Tag: Social Science

Topics

Books

Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture

– "Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture," Government Services Administration, 1962.
Excerpt: In the course of its consideration of the general subject of Federal office space, the committee has given some thought to the need for a set of principles which will guide the… More

The Irish of New York

– "A Commentary Report: The Irish of New York," Commentary, August 1963.
Excerpt: It is now well over a century since any of the various groups living in New York has been able to claim so much as a bare majority of the populace; only the Jews today can claim… More

Poverty and Progress

– "Poverty and Progress," The American Scholar, Autumn 1964.
If there are no other victories whatever-and there will be-the war on poverty at least began with a notable advance for semantics. A nation that does dearly love nice things and soft words,… More

The Negro Family: The Case for National Action

– "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action," Department of Labor, March 1965.
Excerpt: The United States is approaching a new crisis in race relations. In the decade that began with the school desegregation decision of the Supreme Court, and ended with the passage of… More

The Professionalization of Reform

– "The Professionalization of Reform," The Public Interest, Fall 1965.
Excerpt:  The passage above, as succinct a case for social planning as could be made, is not a product of either the thought or the institutions of the liberal-left. It is, rather, a… More

The President & The Negro: The Moment Lost

– "The President & The Negro: The Moment Lost," Commentary, February 1967.
Excerpt: For anyone with even a moderate concern for the sources of stability in American government, the results of the 1966 elections will appear on balance a good thing. The Republican… More

The Crises in Welfare

– "The Crises in Welfare," The Public Interest, Winter 1968.
Excerpt: In the course of the Second Session of the Ninetieth Congress, the House of Representatives by near-unanimous action approved what must surely be the first purposively punitive… More

The Professors and the Poor

– "The Professors and the Poor," Commentary, August 1968.
Excerpt: Not long ago, a Negro poverty worker from the Roxbury section of Boston came to see me at the Joint Center for Urban Studies, directed there by a liberal business executive who had… More

On Understanding Poverty: Perspectives from the Social Sciences

– (editor) On Understanding Poverty: Perspectives from the Social Sciences , New York: Basic Books, 1969.
From Kirkus: This is the first of two volumes which emerged from a year long seminar on poverty sponsored by the National Academy of Arts & Sciences under Mr. Moynihan’s… More

Equalizing education: in whose benefit?

– "Equalizing education: in whose benefit?," The Public Interest, Fall 1972.
Excerpt: A series of recent state and federal court decisions, just now reaching the Supreme Court on appeal, have held that expenditure per pupil in public schools must be equal for all… More

Imperial Government

– "Imperial Government," Commentary, June 1978.
Excerpt: The question of size and of effectiveness in American government is beginning to take on aspects of constitutional as against merely political debate. For the better part of a… More

Why Private Schools Merit Public Aid

– "Why Private Schools Merit Public Aid," The Washington Post, March 5, 1978.
Excerpt: In his message to Congress on elementary and secondary education in late February, President Carter observed that “private schools-particularly parochial schools — are an… More

On the Electoral College

– "Statement on the Electoral College," June 27, 1979.
Excerpt: Mr. President, I rise to speak briefly and for the first time in what I believe will be an extended debate on the matter before us, Senate Joint Resolution 28. I wish to address… More

What do you do when the Supreme Court is wrong?

– "What do you do when the Supreme Court is wrong?" The Public Interest, Fall 1979.
Excerpt: In its Spring Term of 1979, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Gannett v. DePasquale that the public does not have an independent constitutional right of access to a pretrial… More

Social science and the courts

– "Social science and the courts," The Public Interest, Winter 1979.
Excerpt: FROM the time, at the beginning of the century, that American legal scholars and jurists began to speak of the “science of law” it was rather to be assumed that the courts… More

Of ‘Sons’ and Their ‘Grandsons’

– "Of 'Sons' and Their 'Grandsons'," The New York Times, July 7, 1980.
Excerpt: WASHINGTON–Once upon a time, before the Coming of the New Deal, there was a group of Republican Senators who were not sound men on subjects such as the High Tariff. Their… More

