Danial Patrick Moynihan

I began my holiday shopping today, and came across the book “Danial Patrick Moynihan: A Portrait in Letters of an American Visionary,” edited by Steven Weisman. I haven't read any of Weisman's other books, but remember him from his years at the New York Times. He is presently employed at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, something that I am totally unfamiliar with. However, the book caught my attention, and I'll begin reading it tonight.

Younger forum members may not know much about Moynihan, other than the fact that he served in the US Senate for many years, before retiring and endorsing Hillary Clinton's run for his seat. His career was actually very impressive. He was a member of President Kennedy's “New Frontier,” and then was involved in LBJ's attempts to create a “Great Society” through policies that were described as a “war on poverty.” His relationship with President Johnson was strained, due to his closeness to JFK.

Perhaps the issue he is most closely associated with from the Johnson years was a controversial study on the relationship between “broken” families and poverty among black citizens. Moynihan would come to find Robert Kennedy's 1968 presidential run troubling, because he believed – wrongly – that RFK had turned his back on the white middle class, and was only representing black and poor Americans. He wrote a strange letter about his beliefs to Ted Kennedy after Robert's murder, attacking RFK's having “found religion” and abandoning “his people.”

Moynihan would also serve President Nixon, and would become one of the early advocates of the neoconservative movement. He also taught at Harvard before becoming a US Senator from New York State.

In his later years, Moynihan lived near Oneonta, NY., not far away from me. One of my friends worked for him. Moynihan suffered from the “Irish flu,” and his employees knew that he needed to take care of important business before noon. It was not uncommon to see Moynihan stumbling drunk by mid-afternoon, making his way along the rural roads near his farm.

At his best, Daniel Patrick Moynihan was one of the most intelligent politicians of his era. While I detest the neoconservative philosophy, he did some important work in the 1960s. I anticipate that I will enjoy reading this book.

I am curious what other forum members' opinions of him are? Have any of you read this book?

A great quote from him.

Certainly a mixed bag, but a guy with some heart, talent and character.

While his work during the Johnson era gave White America a better view of the plight of AA's, that view was skewed in many ways and inaccurate in others. It helped and it hurt. :shrug:

I respected his intellect, but, knew he was limited in his ability to see or reason beyond his own world.

Mixed bag indeed....

Moynihan was the source of a number of good quotes. And definitely a "mixed bag." The author of the book notes that Moynihan, more than any other recent politician, would have fit in well with this country's Founding Fathers. That's an interesting thought.

But I am from NY and he was our Senator for many years.
I understand that his background was not as rough and tumble as some think.
I also heard about his drinking. Shame.
Let us know what you think of the book.

From my cursory study, he appears to genuinely have wanted to make a positive difference in the lives of many American citizens. At the same time, his controversial study on black families seemed to paint single mothers as the cause of poverty in the African-American community. Moynihan's study was the prologue to Reagan's "welfare queen" conclusion. It is interesting to note that Ralph Nader worked for him.

He was an intellectual and a well-educated man. He was on the right side of most issues, voting against DOMA, the death penalty, and NAFTA. He voted against the Gulf War too. And, despite his lifelong rhetoric against AFDC and welfare, he was vehemently against Bill Clinton's welfare reform, voting against that too.

Now that I really reflect upon it, as a Democratic Senator, he opposed most of a Democratic President's (Bill Clinton's) signature reforms and legislative efforts. He was certainly a man of wisdom and principle. We could use a few more of him in our party today.

variance from Libs/Progressive on economics and social services issues? On almost all the rest O'DONNELL is fantastic.

And, since Moynihan chaired the Senate Finance committee, O'Donnell directed that committee's staff as well helping to draft and push through Clinton's first budget (which required a tie-breaking vote from Al Gore).