[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7483-7486]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN

  Mrs. CLINTON. Madam President, I come to the floor on very sad 
business, both for this body, for my State, and my country. We have 
just received word that Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan has passed 
away. For those of us who were privileged to know him, to work with 
him, to admire and respect him, this is a loss beyond my capacity to 
express.
  Senator Moynihan for decades represented the highest ideals and 
values of the United States of America. A son of Hell's Kitchen in New 
York City, he rose to be a confidante and adviser to Presidents. He is 
responsible for many of the most important ideas and legislative 
programs that have improved the lives of people in New York, people 
here in Washington, DC, and our country and around the world.
  I am very honored to hold the seat that Senator Moynihan held for so 
long and so well. Along with his wonderful wife Liz Moynihan, they have 
been great counselors and advisers to me personally. I will miss him 
greatly.
  Sometimes when I sit here on the floor of the Senate, I wish that 
Senator Moynihan could be here in spirit as well as body, that his wise 
counsel could influence our decisionmaking, that he would remind us 
that what we do, what we say, what we vote for is not just for today, 
it is for all time. It goes down into the history books. It represents 
the judgments that we make. It truly displays the values that we claim 
to hold.
  He understood that being a U.S. Senator was a precious trust. Anyone 
who ever heard him speak knows the experience of learning more than you 
ever thought possible in a short period of time. He could explain and 
expound on such a range of subjects that it took my breath away. I 
remember riding with him through western New York on a bus during the 
1992 campaign and hearing the most exquisite disposition about the 
history of the Indian nations, the Revolutionary War, the geological 
formations. The love he had for New York and America was overwhelming 
and so obvious to anyone who spent more than a minute in his company.
  He also held high standards about what we should expect from this 
great country of ours. He wanted us to keep looking beyond the short 
term, looking beyond the horizon, thinking about the next generation, 
understanding the big problems that confront us, having the courage to 
tackle what is not immediately popular, even not immediately 
understandable, because that is what we are charged to do in this 
deliberative body.
  Senator Moynihan's scholarly undertakings also will stand the test of 
time. He sometimes was ahead of his time. In each of his writings or 
his speeches, whether you agreed with him or not, you were forced to 
think and think hard. He certainly opened my eyes to a lot of difficult 
issues.
  I could not have had a stronger, more helpful adviser during my 
campaign than Senator Moynihan. I started my listening tour of my 
exploration of whether or not to run for this office at Pinders Corner, 
his farm in upstate

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New York, a place that he loved beyond words.
  I met him in a little schoolhouse, a 19th century schoolhouse that 
was on the property where he wrote. He would walk down the road from 
his house to that little schoolhouse every day where he would think 
deeply and write about the issues that he knew would be important, not 
just for tomorrow's headline but for years and years to come.
  There is not any way that anyone will ever fill his place in this 
Senate, not just in the order of succession definition but in the 
intellectual power, the passion, the love of this extraordinary body 
and our country. He will be so missed.
  On behalf of myself and my family and the people I represent, I 
extend my condolence and sympathy not only to his wonderful family and 
not only to New Yorkers who elected him time and time again, increasing 
majorities from one end of the State to the next, but to our country. 
We have lost a great American, an extraordinary Senator, an 
intellectual, and a man of passion and understanding about what really 
makes this country great.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I rise in abject sadness on the 
horrible news that Senator Moynihan has passed from our midst. When it 
was announced in our caucus that this terrible event had occurred, you 
could just see the energy come out of the room and the sadness come on 
everybody's face. Senator Moynihan was a unique individual. He wasn't 
just another Senator. He wasn't just another human being. He was very 
special.
  Rarely has one man changed society so with his ideas, the idea that 
one man can change society for the better. Senator Moynihan's life was 
testament to that fact. His life was testament to the fact that one man 
who just thinks can make an enormous difference. He was truly a giant--
a giant as a thinker, as a Senator, and as a human being. He was a kind 
and compassionate person, a loving husband. Liz, our thoughts go out to 
you and to all of the Moynihan children and family. I have known him 
for a very long time.