Counting Our Blessings: Reflections on the Future of America

– Counting Our Blessings: Reflections on the Future of America, New York: Little Brown, 1980.
From Amazon: Moynihan served in the cabinet or subcabinet of four consecutive Presidents, as Ambassador to India, Professor of Government at Harvard University and as U.S. Senator from New… More

The paranoid style in American politics revisited

– "The paranoid style in American politics revisited," The Public Interest, Fall 1985.
Excerpt: Of continuity and change. It happens I wrote the opening article in the first issue of The Public Interest, and there I am to be found, then as ever since, quoting Nathan Glazer.… More

Family and Nation: The Godkin Lectures

– Family and Nation: The Godkin Lectures, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987.
From Publishers Weekly: Moynihan first argued for a national family policy in 1965, and continues to press for it in these informed and persuasive lectures. Examining key factors shaping… More

The “New Science of Politics” and the Old Art of Government

– "'The New Science of Politics' and the Old Art of Government," The Public Interest, Winter 1987.
Excerpt: AS WE APPROACH the bicentennial of the Constitution, leafing through The Federalist, pondering the unexampled endurance of the arrangements the Founders put in place in those… More

The Modern Role of Congress in Foreign Affairs

– "The Modern Role of Congress in Foreign Affairs," Cardozo L. Rev. 9:1489, 1987-1988.
A century ago, in a letter to the committee responsible for the centennial celebration, the then British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone called the U.S. Constitution “the most… More

Another War—the One on Poverty—Is Over, Too

– "Another War—the One on Poverty—Is Over, Too," The New York Times, July 16, 1990.
Excerpt: On June 6, another headline announced an end of sorts of another war: ”White House Spurns Expansion of Nation’s Anti-Poverty Efforts.”.

Iatrogenic Government: Social Policy and Drug Research

– "Iatrogenic Government: Social Policy and Drug Research," The American Scholar, Summer 1993.
Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1983, Armand M. Nicholi of the department of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Medical School commented: When… More

Miles to Go: A Personal History of Social Policy

– Miles to Go: A Personal History of Social Policy, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996.
From the publisher: Has liberalism lost its way—or merely its voice? This book by one of the nation’s most insightful, articulate, and powerful Democrats at last breaks the silence that… More

The Future of the Family

– Moynihan, Timothy M. Sneeding, and Lee Rainwater, The Future of the Family, Russell Sage Foundation, 2006.
From the publisher: High rates of divorce, single-parenthood, and nonmarital cohabitation are forcing Americans to reexamine their definition of family. This evolving social reality… More

Essays

Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture

– "Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture," Government Services Administration, 1962.
Excerpt: In the course of its consideration of the general subject of Federal office space, the committee has given some thought to the need for a set of principles which will guide the… More

The Irish of New York

– "A Commentary Report: The Irish of New York," Commentary, August 1963.
Excerpt: It is now well over a century since any of the various groups living in New York has been able to claim so much as a bare majority of the populace; only the Jews today can claim… More

Poverty and Progress

– "Poverty and Progress," The American Scholar, Autumn 1964.
If there are no other victories whatever-and there will be-the war on poverty at least began with a notable advance for semantics. A nation that does dearly love nice things and soft words,… More

The Negro Family: The Case for National Action

– "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action," Department of Labor, March 1965.
Excerpt: The United States is approaching a new crisis in race relations. In the decade that began with the school desegregation decision of the Supreme Court, and ended with the passage of… More

The Professionalization of Reform

– "The Professionalization of Reform," The Public Interest, Fall 1965.
Excerpt:  The passage above, as succinct a case for social planning as could be made, is not a product of either the thought or the institutions of the liberal-left. It is, rather, a… More

The President & The Negro: The Moment Lost

– "The President & The Negro: The Moment Lost," Commentary, February 1967.
Excerpt: For anyone with even a moderate concern for the sources of stability in American government, the results of the 1966 elections will appear on balance a good thing. The Republican… More

The Crises in Welfare

– "The Crises in Welfare," The Public Interest, Winter 1968.
Excerpt: In the course of the Second Session of the Ninetieth Congress, the House of Representatives by near-unanimous action approved what must surely be the first purposively punitive… More

