CLINTON, HILLARY RODHAM. (b. 1947). First Lady of the United States, U.S. senator, secretary of state under President Obama and the first female to win the popular vote for United States president but losing the election in the Electoral College. TLS. (“Hillary”). 1p. Small 4to. Washington, D.C., July 10, 2007. Written on U.S. Senate stationery gold-embossed with the great seal of the United States. To architectural historian ELIZABETH MOYNIHAN (1929-2023), widow of Senator Daniel Patrick “Pat” Moynihan (1927-2003).

“I was sorry I had to miss the reception and announcement of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Chair in Public Policy at Syracuse. Tamera reported that it was a great event, worthy of Pat and his legacy. Apropos of that, I am enclosing a copy of our new brochure on efforts to revive and expand the Fisc Report. I hope you like it. I look forward to working with the Maxwell School and Tax Policy Center to continue the important work Pat began and carried on for so many years...”

In 1973, President Nixon appointed Pat Moynihan U.S. ambassador to India, the world’s largest democracy, to smooth over the two country’s sometimes contentious relationship. Moynihan then served as President Ford’s ambassador to the UN where he was, among other things, an outspoken supporter of Israel. He was a senator from New York from 1977 to 2001 with his wife, Elizabeth, acting as her husband’s campaign manager and advisor throughout his career.

Hillary Clinton was the first first lady to earn a postgraduate degree and the only first lady elected to public office. In 2001, following Moynihan’s retirement from the Senate, Clinton, received the senator’s endorsement and was elected to fill his seat. From 2009-2013 she was Obama’s secretary of state and in 2016 Clinton became the first woman to lead a major party in the presidential contest, going on to win the popular vote. Tamera Luzzatto served as Clinton’s chief of staff from 2001 to 2009 and is currently senior vice president of government relations at The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Our letter regards the establishment of a chair in honor of the late senator at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Moynihan was on the Maxwell School’s faculty from 1959-1961 and after retiring from the Senate he returned to teach there from 2001 until his death. In 2005, Syracuse University renamed its Global Affairs Institute in honor of Moynihan and a $5 million gift from the Leon Levy Foundation endowed it’s Daniel Patrick Moynihan Chair in Public Affairs, which was announced at a ceremony in the U.S. Capital on June 14, 2007, a month before our letter was written.

Creased with some staining and wear; the lower right corner is missing. In good condition.