  When I was a student at Harvard College, I audited his course. I got 
to know him a little bit then. As I went through my congressional 
career, we used to have lunch every so often. He was a complete joy to 
just sit down and have lunch with and exchange ideas.
  He looked out for people. He cared about people. He had real courage. 
When he disagreed with the conventional wisdom, nothing would stop Pat 
Moynihan from making his view heard and making it heard in such an 
interesting and intellectually and thoughtful way.
  Again, he changed our world for the better. There are hundreds of 
millions of human beings in this country who do not know it, but he 
made their lives better. There are billions of people in the world, and 
through his work he made their lives better.
  Senator Moynihan was loved in my home State of New York from one end 
of the State to the other. We are a big, broad, diverse State. It is 
very hard to find consensus with 19 million New Yorkers, but just about 
everybody loved Pat Moynihan. He did it through a big heart and a great 
mind.
  He is now with his Maker. I know I will be looking up to the heavens 
for inspiration, as I looked to Senator Moynihan's office when he was 
still with us.
  I very much regret his passing. I pray for the Moynihan family and 
for the children. I hope God gives us a few more Pat Moynihans in this 
Senate and in this country. I thank the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I commend the distinguished Senator 
from New York for his eloquence and his empathy for the family 
especially of our departed colleague, Pat Moynihan.
  The Senator from New York used the term ``giant,'' and, indeed, in 
this case, I can think of no better word to describe the man, the 
magnitude, the depth, the history, the persona of Pat Moynihan.
  ``The Almanac of American Politics'' called Pat Moynihan the Nation's 
best thinker among politicians since Lincoln and its best politician 
among thinkers since Jefferson. Scholar, educator, statesman, adviser 
to four Presidents--Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford--Pat 
Moynihan was the only person in American history to serve in a Cabinet 
or sub-Cabinet position in four successive administrations.
  As my colleagues have noted, he represented the State of New York for 
24 years in the Senate with unique vision, imagination, intelligence, 
and integrity. In many respects, Pat Moynihan was larger than life, 
whether on the streets of New York or in the corridors of this Capitol. 
He was a beloved father, grandfather, friend, and colleague to so many 
of us.
  I, too, extend my condolences on behalf of the entire Senate to his 
wife Liz, to his children, Tim, Maura, and John, his grandchildren, 
Zora and Michael Patrick. New York and the Nation have lost a giant.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.
  Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I was very sorry to learn of the passing 
of our good friend and great Senator from New York, Senator Moynihan. I 
wanted to come and extend condolences on behalf of myself and a lot of 
other Senators to the family, the children, the grandchildren, and the 
people of New York, and to America because we have lost truly a great 
man in Senator Pat Moynihan.
  Sometimes people do not realize the types of relationships we do 
build in this Chamber across the broad philosophical and partisan 
divide. But Pat Moynihan was not that kind of man. He was always 
willing to work with Senators, no matter where they were from or what 
their views were, to try to do the right thing.
  Since I have been watching the Senate over the last 30 years up close 
and personal, as a House Member and a Senator, I have not known a more 
brilliant and more erudite Senator than the distinguished Senator Pat 
Moynihan of New York. He served his country in so many different 
critical roles.
  He studied, wrote papers, and made us realize problems we would just 
as soon not talk about--problems with the children in America, the 
problems of poverty, the importance of the world community.
  He did so many exceptional things for Democratic administrations and, 
yes, Republican administrations, and in the majority and in the 
minority in the Senate. I grew to admire him and appreciate him, to 
seek his advice, and even try to get his vote on occasion, and on 
occasion he gave it because I was able to convince him that maybe it 
was the right thing to do.
  He also had a sense of humor I learned to appreciate. But more than 
anything, I will remember my encounters with Senator Moynihan in the 
little dining room downstairs. About once a week--sometimes not that 
often, maybe once a month--I would go down to get a bite to eat and he 
would be there. He always ate strange orders of food, I might say, but 
I just loved his knowledge. It became an opportunity for me to learn 
about the world. I would pick a country: Tell me about India. An hour 
later he was still talking.