The Professors and the Poor

– "The Professors and the Poor," Commentary, August 1968.
Excerpt: Not long ago, a Negro poverty worker from the Roxbury section of Boston came to see me at the Joint Center for Urban Studies, directed there by a liberal business executive who had… More

On Understanding Poverty: Perspectives from the Social Sciences

– (editor) On Understanding Poverty: Perspectives from the Social Sciences , New York: Basic Books, 1969.
From Kirkus: This is the first of two volumes which emerged from a year long seminar on poverty sponsored by the National Academy of Arts & Sciences under Mr. Moynihan’s… More

Equalizing education: in whose benefit?

– "Equalizing education: in whose benefit?," The Public Interest, Fall 1972.
Excerpt: A series of recent state and federal court decisions, just now reaching the Supreme Court on appeal, have held that expenditure per pupil in public schools must be equal for all… More

Imperial Government

– "Imperial Government," Commentary, June 1978.
Excerpt: The question of size and of effectiveness in American government is beginning to take on aspects of constitutional as against merely political debate. For the better part of a… More

Why Private Schools Merit Public Aid

– "Why Private Schools Merit Public Aid," The Washington Post, March 5, 1978.
Excerpt: In his message to Congress on elementary and secondary education in late February, President Carter observed that “private schools-particularly parochial schools — are an… More

On the Electoral College

– "Statement on the Electoral College," June 27, 1979.
Excerpt: Mr. President, I rise to speak briefly and for the first time in what I believe will be an extended debate on the matter before us, Senate Joint Resolution 28. I wish to address… More

What do you do when the Supreme Court is wrong?

– "What do you do when the Supreme Court is wrong?" The Public Interest, Fall 1979.
Excerpt: In its Spring Term of 1979, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Gannett v. DePasquale that the public does not have an independent constitutional right of access to a pretrial… More

Social science and the courts

– "Social science and the courts," The Public Interest, Winter 1979.
Excerpt: FROM the time, at the beginning of the century, that American legal scholars and jurists began to speak of the “science of law” it was rather to be assumed that the courts… More

Of ‘Sons’ and Their ‘Grandsons’

– "Of 'Sons' and Their 'Grandsons'," The New York Times, July 7, 1980.
Excerpt: WASHINGTON–Once upon a time, before the Coming of the New Deal, there was a group of Republican Senators who were not sound men on subjects such as the High Tariff. Their… More

Counting Our Blessings: Reflections on the Future of America

– Counting Our Blessings: Reflections on the Future of America, New York: Little Brown, 1980.
From Amazon: Moynihan served in the cabinet or subcabinet of four consecutive Presidents, as Ambassador to India, Professor of Government at Harvard University and as U.S. Senator from New… More

The paranoid style in American politics revisited

– "The paranoid style in American politics revisited," The Public Interest, Fall 1985.
Excerpt: Of continuity and change. It happens I wrote the opening article in the first issue of The Public Interest, and there I am to be found, then as ever since, quoting Nathan Glazer.… More

Family and Nation: The Godkin Lectures

– Family and Nation: The Godkin Lectures, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987.
From Publishers Weekly: Moynihan first argued for a national family policy in 1965, and continues to press for it in these informed and persuasive lectures. Examining key factors shaping… More

The “New Science of Politics” and the Old Art of Government

– "'The New Science of Politics' and the Old Art of Government," The Public Interest, Winter 1987.
Excerpt: AS WE APPROACH the bicentennial of the Constitution, leafing through The Federalist, pondering the unexampled endurance of the arrangements the Founders put in place in those… More

The Modern Role of Congress in Foreign Affairs

– "The Modern Role of Congress in Foreign Affairs," Cardozo L. Rev. 9:1489, 1987-1988.
A century ago, in a letter to the committee responsible for the centennial celebration, the then British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone called the U.S. Constitution “the most… More

Another War—the One on Poverty—Is Over, Too

– "Another War—the One on Poverty—Is Over, Too," The New York Times, July 16, 1990.
Excerpt: On June 6, another headline announced an end of sorts of another war: ”White House Spurns Expansion of Nation’s Anti-Poverty Efforts.”.

