Moses conceived public service as an instrument for implementing great social reforms

Evidence

The thesis reveals its author as a man convinced that public service is a noble calling and one that must be based on the highest ideals. Moses did not believe that the “perfection” of the British civil service system was an end in itself. Rather, he saw it as an instrument, an indispensable one, for the implementation of great social reforms. Progressive nations, he wrote, had begun creating new departments of government to free mankind from the traditional horrors of old age, disease and unemployment. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 231

Categorization

• XREF: Connects forward to Caro’s larger thesis across The Power Broker that reformist ideology and administrative state-building were Moses’s genuine starting commitments before power corrupted them. — connects to: Cultivating his mother’s approval shaped Moses’s public-service ideal — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 158; Robert Moses declared public service ambitions as a Yale senior — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 200; Moses began his career in public service with passionate idealism — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 248 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Moses began his career in public service with passionate idealism #corroborates (0.90) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 248
• Moses channeled youthful reform idealism into the civil service commission #exemplifies (0.85) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 296
• Civil service reform was justified as instrument for social reform #exemplifies (0.85) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 231