Moynihan praised as intellectual statesman
Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, 1927- 2003
It's not often that one can credibly and accurately employ the words "gentleman" and "scholar" when discussing a politician. Daniel Patrick Moynihan was one for whom those appellations were both appropriate and inadequate.
WASHINGTON, March 26 (UPI) -- Congress and the White House reacted swiftly to the death of former New York Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who died Wednesday at the age of 76 after a series of health problems left him hospitalized in Washington.
New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who filled his Senate seat in 2001, announced his death on the Senate floor.
"We have just received word that Sen. Patrick Moynihan has passed away," she said. "We have lost a great American, an extraordinary senator, an intellectual and a man of passion and understanding for what really makes the country work."....
Moynihan served in the Senate from 1977 to 2001 after serving as ambassador to the United Nations, and his reputation in the Senate was one of great intellectual prowess.
"Laura and I are saddened by the death of Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan," President Bush said in a statement. "Senator Moynihan was an intellectual pioneer and a trusted adviser to presidents of both parties. He committed his life to service and will be sorely missed."
Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, S.D., spoke of Moynihan's legacy and contributions.
"The Almanac of American Politics called Pat Moynihan 'the nation's best thinker among politicians since Lincoln, and the best politician among thinkers since Jefferson,'" Daschle said. "He was a scholar, an educator, an adviser to four presidents and a statesman.
A man of great conviction who spoke his mind eloquently and gracefully, Moynihan is not the sort of senator our political system produces in great abundance. Moynihan, of whom it has been said more than once that "the story of modern American social policy and the story of Daniel Patrick Moynihan are one and the same", lived a career that few are privileged to experience. Serving four Presidents, a Governor of New York, and the State of New York as Senator for 24 years, Moynihan influenced American social policy perhaps more than any other modern politician.
We will not see his equal anytime soon.
