Moses’ susceptibility to power’s corrupting effect was inherited from his mother

Evidence

But even sharp-eyed men could not be prepared for the extent of the transformation. For adulthood was, after all, only a part of the pattern of Moses’ life, and they had not seen the other part of the pattern. They could not know, therefore, how far back in the over-all pattern the dark thread ran. They could not know how inextricably it was knotted into the pattern’s most central design. … He was “Bella Moses’ son,” the one of her children most like her, the one in whom surfaced most strongly the mixed strain of passionate idealism and overweening arrogance that she had inherited from her parents, Grannie and Bernhard Cohen. When the idealism died, the arrogance was already well rooted and strong. If it was given nourishment, it would expand. And power feeds arrogance. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 1068

Categorization

• XREF: Links to the psychological literature on narcissistic inheritance and to the ch4 ‘Robert Moses’ arrogance… inherited from his mother and grandmother’ claim now paying off. — connects to: Bella Moses was a builder at heart, drawn to physical construction over abstraction — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 137; Robert Moses’ arrogance and force of will were inherited from his mother and grandmother — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 160; The acquisition of power transformed Moses’ character into overt arrogance — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 1066 (+3 more)
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source

Broader Connections

• Society coopts the mother’s influence by sanctifying her as guardian of morality #contradicts (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 369
• The acquisition of power transformed Moses’ character into overt arrogance #expands (0.75) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 1066