  I remember one time, I said: I do not quite understand what is going 
on in East Timor, and he corrected my pronunciation and told me what 
was going on in that part of the world, what had happened 
historically--such a wealth of knowledge--all the players involved, the 
religious considerations, what the solutions could have been, what the 
solutions might be, what the future would hold. More than once--I would 
say at least three times--before I got back to my office, before the 
afternoon was out, a book would arrive that he had written or that I 
should read to understand what was going on in the world. What a 
special touch.

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  Senator Pat Moynihan tried to help educate this Senator, one who 
needed a lot of help, but he gave me a greater appreciation of our 
relationship with countries and people all over the world.
  This was a giant of a man, a giant of a Senator, a humble man, in 
many respects. I have missed him since he left the Senate, and we will 
all miss him now that he has gone on to his great reward.
  I had to come to the floor and express my personal feelings about the 
great Senator from New York and how much he meant to me personally, to 
the Senate, and to the country.
  I yield the floor, Madam President.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Alexander). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, I have just heard the saddening news that 
our former colleague, Senator Moynihan of New York, has passed away. 
This is a great loss for the State of New York, but it is also a great 
loss for the people of the United States. He was one of the truly 
outstanding public servants of his time and one of the intellectual 
towers of this body.
  I first met Pat Moynihan when I served in the Nixon administration 
working at the Department of Transportation. I can say with some 
accuracy that the name Pat Moynihan filled us all with dread and fear 
because he was the President's counselor on domestic issues. We were 
afraid he would come to the Department of Transportation and expose all 
of our weaknesses; that with his intellect he could discover very 
quickly where we were doing things wrong.
  I met him at the White House as we would go over and discuss various 
transportation issues. On one occasion, Secretary Volpe invited Mr. 
Moynihan to come to the Department and address all of the Department's 
senior management. We had a program of management dinners where all of 
the senior officials of the Department would gather together and we 
would have a speaker come in and talk with us. Mr. Moynihan was the 
first of those speakers, along with Bryce Harlow, who came at my 
invitation, a little later. That was my moment in the sun with 
Secretary Volpe, that I was able to call Bryce Harlow and get him to 
come over and give the address. I still remember very clearly what Pat 
Moynihan said to us on that occasion and the lesson he gave us.
  Being the student of history that he was, he went back to relatively 
recent history in describing pivotal events in America. He made this 
point: Political scientists assume that President Kennedy and President 
Johnson were activist Presidents, whereas President Eisenhower is 
always described as a passive President, or a pacifist kind of 
President. He said that particular characterization is given by their 
opponents, as well as their defenders, people defending Eisenhower's 
passive attitude toward Government, as well as those attacking it, and 
so on with Kennedy and Johnson.
  However, he said, history will show that President Eisenhower 
affected life in the United States more than all of the things done by 
Kennedy and Johnson put together. Why? Because President Eisenhower was 
responsible for the creation of the interstate highway system.
  Recognize again, he was addressing a group of officials at the 
Department of Transportation. He had done his homework and focused on a 
transportation issue. He outlined for us the changes in American life 
that came from the interstate highway system, how cities that were left 
off the system more or less withered and died and other cities that 
found themselves on the system had tremendous growth; how the system 
created efficiency for the transportation of goods and people all over 
the United States.
  I remember one statistic, when I worked at the Department of 
Transportation, that said 95 percent of intercity trips took place on 
the interstate highway system. We focused on travel as being a 
competition in those days between air travel and rail travel, and 
indeed in the industrial age, going back to Abraham Lincoln's time and 
after the Civil War, almost all intercity trips were by rail. Then the 
airlines came in and we talked about the airlines cutting into the rail 
industry.
  He pointed out it was not the airline industry that destroyed 
railroad passenger traffic; It was the interstate highway system and 
the convenience that came with the opportunity to take one's own 
automobile and go from one city to the other and then have local 
transportation while there. They did not have to catch a cab when they 
came out of the train station. They brought it with them.
  It was this ability to see beyond the specifics of conventional 
wisdom, step back and see the overall picture that defined Pat 
Moynihan. He did it for us in that particular speech, but he did it 
throughout his entire career.
