is executive director of The Sydney Institute, a privately funded Australian current affairs forum.
Education and earlier career
Henders ...
, Jason Horowitz,
Francis Jennings
Francis "Fritz" Jennings (1918November 17, 2000) was an American historian, best known for his works on the colonial history of the United States. He taught at Cedar Crest College from 1968 to 1976, and at the Moore College of Art from 1966 to 1 ...
David Maraniss
David Maraniss ( ; born 1949) is an American journalist and author, currently serving as an associate editor for ''The Washington Post''.
Career
''The Washington Post'' assigned Maraniss the job of biographer for their coverage of 2008 president ...
,
David McCullough
David Gaub McCullough (; July 7, 1933 – August 7, 2022) was an American popular historian. He was a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In 2006, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States ...
Richard Neustadt
Richard Elliott Neustadt (June 26, 1919 – October 31, 2003) was an American political scientist specializing in the United States presidency. He also served as adviser to several presidents. He was the author of the books ''Presidential Power' ...
Rick Perlstein
Eric S. Perlstein (born September 3, 1969) is an American historian and journalist who has garnered recognition for his chronicles of the post-1960s American conservative movement. The author of five bestselling books, Perlstein received the 200 ...
,
Steven Pressfield
Steven Pressfield (born September 1, 1943) is an American author of historical fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays, including his 1995 novel '' The Legend of Bagger Vance'' and 2002 non-fiction book '' The War of Art''.
Early life
Pressfi ...
Lytton Strachey
Giles Lytton Strachey (; 1 March 1880 – 21 January 1932) was an English writer and critic. A founding member of the Bloomsbury Group and author of '' Eminent Victorians'', he established a new form of biography in which psychological insight ...
Horace Mann School
, motto_translation = Great is the truth and it prevails
, address = 231 West 246th Street
, city = The Bronx
, state = New York
, zipcode = 10471
, countr ...
, commenced awarding the Robert Caro '53 Prize for Literary Excellence in the Writing of History at a ceremony held annually at the head of school's home. In 2017 the school named a classroom at Tillinghast Hall "Robert A. Caro '53 History Classroom" to which Caro reacted by stating that it would be "hard for imto think of anything that would make imhappier."
'' Motherless Brooklyn'', the 2019 film directed by
Edward Norton
Edward Harrison Norton (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received numerous awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe Award and three Academy Award nominations.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised ...
, loosely based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Jonathan Lethem, was inspired by Caro's biography of Robert Moses, ''The Power Broker''. León Krauze wrote in '' Slate'' comparing Norton's character in that film to Caro himself.
In January 2020, the
New-York Historical Society
The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library in New York City, along Central Park West between 76th and 77th Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum ...
acquired Caro's complete archive, consisting of "200 linear feet of material", part of which will be digitized and made wholly available to researchers in a Robert A. Caro Study Space. Additionally, a permanent exhibition, named ''Robert Caro Working'' after his 2019 book '' Working'', will be set up at the Society's library. Caro stated that he was "just plain delighted" since his "favorite aunt often took" him there as well as having spoken there and "been a recipients of its awards." An exhibition called ''"Turn Every Page": Inside the Robert A. Caro Archive'' opened on October 22, 2021, becoming "the first permanent public exhibition of an archive devoted to a living author in the country." The title comes from an advice from then-editor of '' Newsday'',
Alan Hathway
Alan Bonnell Hathway (May 22, 1906 – April 15, 1977) was an editor at ''Newsday'', a daily newspaper for the Long Island suburbs of New York City, from the early 1940s until 1970. He began as city editor, then became managing editor and eventu ...
, had given to Caro as a young reporter on "his first investigative assignment, Hathway "looked at me for what I remember as a very long time … 'Just remember,' he said. 'Turn every page. Never assume anything. Turn every goddamn page.'"" The advice is also the title of the 2022 documentary on Caro and editor Robert Gottlieb's collaborations, directed by the latter's daughter, Lizzie Gottlieb.
Selected works
Books
*
* Caro, Robert A., ''The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power''. 1982. Alfred A. Knopf Inc., New York. . xxiii + 882 p. + 48 p. of plates: illus.
* Caro, Robert A., ''The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of Ascent''. 1990. Alfred A. Knopf Inc., New York. . xxxiv + 506 pp.
* Caro, Robert A., ''The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate''. 2002. Alfred A. Knopf Inc, New York. . xxiv + 1167 pp.
* Caro, Robert A., ''The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power''. 2012. Alfred A. Knopf Inc, New York. . 752 pp.
* Zinsser, William Knowlton (ed.), ''Extraordinary Lives: The Art and Craft of American Biography''. 2016. Houghton Mifflin,
* Caro, Robert A., '' Working''. April 2019. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, New York. . 240 pp.
Audiobooks
* Caro, Robert A., On Power ', 2017, Audible. . 1 hr and 42 mins.
Articles
* Caro, Robert A. (February 3, 1991). . ''The New York Times''. . Retrieved July 29, 2020.
* Caro, Robert A and Vonnegut, Kurt. The Round Table: Fiction, Biography and the Use of Power " ''Hampton shorts. 4 : fiction plus poetry plus drama plus interviews from the Hamptons & the East End''. 1999. Hamptons Literary Publications, Water Mill, N.Y.
* Caro, Robert A. (August 27, 2008). . ''The New York Times''. . Retrieved July 29, 2020.