Daniel Patrick Moynihan is that rare individual-a Renaissance Man who, by deed and dedication, has enlightened the 20th and 21st centuries with his intelligence, his knowledge, his vision and his humor. The author of 18 books and the recipient of 64 honorary degrees, Senator Moynihan has distinguished himself as an educator, a diplomat, an expert on architecture and labor-management affairs, a specialist in the operations of government and the national economy, an authority on the arts and sciences and an adept politician who was elected to four six-year terms in the United States Senate.
Senator Moynihan has had the unusual distinction of serving as a member of the cabinet or the sub- cabinet under two Democratic presidents, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, and two Republican presidents, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. No one else in the history of the American republic has served in such high positions in four successive administrations. As U.S. representative to the United Nations in 1976, he served as president of the United Nations Security Council.
A humanitarian, Senator Moynihan has concerned himself with the plight of the poor and the downtrodden and has warned the country for many years of the disaster that lurks where poverty, oppression, violence and the breakdown of family values are part of everyday life.
In 1961, Senator Moynihan’ s role as “an architect of the nation’s pro- gram to eradicate poverty” won him the Arthur S. Flemming Award, named for President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare from 1958 to 1961.
When he departed Capitol Hill at the end of the 106th Congress, Senator Moynihan was universally recognized as one of the giants of American public life.
We are honored, therefore, to present the 39th Cosmos Club Award to this remarkable gentleman.