Iatrogenic Government: Social Policy and Drug Research

– "Iatrogenic Government: Social Policy and Drug Research," The American Scholar, Summer 1993.
Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1983, Armand M. Nicholi of the department of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Medical School commented: When… More

Miles to Go: A Personal History of Social Policy

– Miles to Go: A Personal History of Social Policy, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996.
From the publisher: Has liberalism lost its way—or merely its voice? This book by one of the nation’s most insightful, articulate, and powerful Democrats at last breaks the silence that… More

The Future of the Family

– Moynihan, Timothy M. Sneeding, and Lee Rainwater, The Future of the Family, Russell Sage Foundation, 2006.
From the publisher: High rates of divorce, single-parenthood, and nonmarital cohabitation are forcing Americans to reexamine their definition of family. This evolving social reality… More

Commentary

Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture

– "Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture," Government Services Administration, 1962.
Excerpt: In the course of its consideration of the general subject of Federal office space, the committee has given some thought to the need for a set of principles which will guide the… More

The Irish of New York

– "A Commentary Report: The Irish of New York," Commentary, August 1963.
Excerpt: It is now well over a century since any of the various groups living in New York has been able to claim so much as a bare majority of the populace; only the Jews today can claim… More

Poverty and Progress

– "Poverty and Progress," The American Scholar, Autumn 1964.
If there are no other victories whatever-and there will be-the war on poverty at least began with a notable advance for semantics. A nation that does dearly love nice things and soft words,… More

The Negro Family: The Case for National Action

– "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action," Department of Labor, March 1965.
Excerpt: The United States is approaching a new crisis in race relations. In the decade that began with the school desegregation decision of the Supreme Court, and ended with the passage of… More

The Professionalization of Reform

– "The Professionalization of Reform," The Public Interest, Fall 1965.
Excerpt:  The passage above, as succinct a case for social planning as could be made, is not a product of either the thought or the institutions of the liberal-left. It is, rather, a… More

The President & The Negro: The Moment Lost

– "The President & The Negro: The Moment Lost," Commentary, February 1967.
Excerpt: For anyone with even a moderate concern for the sources of stability in American government, the results of the 1966 elections will appear on balance a good thing. The Republican… More

The Crises in Welfare

– "The Crises in Welfare," The Public Interest, Winter 1968.
Excerpt: In the course of the Second Session of the Ninetieth Congress, the House of Representatives by near-unanimous action approved what must surely be the first purposively punitive… More

The Professors and the Poor

– "The Professors and the Poor," Commentary, August 1968.
Excerpt: Not long ago, a Negro poverty worker from the Roxbury section of Boston came to see me at the Joint Center for Urban Studies, directed there by a liberal business executive who had… More

On Understanding Poverty: Perspectives from the Social Sciences

– (editor) On Understanding Poverty: Perspectives from the Social Sciences , New York: Basic Books, 1969.
From Kirkus: This is the first of two volumes which emerged from a year long seminar on poverty sponsored by the National Academy of Arts & Sciences under Mr. Moynihan’s… More

Equalizing education: in whose benefit?

– "Equalizing education: in whose benefit?," The Public Interest, Fall 1972.
Excerpt: A series of recent state and federal court decisions, just now reaching the Supreme Court on appeal, have held that expenditure per pupil in public schools must be equal for all… More

Imperial Government

– "Imperial Government," Commentary, June 1978.
Excerpt: The question of size and of effectiveness in American government is beginning to take on aspects of constitutional as against merely political debate. For the better part of a… More

Why Private Schools Merit Public Aid

– "Why Private Schools Merit Public Aid," The Washington Post, March 5, 1978.
Excerpt: In his message to Congress on elementary and secondary education in late February, President Carter observed that “private schools-particularly parochial schools — are an… More

On the Electoral College

– "Statement on the Electoral College," June 27, 1979.
Excerpt: Mr. President, I rise to speak briefly and for the first time in what I believe will be an extended debate on the matter before us, Senate Joint Resolution 28. I wish to address… More

What do you do when the Supreme Court is wrong?

