Collects the private letters of an American statesman who not only represented New York in the Senate but also served in key positions under four presidents.
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Daniel Patrick Moynihan described in the Economist as "a philosopher-Politician-diplomat who two centuries earlier would not have been out of place among the Founding Fathers," never wrote an autobiography. But he was a gifted author and voluminous correspondent, and in this selection from his letters Steven Weisman has compiled a vivid portrait of Moynihan's life, in his own words.Before his four terms as senator from New York, Moynihan was a pathfinder in John F.Kennedy's New Frontier, a commander in Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty and Great Society, and was embroiled in many greater and lesser moments of Richard Nixon's administration. He was a renowned professor at Harvard well before becoming a successful politician. He was an outspoken envoy and challenger of shibboleths and of anti-Semitism while serving as ambassador to India and the United Nations.Above all, Moynihan was the originator of powerful ideas that were also powerfully argued-ideas that actually helped transform how Americans think about their country. His writing entertains us with his wit and sparkle, his foibles and feuds, but it bears a lasting relevance because of Moynihan's clarity, understanding and farsightedness toward the intractable questions and cultural conflicts with which the nation struggles today. For a politician to embrace this kind of long-term thinking-on such enduring issues as health care, welfare, the federal budget, the uses and misuses of intelligence, national defense, global ethnic and sectarian conflict, race, and family strains-is extraordinary, even unique.
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