Daniel Patrick Moynihan
From City College to the Senate Floor
In 1943, the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was working on the docks in downtown Manhattan when a friend encouraged him to enroll at The City College of New York. His time at City College would become the launching pad for an extraordinary career in public service—one that took Moynihan to the White House, the American Embassy in New Delhi, the United Nations General Assembly, and finally the United States Senate, representing New York for nearly a quarter century.
A career dedicated to public service and scholarship
As well as a life-long public servant, Senator Moynihan was also a trailblazing public intellectual, committed to the ideals of evidence-based and pragmatic thinking. He conducted academic research at the highest level and his policy proposals, often ahead of their time, proved transformative in numerous fields—from social and environmental policy, to international development and cooperation, public architecture and institutional reform.
Projecting Senator Moynihan’s Legacy into the future
Senator Moynihan set a standard for leadership in public service that embodied the values of academic excellence, personal integrity, and trust in the capacity of public institutions to open doors. Today, there is a dire need for leaders who, like Moynihan, understand that research, service, and public communication must go hand in hand. In response to that need, the Moynihan Center at The City College of New York will prepare promising students for innovative careers in public service and offer mid-career professionals the space and time to reflect on and communicate insights from their careers.
We have embodied a great idea, which is that an elected government can be the instrument of the common purpose of a free people—that government can embrace great causes and do great things.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan