Casual
KRISTOL, WILLIAM
Casual DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN, 1927-2003 The world has no need for another contribution to the fitting stream of tributes to Daniel Patrick Moynihan's extraordinary life and work. But I hope a...
...But, if I recall the story accurately, after taking trains and buses to arrive at Beerbohm's house, Pat had approached the gate, felt suddenly intimidated at the thought of meeting the great man, and returned to London...
...What is perhaps less well known is Pat's humanity...
...And the phone connection, for some reason, wasn't very good...
...It turned out Pat Moynihan was a great fan of Max Beerbohm...
...Pat had been in touch throughout with my mother, and had spoken with my father since the operation—but he didn't want to bother them at their apartment by calling when they might be resting or busy...
...So by the end of their exchange, Joe was a little rattled, though proud to have had a real conversation with a world-historical fig-ure—a kindness Pat knew he was performing, but performed naturally...
...Pat called, and our 15-year-old son answered the phone...
...Susan reminded me, as we reminisced about this incident after hearing of Pat's death, that Joe was the child who was in utero when Pat exclaimed to her, "I love pregnant women...
...I asked, assuming he would praise David Brooks on "Saddam's Brain" or Max Boot on deterrence, or perhaps even Gary Anderson on Norman Podhoretz's book on the Prophets...
...Joe was a bit awed to be speaking to the famous Mr...
...As a young man studying in London in the early 1950s, it seems, Pat had made a pilgrimage to visit the elderly Beerbohm...
...It was also unusual in its execution...
...My father had recently had a major operation, and was home from the hospital...
...Rather than simply ask for Susan or me, Pat engaged Joe in a discussion of his school and other activities...
...Indeed in the closing paragraph of the chapter on Trilling, [Podhoretz] records, 'I think about him a lot, always with admiration, gratitude, and indeed love.' That is as it should be...
...He was a kind benefactor and a gentle instructor, who put friendship ahead of partisanship, generosity ahead of ideology...
...What was that...
...Surely, Pat wrote, "Lionel Trilling and his wife Diana were never truly ex-friends...
...I then worked for him in the summer of 1970 in the Nixon White House, and in his 1976 Senate primary race against Bella Abzug...
...Pat had particularly enjoyed one piece in the most recent issue, he said...
...He reviewed—generously and enthusiastically—Norman Podhoretz's memoir, Ex-Friends, in February 1999...
...It was characteristic of Pat that even in a book review, he would want to soften a rupture, to heal a break...
...That day, after I got on the phone and reassured Pat about my father, we had a longish conversation about The Weekly Standard...
...WILLIAM KRISTOL...
...Having myself been intimidated (through no fault of his) by Pat Moynihan for the almost forty years I'd known him, I was amused at the idea of Pat's being intimidated by anyone...
...While we subsequently drifted apart politically, I always remained proud to claim some relationship of debt and obligation to him...
...But I was reminded, as he dilated brilliantly on Beerbohm's works and his meaning to the young readers and writers of Pat's generation, how unusual—how unique— was the range of Moynihan's interests, knowledge, and enthusiasm...
...I will think about him a lot, always with admiration, gratitude, and indeed love...
...He offered only what he called "one quiet reservation" about Norman's "thrilling" book...
...I first met Pat when, as a 12-year-old, I did a bit of volunteer work in his campaign for New York City Council president in 1965...
...Pat wanted to praise, at some length, Joe Epstein's review of the new biography of Max Beer-bohm...
...The call was characteristic of Pat in a couple of ways...
...They look as if, if you dropped them from a tall building, they would bounce...
...Everyone knows about Pat Moyni-han's political and intellectual accomplishments...
...he also had some difficulty understanding Pat, whose speech patterns were, one recalls, a bit unusual...
...So he called me at home on a Saturday afternoon to ask how my father was doing, and to pass on his and Liz's best wishes and love...
...But I hope a brief personal reminiscence will not be amiss...
...The last time I spoke with him was in early November 2002...
...THE WEEKLY STANDARD had the honor to publish Pat Moynihan once...
...It was kind and thoughtful in its intention with respect to my parents...
Vol. 8 • April 2003 • No. 29