– "What do you do when the Supreme Court is wrong?" The Public Interest, Fall 1979.
Excerpt: In its Spring Term of 1979, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Gannett v. DePasquale that the public does not have an independent constitutional right of access to a pretrial… More

Social science and the courts

– "Social science and the courts," The Public Interest, Winter 1979.
Excerpt: FROM the time, at the beginning of the century, that American legal scholars and jurists began to speak of the “science of law” it was rather to be assumed that the courts… More

Of ‘Sons’ and Their ‘Grandsons’

– "Of 'Sons' and Their 'Grandsons'," The New York Times, July 7, 1980.
Excerpt: WASHINGTON–Once upon a time, before the Coming of the New Deal, there was a group of Republican Senators who were not sound men on subjects such as the High Tariff. Their… More

Counting Our Blessings: Reflections on the Future of America

– Counting Our Blessings: Reflections on the Future of America, New York: Little Brown, 1980.
From Amazon: Moynihan served in the cabinet or subcabinet of four consecutive Presidents, as Ambassador to India, Professor of Government at Harvard University and as U.S. Senator from New… More

The paranoid style in American politics revisited

– "The paranoid style in American politics revisited," The Public Interest, Fall 1985.
Excerpt: Of continuity and change. It happens I wrote the opening article in the first issue of The Public Interest, and there I am to be found, then as ever since, quoting Nathan Glazer.… More

Family and Nation: The Godkin Lectures

– Family and Nation: The Godkin Lectures, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987.
From Publishers Weekly: Moynihan first argued for a national family policy in 1965, and continues to press for it in these informed and persuasive lectures. Examining key factors shaping… More

The “New Science of Politics” and the Old Art of Government

– "'The New Science of Politics' and the Old Art of Government," The Public Interest, Winter 1987.
Excerpt: AS WE APPROACH the bicentennial of the Constitution, leafing through The Federalist, pondering the unexampled endurance of the arrangements the Founders put in place in those… More

The Modern Role of Congress in Foreign Affairs

– "The Modern Role of Congress in Foreign Affairs," Cardozo L. Rev. 9:1489, 1987-1988.
A century ago, in a letter to the committee responsible for the centennial celebration, the then British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone called the U.S. Constitution “the most… More

Another War—the One on Poverty—Is Over, Too

– "Another War—the One on Poverty—Is Over, Too," The New York Times, July 16, 1990.
Excerpt: On June 6, another headline announced an end of sorts of another war: ”White House Spurns Expansion of Nation’s Anti-Poverty Efforts.”.

Iatrogenic Government: Social Policy and Drug Research

– "Iatrogenic Government: Social Policy and Drug Research," The American Scholar, Summer 1993.
Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1983, Armand M. Nicholi of the department of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Medical School commented: When… More

Miles to Go: A Personal History of Social Policy

– Miles to Go: A Personal History of Social Policy, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996.
From the publisher: Has liberalism lost its way—or merely its voice? This book by one of the nation’s most insightful, articulate, and powerful Democrats at last breaks the silence that… More

The Future of the Family

– Moynihan, Timothy M. Sneeding, and Lee Rainwater, The Future of the Family, Russell Sage Foundation, 2006.
From the publisher: High rates of divorce, single-parenthood, and nonmarital cohabitation are forcing Americans to reexamine their definition of family. This evolving social reality… More

Multimedia

Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture

– "Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture," Government Services Administration, 1962.
Excerpt: In the course of its consideration of the general subject of Federal office space, the committee has given some thought to the need for a set of principles which will guide the… More

The Irish of New York

– "A Commentary Report: The Irish of New York," Commentary, August 1963.
Excerpt: It is now well over a century since any of the various groups living in New York has been able to claim so much as a bare majority of the populace; only the Jews today can claim… More

Poverty and Progress

– "Poverty and Progress," The American Scholar, Autumn 1964.
If there are no other victories whatever-and there will be-the war on poverty at least began with a notable advance for semantics. A nation that does dearly love nice things and soft words,… More

The Negro Family: The Case for National Action

– "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action," Department of Labor, March 1965.
Excerpt: The United States is approaching a new crisis in race relations. In the decade that began with the school desegregation decision of the Supreme Court, and ended with the passage of… More

