Oxford’s caste-like prestige offered Moses elite belonging without competition

Evidence

Bob had a very good time at Oxford,” Dougherty recalls. “He liked it very much. It was such a relief after Yale. Yale had that pseudo-democracy, but it was not democratic at all; it was snooty, with all that social tradition. When we got to Oxford, we found all this changed. It was understood by everyone there that by the very fact that you belonged to Oxford, you were the select and the elect. You didn’t have to compete for prestige or honors to become one of the elite. Because you were there, you were the elite.” Moses’ understanding of this fact—and his acceptance of it—shone through an article he sent to the Yale Alumni Weekly. “There is a moribund institution for workingmen’s sons somewhere in Oxford,” he sneered. “I have never yet met an undergraduate who knew its exact location, nor have I met anyone who did not become incoherent with rage when it was defended.” — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 213

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Caro’s larger Moses portrait (the theme of paths to power and elite institutions) and to the ‘gentleman’s club’ analysis in other books about ruling classes like the Whig governing class studies. — connects to: Excluded Yale strivers found relief in Oxford’s inherited, effortless elitism — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 213
• QUESTION: The contempt for the workingmen’s institution is a revealing early class signal — worth noting how it recurs in Moses’s later treatment of ordinary citizens.

Broader Connections

• Excluded Yale strivers found relief in Oxford’s inherited, effortless elitism #corroborates (0.82) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 213