DICK MOE: A MODEL PUBLIC CITIZEN
A Force in Politics, Preservation and author
Dick Moe: A Model Public Citizen
A Force in Politics, Preservation and Author
Dick Moe was the quintessential public citizen, chairman of a legendary state political party, top congressional and White House assistant, acclaimed author, the most prominent champion of historic preservation and a genuine American patriot.
Richard Palmer Moe passed away this week in Washington at age 88. He lived a full and richly contributory life, seeing government service as a place for doing good, not as a vehicle to personal enrichment.
For anyone considering political or public life in these challenging times, focus not on the current Washington ethical sewer and more on the exemplary experience of Richard Moe.
A native of Duluth, Minnesota, after college and law school, he became chairman of the state's Democrat-Farm-Labor party. This was the crown jewel of political parties producing the likes of Hubert Humphrey, Gene McCarthy and Walter Mondale.
Moe came to Washington as a top aide to Mondale in the Senate and chief of staff to the Vice President. He drafted the Carter-Mondale accords on the role of a Vice President to have full access and be involved in all major issues. It's a model for successful White House partnerships.
After the White House he became a partner in a prestigious law firm, but that really wasn't for Dick. Instead, he took over the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Government funding was being cut; politicians didn't see historic preservation as sexy. But under Moe's leadership he more than made up for that by raising more money than ever, expanding its effective reach.
Right after taking over, Moe faced a daunting battle. The Disney company launched plans to build a theme park next to the Manassas Civil War battlefield.
It looked like an uneven fight. The rich corporation with its appealing parks for families and kids versus Dick Moe and a few neighbors, fighting the commercialization of an historic site.
Disney didn't know what they were up against. A year and a half later they pulled the plug on the Manassas theme park.
Moe also led the efforts to preserve historic sites in New Orleans after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and took a special interest in refurbishing the Lincoln Cottage, the Northeast Washington home where the 16th President spent considerable time during his Presidency. It was there that Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation.
Upon retiring from the Historic Trust after sixteen successful years, he remained vitally interested in American politics. He'd already written a book on the Minnesota volunteers in the Civil War from Bull Run to Gettysburg, considered one of the best books written on a regional regiment. Then he wrote a book on Franklin Roosevelt's historic decision to go for a third term in 1940, winning praise from historians for breaking new ground.
His friendship was a gift for my family. I knew him as a congressional and White House staffer. He was a great source not because he ever leaked anything but because he always was insightful and honest.
We had neighboring weekend houses off the Chesapeake and played tennis every summer weekend for twenty years. The conversations sparkled far more than the game.
I used to have lunch occasionally with Moe, Vernon Jordan and Harry McPherson. These three were the wise men of Washington in those days.
Family was central to his life. Julia, his wife of more than 60 years, was every bit the presence of her spouse. They had three kids, one of whom tragically died.
Their son Andrew, an all-American lacrosse player at Princeton, runs an eco-friendly furniture studio. His sister Alexandra is an accomplished journalist on a range of issues from health care to her most recent Atlantic piece on the virtues of tennis. When I last saw Dick a little over a week ago, we agreed, alas, her tennis probably was not inspired by our matches.
His hospital room was the warmest I've ever seen, decorated by Andrew and Alex, with pictures of his two grandchildren and all his accomplishments captured along the walls.
It was a large room.
Thank you for your tribute, Al. I'll never forget your tennis matches with my father, where after most points it wasn't just a question of what the score was, but of who was serving. I'm guessing that still makes him smile, if such a thing is possible where he is now. Thanks again for taking the time to write about him.
Thank you Al for this insightful and important tribute to Dick Moe. He was all you describe and more. He reached to me early in the Carter Administration in the guise of friendship, but what was in fact a lifelong tutelage in public service, duty, honor, virtue, history, and the joys of family and friendship. I admired Dick on so many levels, but especially the kindnesses and reflection of regular lunches and visits and calls, and his sharing his friendships with the likes of Vernon Jordan, Harry McPherson and David McCullough. I loved his love of the history of the Lincoln Cottage, and the preservation of history in his book on the Minnesota Volunteers (The Last Full Measure) and his compelling narrative about the 1940 Presidential election (Roosevelt’s Second Act: The Election of 1940 and the Politics of War). I remember sending the book on the Minnesota Volunteers to President Carter who fairly quickly sent back a handwritten appreciation of the book and said he enjoyed learning the “Yankee thought” detailed in the book through that regiments many battles it fought in the war. I promptly sent the original of Carter’s note to Dick. Dick came to the Carter Administration via Vice President Mondale, and importantly wrote the profile of the nature of the role of that historic Vice Presidency that Carter promptly adopted. Carter also saw Dick’s value to him early on, and made Dick a formal assistant to him as well as Fritz. One of Dick’s personal accomplishments during that Administration was the responsibility for vetting and recommending a new Chair of the Federal Reserve that led to the appointment of Paul Volcker, that became costly politically in the tools to fight inflation, but vital to the country. I counseled Dick on his transition to the private sector after the 1980 election to Davis Polk, but was not surprised when he became president of the National Trust on Historic Preservation, an organization he transformed and inspired over his 12 important years as its head. He loved his wife Julia and his two sons and daughter, and there was also a constant in his conversations. Dick is one of those people who has given his “full measure” to his country, family, and friends. I loved him, and he will be missed. May he rest in peace.