The Professionalization of Reform

– "The Professionalization of Reform," The Public Interest, Fall 1965.
Excerpt:  The passage above, as succinct a case for social planning as could be made, is not a product of either the thought or the institutions of the liberal-left. It is, rather, a… More

The President & The Negro: The Moment Lost

– "The President & The Negro: The Moment Lost," Commentary, February 1967.
Excerpt: For anyone with even a moderate concern for the sources of stability in American government, the results of the 1966 elections will appear on balance a good thing. The Republican… More

The Crises in Welfare

– "The Crises in Welfare," The Public Interest, Winter 1968.
Excerpt: In the course of the Second Session of the Ninetieth Congress, the House of Representatives by near-unanimous action approved what must surely be the first purposively punitive… More

The Professors and the Poor

– "The Professors and the Poor," Commentary, August 1968.
Excerpt: Not long ago, a Negro poverty worker from the Roxbury section of Boston came to see me at the Joint Center for Urban Studies, directed there by a liberal business executive who had… More

On Understanding Poverty: Perspectives from the Social Sciences

– (editor) On Understanding Poverty: Perspectives from the Social Sciences , New York: Basic Books, 1969.
From Kirkus: This is the first of two volumes which emerged from a year long seminar on poverty sponsored by the National Academy of Arts & Sciences under Mr. Moynihan’s… More

Equalizing education: in whose benefit?

– "Equalizing education: in whose benefit?," The Public Interest, Fall 1972.
Excerpt: A series of recent state and federal court decisions, just now reaching the Supreme Court on appeal, have held that expenditure per pupil in public schools must be equal for all… More

Imperial Government

– "Imperial Government," Commentary, June 1978.
Excerpt: The question of size and of effectiveness in American government is beginning to take on aspects of constitutional as against merely political debate. For the better part of a… More

Why Private Schools Merit Public Aid

– "Why Private Schools Merit Public Aid," The Washington Post, March 5, 1978.
Excerpt: In his message to Congress on elementary and secondary education in late February, President Carter observed that “private schools-particularly parochial schools — are an… More

On the Electoral College

– "Statement on the Electoral College," June 27, 1979.
Excerpt: Mr. President, I rise to speak briefly and for the first time in what I believe will be an extended debate on the matter before us, Senate Joint Resolution 28. I wish to address… More

What do you do when the Supreme Court is wrong?

– "What do you do when the Supreme Court is wrong?" The Public Interest, Fall 1979.
Excerpt: In its Spring Term of 1979, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Gannett v. DePasquale that the public does not have an independent constitutional right of access to a pretrial… More

Social science and the courts

– "Social science and the courts," The Public Interest, Winter 1979.
Excerpt: FROM the time, at the beginning of the century, that American legal scholars and jurists began to speak of the “science of law” it was rather to be assumed that the courts… More

Of ‘Sons’ and Their ‘Grandsons’

– "Of 'Sons' and Their 'Grandsons'," The New York Times, July 7, 1980.
Excerpt: WASHINGTON–Once upon a time, before the Coming of the New Deal, there was a group of Republican Senators who were not sound men on subjects such as the High Tariff. Their… More

Counting Our Blessings: Reflections on the Future of America

– Counting Our Blessings: Reflections on the Future of America, New York: Little Brown, 1980.
From Amazon: Moynihan served in the cabinet or subcabinet of four consecutive Presidents, as Ambassador to India, Professor of Government at Harvard University and as U.S. Senator from New… More

The paranoid style in American politics revisited

– "The paranoid style in American politics revisited," The Public Interest, Fall 1985.
Excerpt: Of continuity and change. It happens I wrote the opening article in the first issue of The Public Interest, and there I am to be found, then as ever since, quoting Nathan Glazer.… More

Family and Nation: The Godkin Lectures

– Family and Nation: The Godkin Lectures, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987.
From Publishers Weekly: Moynihan first argued for a national family policy in 1965, and continues to press for it in these informed and persuasive lectures. Examining key factors shaping… More

