Robert Moses was an influential urban planner and public official in New York City in the mid-20th century. He was born in 1888 in Connecticut and studied political science at Yale, Oxford, and Columbia. Moses began his career proposing civil service reforms in New York City. He later served as the head of various New York state and city agencies overseeing public works projects, where he greatly expanded the park system and built many bridges and highways. Moses used these positions to reshape the development and infrastructure of New York City.