Daniel Patrick “Pat” Moynihan (1927–2003) was an American politician, sociologist, and diplomat. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented New York in the U.S. Senate 1977–2001 and served as an adviser to four U.S. presidents, including two from the Republican party.
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but raised in New York, Moynihan was educated at the City College of New York and Tufts University and won a Fulbright scholarship to the London School of Economics. He then taught at Syracuse, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Moynihan served in the administrations of Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, acquiring notoriety as the author of The Negro Family: The Case for National Action (1965,) which investigated the roots of black poverty in America. Since its publication, this “Moynihan Report” has been widely criticized by African-American leaders and civil rights leaders as examples of white patronizing, cultural bias, or racism.
Moynihan became ambassador to India 1973–74 and ambassador to the U.N. 1974–75 before his election to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat from New York in 1976; he held his seat until 2000. His remarkable legislative record covered everything from poverty and healthcare to acid rain and public transport.
Moynihan’s 18 books ranged from a critique of the operation of the 1960s federal poverty program to an examination of America’s role in the development of international law and an equally authoritative study of racial policies. His notable publications include On the Law of Nations (1990) and Pandemonium: Ethnicity in International Politics (1993.)
Godfrey Hodgson wrote the biography The Gentleman from New York (2000.)
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The single most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence, because it’s so rare.
—Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Topics: Government
The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.
—Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
—Daniel Patrick Moynihan
No one is innocent after the experience of governing. But not everyone is guilty.
—Daniel Patrick Moynihan
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