The “New Science of Politics” and the Old Art of Government

– "'The New Science of Politics' and the Old Art of Government," The Public Interest, Winter 1987.
Excerpt: AS WE APPROACH the bicentennial of the Constitution, leafing through The Federalist, pondering the unexampled endurance of the arrangements the Founders put in place in those… More

The Modern Role of Congress in Foreign Affairs

– "The Modern Role of Congress in Foreign Affairs," Cardozo L. Rev. 9:1489, 1987-1988.
A century ago, in a letter to the committee responsible for the centennial celebration, the then British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone called the U.S. Constitution “the most… More

Another War—the One on Poverty—Is Over, Too

– "Another War—the One on Poverty—Is Over, Too," The New York Times, July 16, 1990.
Excerpt: On June 6, another headline announced an end of sorts of another war: ”White House Spurns Expansion of Nation’s Anti-Poverty Efforts.”.

Iatrogenic Government: Social Policy and Drug Research

– "Iatrogenic Government: Social Policy and Drug Research," The American Scholar, Summer 1993.
Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1983, Armand M. Nicholi of the department of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Medical School commented: When… More

Miles to Go: A Personal History of Social Policy

– Miles to Go: A Personal History of Social Policy, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996.
From the publisher: Has liberalism lost its way—or merely its voice? This book by one of the nation’s most insightful, articulate, and powerful Democrats at last breaks the silence that… More

The Future of the Family

– Moynihan, Timothy M. Sneeding, and Lee Rainwater, The Future of the Family, Russell Sage Foundation, 2006.
From the publisher: High rates of divorce, single-parenthood, and nonmarital cohabitation are forcing Americans to reexamine their definition of family. This evolving social reality… More

Teaching

Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture

– "Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture," Government Services Administration, 1962.
Excerpt: In the course of its consideration of the general subject of Federal office space, the committee has given some thought to the need for a set of principles which will guide the… More

The Irish of New York

– "A Commentary Report: The Irish of New York," Commentary, August 1963.
Excerpt: It is now well over a century since any of the various groups living in New York has been able to claim so much as a bare majority of the populace; only the Jews today can claim… More

Poverty and Progress

– "Poverty and Progress," The American Scholar, Autumn 1964.
If there are no other victories whatever-and there will be-the war on poverty at least began with a notable advance for semantics. A nation that does dearly love nice things and soft words,… More

The Negro Family: The Case for National Action

– "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action," Department of Labor, March 1965.
Excerpt: The United States is approaching a new crisis in race relations. In the decade that began with the school desegregation decision of the Supreme Court, and ended with the passage of… More

The Professionalization of Reform

– "The Professionalization of Reform," The Public Interest, Fall 1965.
Excerpt:  The passage above, as succinct a case for social planning as could be made, is not a product of either the thought or the institutions of the liberal-left. It is, rather, a… More

The President & The Negro: The Moment Lost

– "The President & The Negro: The Moment Lost," Commentary, February 1967.
Excerpt: For anyone with even a moderate concern for the sources of stability in American government, the results of the 1966 elections will appear on balance a good thing. The Republican… More

The Crises in Welfare

– "The Crises in Welfare," The Public Interest, Winter 1968.
Excerpt: In the course of the Second Session of the Ninetieth Congress, the House of Representatives by near-unanimous action approved what must surely be the first purposively punitive… More

The Professors and the Poor

– "The Professors and the Poor," Commentary, August 1968.
Excerpt: Not long ago, a Negro poverty worker from the Roxbury section of Boston came to see me at the Joint Center for Urban Studies, directed there by a liberal business executive who had… More

On Understanding Poverty: Perspectives from the Social Sciences

– (editor) On Understanding Poverty: Perspectives from the Social Sciences , New York: Basic Books, 1969.
From Kirkus: This is the first of two volumes which emerged from a year long seminar on poverty sponsored by the National Academy of Arts & Sciences under Mr. Moynihan’s… More

Equalizing education: in whose benefit?

