Moynihan Report

DANIEL PATRICK (Pat) Moynihan (1927–2003) was a U.S. Senator, ambassador, administration official, and academic. He authored a number of books, including a much-discussed 1965 publication, “The Negro Family: The Case of Action” (a U.S. Department of Labor report), otherwise widely known as the Moynihan Report.

Moynihan was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but grew up in New York City. He was raised in a poor neighborhood and graduated from Harlem High School. He served in the U.S. Navy, and then went on to receive graduate and law degrees. He served as an undersecretary of labor in the administration of President John F. Kennedy, and as well in the early part of the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson. He worked on formulating national policies for what would become the War on Poverty.

Moynihan had a lifetime interest in social policy and in poverty policy. He had grown up in a poor household, so he no doubt had a strong affinity for social change and social justice, for helping people obtain a better life. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in [Page 734]1976, and then was reelected to the Senate three times, in 1982, 1988, and 1994. He did not run for the seat in 2000, and was succeeded by fellow Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton. He was most influential in his career, and comfortably moved in and out of various circles, political, diplomatic, governmental, and academic.

His report hypothesized that the destruction of the African-American nuclear family structure would be a significant hindrance to further progress toward equality. Moynihan, a social scientist, made clear that he was not in effect blaming the victim, but was looking at the environment as a key force here. Nevertheless much negative reaction occurred at the time, much of it from the African-American community. Charges were made that Moynihan was stereotyping African-American families as poor, uneducated, and dysfunctional.

Interestingly, discussion and debate about this issue have continued unabated for decades after the publication of this noted report. For example, a quote from the report's introduction includes:

The Moynihan Report, released at such a critical time in the history of social policies (and race relations) in the United States (1965), was significant for the questions it raised, questions that have not been sufficiently answered even today.

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