Moses’ physical collapses were reliably triggered by threats to his power

Evidence

There was a telling indication of how much he feared what was happening. During the most severe crises of Robert Moses’ career—the period in the Order Number 129 fight when it seemed likely that he would lose, for example—his iron constitution had suddenly betrayed him; each time he had been hospitalized during his adult life, it had been during such a crisis. Now he was hospitalized again, for eleven days, with an illness whose precise nature was carefully concealed, but which was variously described as “a bad cold,” “a respiratory infection,” “viral pneumonia,” “pleurisy” and “nervous exhaustion.” Pictures of him leaving the hospital for further rest in Babylon show a man gaunt, hollow-cheeked, with sunken eyes and, under them, circles so dark they seemed almost bruises—a man who suddenly looked, for the first time, old. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 4209

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to ch9/character portrait of Moses’ iron constitution betraying him under crisis—a recurring biographical motif. — connects to: Self-destructive tactics, not national tides, explained Moses’ electoral collapse. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 1842; Moses believed universally popular issues made him politically invulnerable — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 960