Moynihan, Daniel Patrick (1927-2003), was a member of the United States Senate from 1977 to 2001. Moynihan, a Democrat, represented New York. He served as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee from 1993 to 1995.
An authority on the problems of cities and of minority groups, Moynihan first became known for his writings on immigration, the antipoverty program, and black family life. From 1966 to 1969, he headed the Joint Center of Urban Studies at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He served as counselor to the president under Richard M. Nixon in 1969 and 1970. Moynihan returned to Harvard in 1971 as professor of education and urban politics. He remained on the Harvard faculty until 1976. Moynihan served as the nation’s ambassador to India from 1973 to 1975. In 1975 and 1976, he served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He was elected to his first term in the Senate in 1976 and took office in 1977. In 1999, during his fourth term, he announced that he would retire from the Senate when the term ended in 2001.
Moynihan was born on March 16, 1927, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but grew up in New York City. He graduated from Tufts University and received a doctorate from the Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy at Tufts. He was an assistant to Governor Averell Harriman of New York in the 1950’s and served in the U.S. Department of Labor from 1961 to 1965. Moynihan died on March 26, 2003.
