Most books about President Richard Nixon focus either on his foreign policies or on the crimes and misdemeanors that forced his resignation under threat of impeachment.
Not Stephen Hess's new book, The Professor and the President.
Hess, who has been writing about government for decades out of Washington's Brookings Institution, witnessed a rare partnership inside the White House.
The president — Nixon — was a Republican who felt obliged to do something about welfare.
"Government can do a lot of things for men," he had said. "It can provide a man shelter, and it can provide him food, and it can provide him a house. It can provide him clothing, but it can't provide him dignity."
The professor — Daniel Patrick Moynihan — was a Democrat, a Harvard sociologist, whom Nixon recruited to the White House staff.
Moynihan went on to be a four-term senator from New York. Hess says he managed to persuade Nixon to embrace a much more liberal approach to welfare than most of his White House team would ever have supported. Hess talks with NPR's Robert Siegel about the relationship of Nixon and Moynihan, whom he refers to as "the oddest couple that you could imagine."
Interview Highlights
On appointing Moynihan to White House staff
It was really quite fascinating because after he appointed Moynihan, the liberal Harvard Democratic social scientist, he appointed Arthur Burns, the Columbia conservative economist. And they went at it at the highest level in the highest fashion for the mind and the heart of Richard Nixon.
On Nixon giving Moynihan a blank slate
When Pat Moynihan came to the hotel Pierre, where the transition was, in New York and met with the president-elect and then came downstairs to have dinner with me, he said, "He's ignorant!" Meaning, he doesn't know anything about domestic affairs.
I knew Richard Nixon; I had been his speech writer when he ran for governor. I said, "Oh no, he's disinterested. He is fascinated and overwhelmed in his interest in international affairs and our place in the world." But what it meant for Pat Moynihan was he had an open slate to write upon.
On treating Nixon as an intellectual, and some artful flattery
The next thing [Moynihan] found out was that Richard Nixon was very smart. Once he could get to him, they developed an interesting relationship because, almost from the get-go, Richard Nixon started to be treated by Pat Moynihan as an intellectual. Nobody had ever treated him as an intellectual before, and Nixon was fascinated by it.
What Pat was doing was trying to convince Nixon to be a great president. You don't go in and say, "You should be a great president." You could say a "great athlete," a "great actor" — you don't say a "great president."
So the word he used was "historic." Everything that Nixon was doing, even some little thing about moving the boundaries of regional agency — "historic!" No president had ever done it before. And that's what he was trying to do. Remember, Pat Moynihan was born in 1929. All of his youth was FDR, Franklin Roosevelt. That was the model of a president. And that's what he was trying to sell to Richard Nixon.
On Nixon leaving his feelings aside
Aug. 8, 1969, [Nixon] went on television to announce his [welfare] program and said to the American people, "This is gonna cost more than the present program." For a president to say that? And, of course, that was very offensive to Arthur Burns, whose whole theme was to bring down the cost of government.
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Transcript
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
Most books about President Richard Nixon focus either on his foreign policies or on the crimes and misdemeanors that forced his resignation, under threat of impeachment. But not Stephen Hess's new little book called "The Professor And The President." Hess, who has been writing about government for decades out of Washington's Brookings Institution, was witness to a rare partnership inside the White House. The president, Richard Nixon, was a Republican who felt obliged to do something about welfare.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON: Government can do a lot of things for men. It can provide a man a shelter and it can provide him food, and it can provide him a house, it can provide him clothing. But it can't provide him dignity.
SIEGEL: The professor was a Democrat a, Harvard sociologist, who Nixon recruited to the White House staff.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN: The president is going to provide in this proposal 150,000 training slots, training opportunities for welfare mothers, and provision for 450,000 day care opportunities to take care of their children while they're working.
SIEGEL: That was Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who went on to be a four-term U.S. senator from New York.
Steve Hess, welcome to the program.
STEPHEN HESS: Thank you Robert.
SIEGEL: And as you describe it, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat in the White House, managed to persuade Richard Nixon to embrace a much more liberal approach to welfare than most of the Nixon White House team would ever have done. What was it?