– "Equalizing education: in whose benefit?," The Public Interest, Fall 1972.
Excerpt: A series of recent state and federal court decisions, just now reaching the Supreme Court on appeal, have held that expenditure per pupil in public schools must be equal for all… More

Imperial Government

– "Imperial Government," Commentary, June 1978.
Excerpt: The question of size and of effectiveness in American government is beginning to take on aspects of constitutional as against merely political debate. For the better part of a… More

Why Private Schools Merit Public Aid

– "Why Private Schools Merit Public Aid," The Washington Post, March 5, 1978.
Excerpt: In his message to Congress on elementary and secondary education in late February, President Carter observed that “private schools-particularly parochial schools — are an… More

On the Electoral College

– "Statement on the Electoral College," June 27, 1979.
Excerpt: Mr. President, I rise to speak briefly and for the first time in what I believe will be an extended debate on the matter before us, Senate Joint Resolution 28. I wish to address… More

What do you do when the Supreme Court is wrong?

– "What do you do when the Supreme Court is wrong?" The Public Interest, Fall 1979.
Excerpt: In its Spring Term of 1979, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Gannett v. DePasquale that the public does not have an independent constitutional right of access to a pretrial… More

Social science and the courts

– "Social science and the courts," The Public Interest, Winter 1979.
Excerpt: FROM the time, at the beginning of the century, that American legal scholars and jurists began to speak of the “science of law” it was rather to be assumed that the courts… More

Of ‘Sons’ and Their ‘Grandsons’

– "Of 'Sons' and Their 'Grandsons'," The New York Times, July 7, 1980.
Excerpt: WASHINGTON–Once upon a time, before the Coming of the New Deal, there was a group of Republican Senators who were not sound men on subjects such as the High Tariff. Their… More

Counting Our Blessings: Reflections on the Future of America

– Counting Our Blessings: Reflections on the Future of America, New York: Little Brown, 1980.
From Amazon: Moynihan served in the cabinet or subcabinet of four consecutive Presidents, as Ambassador to India, Professor of Government at Harvard University and as U.S. Senator from New… More

The paranoid style in American politics revisited

– "The paranoid style in American politics revisited," The Public Interest, Fall 1985.
Excerpt: Of continuity and change. It happens I wrote the opening article in the first issue of The Public Interest, and there I am to be found, then as ever since, quoting Nathan Glazer.… More

Family and Nation: The Godkin Lectures

– Family and Nation: The Godkin Lectures, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987.
From Publishers Weekly: Moynihan first argued for a national family policy in 1965, and continues to press for it in these informed and persuasive lectures. Examining key factors shaping… More

The “New Science of Politics” and the Old Art of Government

– "'The New Science of Politics' and the Old Art of Government," The Public Interest, Winter 1987.
Excerpt: AS WE APPROACH the bicentennial of the Constitution, leafing through The Federalist, pondering the unexampled endurance of the arrangements the Founders put in place in those… More

The Modern Role of Congress in Foreign Affairs

– "The Modern Role of Congress in Foreign Affairs," Cardozo L. Rev. 9:1489, 1987-1988.
A century ago, in a letter to the committee responsible for the centennial celebration, the then British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone called the U.S. Constitution “the most… More

Another War—the One on Poverty—Is Over, Too

– "Another War—the One on Poverty—Is Over, Too," The New York Times, July 16, 1990.
Excerpt: On June 6, another headline announced an end of sorts of another war: ”White House Spurns Expansion of Nation’s Anti-Poverty Efforts.”.

Iatrogenic Government: Social Policy and Drug Research

– "Iatrogenic Government: Social Policy and Drug Research," The American Scholar, Summer 1993.
Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1983, Armand M. Nicholi of the department of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Medical School commented: When… More

Miles to Go: A Personal History of Social Policy

– Miles to Go: A Personal History of Social Policy, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996.
From the publisher: Has liberalism lost its way—or merely its voice? This book by one of the nation’s most insightful, articulate, and powerful Democrats at last breaks the silence that… More

The Future of the Family

– Moynihan, Timothy M. Sneeding, and Lee Rainwater, The Future of the Family, Russell Sage Foundation, 2006.
From the publisher: High rates of divorce, single-parenthood, and nonmarital cohabitation are forcing Americans to reexamine their definition of family. This evolving social reality… More