The Brookings Cafeteria

In 1969, a conservative president made a liberal professor his urban affairs adviser in the White House. When Richard Nixon brought Daniel Patrick Moynihan onto the White House staff, the consequences for both would be tremendous, as recounted by  in this podcast based on his fascinating tale of those years,  (Brookings, 2014). Hess, a senior fellow emeritus at Brookings who was not only Moynihan’s deputy on the Urban Affairs Council but also a close friend, offers vivid anecdotes of what he witnessed, including: why “in a strange way Nixon fell in love with [Moynihan]”; a visit from actor Kirk Douglas; how Moynihan invented the Presidential Medal of Freedom; and the White House jazz concert led by Duke Ellington, the award’s first recipient. Also in the podcast, Governance Studies Fellow , in his "What's Happening in Congress" commentary, reviews the end of the 113th Congress and looks ahead to the next; and , deputy director of Foreign Policy at Brookings, talks about his new book, with David Steven, , whi