Daniel Patrick Moynihan was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on March 16th, 1927. His grandfather John Conners Moynihan emigarated from Kerry in Ireland in the late 19th century. At the age of 6, Moynihan’s Irish Catholic family moved to Hell’s Kitchen in New York City during the height of the Depression. Shortly after the move, Moynihan's father abandoned the family leaving them in diffcult circumstances. The challenging situation led to Moynihan shining shoes in Times Square and taking physically demanding work as a longshoreman.
Moynihan emerged from his impoverished neighborhood following an education at the City College of New York and service in the United States Navy. He received multiple degrees from Tufts University culminating with a PhD in history.
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In the late 1950s Moynihan commenced his public service on the staff of New York Governor Avril Harriman (1891 -1986). Following Harriman’s loss of the governorship in 1958 to Nelson Rockefeller (1908 - 1979), Moynihan decided to return to the academic world where he thought at both Russell Sage College and Cornell University
With the election of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917 - 1963) in 1960, Moynihan served in each Democratic and Republican administration through the presidency of Gerald Ford (1913 - 2006). He served in a variety of capacities including appointments to the Department Of Labor and as the US ambassador to India and the United Nations.
In 1976 Moynihan ran for the New York US Senate seat and defeated Republican incumbent James Buckley (1923 - 2023) following a spirited Democratic primary against Bella Abzug, Ramsey Clark and Paul O’Dwyer. Moynihan served four terms in the Senate before retirement in 2003
James L. Buckley - US Senator for New York (1971 - 1977)
In 1981, Moynihan in association with Tip O’Neill (1912 - 1994) and Ted Kennedy (1932 - 2009) founded Friends of Ireland a bipartisan organization dedicated to peace in Northern Ireland. Together with Hugh Carey (1919 - 2011), governor of New York, Tip O’Neill and Ted Kennedy, the Four Irish Horseman encouraged Ronald Reagan (1911 - 2004) to exert pressure on British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1925 - 2013) to begin negotiating a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Northern Ireland. That effort, ultimately led to the Good Friday Aggreement and a fragile peace after 30 years of conflict.
In 1998 Moynihan chose not to seek relection and with his retirement from the Senate in 2001, his four consecutive terms tied him Jacob Javits (1904 - 1986) as the longest serving senator from New York. He was replaced by Hillary Clinton. Moynihan died on on March 26th, 2003, from complications of a ruptured appendix.
