2. What may have contributed the most to Robert Moses’ inability to listen to opposing viewpoints?

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Throughout his career, Robert Moses was someone who never really listened to other people’s opinions, but by 1950 he was physically going deaf. His aides even installed an amplifier in his phone and microphones throughout his office with small speakers placed near his desk to pick up conversations and help him hear better. It didn’t help much. For many years he was too vain to wear a hearing aid, and subsequently couldn’t hear most of what was said to him, or about him, in meetings, interviews, and events. Moses’ habit of assuming that everyone was in agreement with him was probably a result of both his personality and his growing audio isolation.