  I remember as we became acquainted that he talked with me about the 
work he did with my father when my father was in the Senate and he was 
in the Nixon administration. They were talking about programs that the 
Nixon administration tried to put into place which, for one reason or 
another, the Congress did not accept. He said to me, if we had 
prevailed in that program that Wallace Bennett was for, we wouldn't 
have many of the urban problems that we have today.
  I won't try to imitate his accent because it was distinctly his and 
was part of his charm.
  One of the things that I had not understood but that I came to know 
while Pat Moynihan was in the Senate was the role he played in the 
rejuvenation of Washington, DC. The story is told and accepted as 
conventional wisdom that when John F. Kennedy went in his inaugural 
parade from the Capitol to the White House, he noticed how rundown 
Pennsylvania Avenue was--and it was. Those of us who remember 
Pennsylvania Avenue in the 1960s remember it as a place of rundown 
seedy shops and disreputable buildings that were badly in need of 
replacement. The conventional wisdom is that John F. Kennedy noticed 
that as he went by in his limousine and said, We have to do something 
about that. And the rejuvenation of Pennsylvania Avenue began in the 
Kennedy administration.
  In fact, that is not true. It was not John F. Kennedy who noticed it; 
it was Pat Moynihan who noticed it and called it to the attention of 
John F. Kennedy, who, then, in the spirit of all of us in politics, 
took his staffer's advice and put it forward as his own.
  Pat Moynihan, as chairman of what we used to call the Public Works 
Committee--now it is the Environment and Public Works Committee--Pat 
Moynihan, of what we used to call the Public Works Committee, presided 
over the public works that saw to it that Pennsylvania Avenue was 
turned into the kind of memorial avenue that the world's greatest power 
deserves; that it changed from what it had been to become the 
architectural delight that it is today.
  I had not realized that until I read Pat Moynihan's memos. He shared 
them with me, in another circumstance, and going through the memos I 
realized he was personally the driving force behind that kind of an 
effort. That demonstrates how much of a renaissance man he was. He was 
interested in architecture. He was interested in art. He was one of 
those who helped create the National Endowment for the Arts.
  Yes, as a legislator he was interested in public issues and public 
policy, but as a renaissance man he remained interested in just about 
everything else.
  I can't think of any career covering a wider number of opportunities 
than his: Ambassador to the United Nations, Ambassador to India, 
serving Presidents regardless of party, regardless of ideology, with 
wisdom, clarity, and again the ability to see the big picture, the 
overall historical circumstance, and not just the issue directly in 
front of him.
  I remember when he was chairman of the Finance Committee and we were

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locked in this Chamber in a bitter battle over health care. He did his 
duty. He was the good soldier. He did his best to carry the water for 
the administration. But in private conversations with him he would 
candidly share some of the same concerns that the rest of us had. While 
he was the good soldier all the way to the end, I know he gave the 
administration Dutch uncle advice as to what they should be doing.
  I remember sitting in the Cabinet Room of the White House when 
President Clinton had a group of us down to talk about what we needed 
to do to get trade authority, to get fast track. All of us were being 
appropriately respectful of the President, as you are in that kind of 
circumstance. All of us were trying to put forward our opinions in as 
tender and gingerly expressed a way as we could because we were with 
the President. Pat Moynihan sat at the President's left and the 
President said; ``What do we need to do to get trade authority 
passed?''
  He said; ``Sir, you need to get more Democrats.''
  That warmed my heart. The Republicans were in favor of fast track. We 
didn't want to say it. And Pat Moynihan summarized it: ``Sir, you need 
to get more Democrats.''
  The President looked at him and said; ``Pat, you are absolutely 
right. How do we do that?''
  Then they had a very candid discussion.
  He was not overly awed by anyone, regardless--with respect to their 
position. But he was always awed by any human being who had something 
to tell him. His attitude was that he could learn from anyone.