HESS: Well, wasn't that the oddest couple you can imagine? And fortunately, I was right there. I was a person - in fact, I start the book by saying I'm the only person, I think in the world, who knew Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Richard Nixon before they knew each other.
SIEGEL: The year was 1969.
HESS: Correct.
SIEGEL: Nixon's first year in the White House, and it wasn't just that Nixon heard what Moynihan had to say and said, well, sure. There was really an interesting debate going on in the White House and Moynihan had some pretty heavyweight intellectual opposition within the White House.
HESS: Yeah, it was really quite fascinating because after he appointed Moynihan, the liberal Harvard Democratic social scientist, he appointed Arthur Burns, the Columbia conservative economist. And they went at it, and at the highest level in the highest fashion for the mind and the heart of Richard Nixon.
SIEGEL: Of course, as you point out, what enabled Nixon to be - we'll give him the benefit of the doubt - open-minded about welfare was, he didn't care. He didn't care about any domestic programs.
HESS: That's absolutely fascinating. Yeah, when Pat Moynihan came to the Hotel Pierre where the transition was in New York and met with the President-elect and then came downstairs to have dinner with me and said, he's ignorant. Meaning, he doesn't know anything about domestic affairs. I knew Richard Nixon, I had been his speech writer when he ran for governor. I said, no, no, it's not - he's disinterested. He is fascinated and overwhelmed in his interest in international affairs and the place of the world, but what it meant for Pat Moynihan was he had an open slate to write upon.
SIEGEL: And he wrote.
HESS: Well, the next thing he found out was that Richard Nixon was very smart and once he could get to him, they developed an interesting relationship because almost from the get-go, Richard Nixon started to be treated by Pat Moynihan as an intellectual. Nobody had ever treated him as an intellectual before and Nixon was fascinated by it.
SIEGEL: But (laughter) there's a darker side to that story told by people who are farther away from it than you...
HESS: (Laughter) OK.
SIEGEL: ...Which was, it was a case of Moynihan being the artful flatterer, saying, here read about Disraeli, read about the artful conservative prime minister of Britain, you're a little bit like this man who changed conservatism.
HESS: Absolutely. Henry Kissinger figured how to be the courtier, too, the absolute flatterer. It looks like a flatterer to us. It didn't look like a flatterer to Richard Nixon, that's for sure. And what Pat was doing was trying to convince Nixon to be a great president. You don't go in and say, you should be a great president. You say a great athlete, a great actor, you don't say a great president. So the word he used was historic. Everything that Nixon was doing, even some little thing about moving the boundaries of regional agency - historic - no president has ever done it before. And that's what he was trying to do. Remember, Pat Moynihan was born in 1929. All of his youth was FDR, Franklin Roosevelt. That was the model of a president and that's what he was trying to sell to Richard Nixon.
SIEGEL: In the welfare proposal that eventually came of the Moynihan-Nixon collaboration, we heard Moynihan talking about child care for working mothers. He believed in a negative income tax, didn't he? He believed that we should be - what became the earned income tax credit of paying the poor money from the government. These were ideas that actually went beyond what the New Deal had achieved.
HESS: Yeah, this was really quite remarkable. It was a moment in one of these Cabinet debates where Arthur Burns's deputy, Marty Anderson - very, very, very smart fellow who in the next administration became the chief domestic adviser to Ronald Reagan - slammed the table and said, this is a negative income tax, let us call a spade a spade. And Moynihan smiled as he would and said, as, you know, as Oscar Wilde said, one who calls a spade a spade should have to use one. You know, the Cabinet, who didn't know the difference, burst out laughing. But we got over a tough moment because Anderson was right - it was a negative income tax.
SIEGEL: And Nixon didn't care. Nixon brought no particularly strong feelings to these things, you say.
HESS: August 8, 1969 went on television to announce his program and said to the American people, this is going to cost more than the present program - a president to say that? And of course, that was very offensive to Arthur Burns, whose whole theme was to bring down the cost of government.
SIEGEL: Stephen Hess, thank you very much...
HESS: Pleasure, Robert.
SIEGEL: ...For talking with us about your new book.
Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution has written a new book. It's called "The Professor And The President." Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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