  His health was not the best. His passing is not unexpected. But this 
is a time for us to rejoice in the opportunity of having known him, 
having worked with him in this body and having been blessed by his 
intellect, his humor, his humility, and his great understanding. We 
shall miss him, and we express our great condolence to his wife Liz and 
to all of the members of his family.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coleman). The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I am glad I had the opportunity to hear 
the Senator from Utah talk about our friend Pat Moynihan because in 
1969 the Senator from Utah and I had different jobs. I was working for 
Bryce Harlow in the White House and he was working for Secretary Volpe, 
both of us in the Nixon administration.
  One of the things I think many people will look at, about the Nixon 
administration, is what an extraordinarily diverse group of individuals 
the President was able to attract. The Senator from Utah and I were 
young persons. I am not talking about us at that time. But I am talking 
about Henry Kissinger and Arthur Burns and Bryce Harlow and foremost 
among them was Pat Moynihan.
  Particularly when we look at a Washington, DC, where so many issues 
are so divisive and so partisan--and there was a lot of partisanship 
back then. Look back at 1969. Here was Pat Moynihan, a Harvard 
professor, Kennedy Democrat, who became the Republican President's 
domestic policy adviser. He was an extraordinary person. He was, as the 
Senator from Utah pointed out, a man who could see a long distance.
  In the 1960s he coined the phrase ``benign neglect,'' when he talked 
about the breakdown of the American family and the effect it might have 
on African-American families. He was courageous enough to talk about 
that. He predicted at that time that if the rate of breakdown of 
families that was then occurring among African-American families were 
to occur among all families, it would be a catastrophe for America. 
That percentage has long since passed. Pat Moynihan was willing to talk 
about it.
  He was a great teacher. He attracted into the White House at that 
time a cadre of young Moynihan devotees who are still around today--for 
example, Checker Finn, a young Harvard graduate who is a leading 
education expert; and Chris DeMuth, who has had a distinguished career 
here. All of those young people were attracted by his intellect and his 
sense of public service.
  He had an ability even then to be a person who crossed party lines. 
He was one of the old Democratic liberals such as Al Shanker--some of 
them are now called neoconservatives today--who saw our country in a 
very accurate and clear way.
  He believed in America. He was an immigrant, a great immigrant, an 
Irish immigrant, with all the characteristics that we think of when we 
think of great Irish immigrants, but he was an American first. He was 
proud of where he came from but he was prouder of the country to which 
he came.
  He loved politics. His favorite character was George Washington 
Plunkett, the boss of Tammany Hall. He wrote a forward for a book on 
Plunkett. Plunkett's favorite comment was:

       I seen my opportunities and I took them.

  He went to the United Nations where he pounded the desk. He went to 
India as Ambassador. He ran for the Senate. Think of this. He ran in 
1976, a Republican from the then-disgraced Nixon administration. I know 
what that was like. I was in that administration. I had been a 
candidate myself in 1974--lost; and here was Pat Moynihan in New York 
State, a Democratic State, running for the Senate as a Democrat, able 
to be elected because of the respect people had for him.
  I watched him during his whole career. When I was Education Secretary 
he came down and lectured me from this body because he wanted me to be 
more aggressive on standards. But he was always such a gentle person.
  As I have gone along in life, I have especially appreciated people 
who are well known and famous who take time for people who are not so 
well known and famous. I can remember when my wife and I, in our early 
30s--I was, she was younger--went to Harvard, to the John F. Kennedy 
School of Government, where Pat had gone in the early 1970s. He was a 
famous man, a great professor, a former adviser to Presidents. Everyone 
knew him. No one knew us. But he saw us and he spent 45 minutes or an 
hour with us. He was a teacher and we were his students.
  I am glad to be on the floor today to hear my friend from Utah speak 
of such a distinguished American. We need more Senators, more public 
leaders, with the breadth and the intellect and the understanding of 
American history that Pat Moynihan had. We need more who have the 
capacity to work across party lines, to solve tough problems such as 
Social Security, which he helped to solve, and to enjoy politics, to 
love George Washington Plunkett, and the rough and tumble of Tammany 
Hall politics, but at the same time, when the Nation's issues are 
foremost, to put them first.
  So I rise today to salute a great American, a real patriot, and 
perhaps a person who most of us--Senators or students--will remember as 
a great teacher.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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