(
July 8 ,
1908 –
January 26 ,
1979 ), an American
Politician ,
Philanthropist and
Businessman , was
Governor Of New York from
1959 to
1973 , the 41st
Vice President Of The United States Of America from
December 19 ,
1974 to
January 20 ,
1977 , and a leader of the
Liberal and
Moderate Wing s of the
Republican Party .
Rockefeller (nicknamed "Rocky") was born in
Bar Harbor, Maine . A member of the prominent
Rockefeller Family , he was the son of
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and the grandson of
Standard Oil founder
John D. Rockefeller and
United States Senator Nelson W. Aldrich of
Rhode Island , for whom he was named. He was the leader of his brothers
John ,
Laurance ,
Winthrop , and
David . He graduated from
Dartmouth College in
1930 , where he was a member of the
Psi Upsilon fraternity, the Dartmouth Glee Club, and the Casque & Gauntlet Society.
Rockefeller worked for a time in several family-run businesses and philanthropies before entering public service. He became an
Assistant Secretary Of State during
World War II , where he was
Coordinator Of Inter-American Affairs , an anti-
Nazi alliance for
Central and
South America . After the war, he headed the
International Development Advisory Board , part of
Harry S. Truman Point Four Program .
The election of fellow Republican
Dwight Eisenhower to the Presidency saw Rockefeller appointed first as chair of the
President's Advisory Committee On Government Organization and later as an undersecretary in the
Department Of Health, Education, And Welfare .
Rockefeller left federal service in
1956 to concentrate on
New York state politics, where he served in various capacities. He was elected
Governor by over 600,000 votes, defeating
Incumbent governor and fellow multi-millionaire
W. Averell Harriman , even though
1958 was a banner year for Democrats elsewhere in the nation.
Rockefeller served as governor of New York from 1959 to 1973 (elected to four terms, he served three and a half). As governor of New York, he successfully secured the passage of strict laws against the possession and/or sale of drugs. These laws — which became known as the "
Rockefeller Drug Laws " — took effect in 1973 and are still on the books. They ranked among the toughest in the United States. Nonetheless, Rockefeller was still considered one of the leaders of the
Moderate wing of the Republican Party, and is hailed as an example of one of the chief figures of the "1960s and 1970s Republican" movement, when most state Republican organizations were dominated by social moderates. Compared to other Republicans, Rockefeller was a
Liberal in domestic policies such as spending and
Civil Rights , and Republicans who hold views similar to his are often referred to as "
Rockefeller Republican s". Indeed, a hard core of
Conservative New York Republicans viewed him as being so socially liberal that they bolted the state Republican organization and formed the
Conservative Party .
On
September 9 ,
1971 , after four days of riots at the
State Prison In Attica, N.Y. , Rockefeller gave the order for 1,000
New York State Police troopers and
National Guardsmen to storm the prison. Over 40 people died, including 11 of 38 hostages (most of whom were prison guards), the largest loss of life in armed conflict between groups of Americans since the
American Civil War . Most of the deaths were attributed to the gunfire of the National Guard and State Police. The prisoners had been demanding better living conditions, showers, education, and vocational training. Opponents blamed Rockefeller for these deaths, while his supporters, including many conservatives who had often vocally differed with him in the past, defended his actions as being necessary to the preservation of law and order.
Rockefeller engaged in massive building endeavors that left a profound mark on New York State, so much so that many of his detractors claimed that he had an "edifice complex." He was the driving force in turning the
State University Of New York into the largest system of public higher education in the United States. He demanded the imposition of tuition at the New York city colleges in return for conferring university status on them. He also led in the creation and/or expansion of many major highways (such as the
Long Island Expressway , the
Southern Tier , the
Adirondack , and
Interstate 81 ) which vastly improved road transportation in New York State. To create more low-income housing, Rockefeller created the unprecedented-in-its-power
New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC), which could override local
Zoning ,
Condemn Property , and create financing schemes to carry out desired development. (UDC is now called the Empire State Development Corporation, which forms a unit, along with the formerly independent Job Development Authority, of
Empire State Development .)
Rockefeller's massive construction programs — not just the aforementioned, but others, such as the
US$ 2 billion
Albany South Mall (later renamed the Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza, a vast campus of government sky-scrapers and plazas punctuated by an egg-shaped arts center, together the most expensive project that had ever been undertaken by any U.S. state government) — and his generous
Pension programs for many public workers in the state (firefighters, many police officers, sanitation workers, and corrections officers), and highest-in-the-nation
Minimum Wage that he was able to push through the legislature (or carry out through some existing
Public-benefit Authority such as the UDC), greatly drove up costs and debt in the state. Public-benefit authorities (some 230 of them, like UDC, were brought into existence by Rockefeller) were often used to issue
Bond s in order to avoid the requirement of a vote of the people for the issuance of a bond; such authority-issued bonds bore higher interest than if they had been issued directly by the state. The state budget went from US$2.04 billion in 1959-60 (Rockefeller's first full
Fiscal Year in office) to US$8.8 billion in 1973-74 (at the end of Rockefeller's time in office). This occurred despite a state economy that was in significant decline in some areas; whether Rockefeller's spending practices contributed to this decline or prevented it from being far worse than it was is a subject of debate.
Rockefeller also reformed the governance of
New York City 's
Transport ation system. He
Bankrupted the New York City Transit Authority, then created the
New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority in
1965 , which merged the
New York City Subway System with the publicly-owned
Triborough Bridge And Tunnel Authority and the
Long Island Rail Road and
Metro North Railroad , which were purchased by the state from private owners in a massive public bailout of bankrupt railroads. In taking over control of the Triborough Authority, Rockefeller overcame
Robert Moses , who controlled several of New York state's public infrastructure authorities. Under the New York MTA, toll revenue collected from the bridges and tunnels, which had previously been used to build more bridges, tunnels, and highways, were shifted to support
Public Transport operations, thus shifting costs from general state funds to the motorist.
Rockefeller, for all his
Wealth and social position, seemed affable and approachable. He had a good relationship with the press.
Rockefeller's ambition was the Presidency; he spent millions in attempts to win the Republican
Primaries in 1960, 1964, and 1968. His bid in 1960 was ended early when then-Vice President
Richard Nixon surged ahead in the polls; after quitting the campaign Rockefeller backed Nixon enthusiastically, and concentrated his efforts on introducing more moderate stances into Nixon's platform.
Rockefeller was considered the front-runner for the 1964 campaign against the more conservative
Barry Goldwater of
Arizona (Nixon had declined to run after losing to
Pat Brown in the
1962 California gubernatorial election). However, Rockefeller's
Divorce and quick remarriage to a woman (who had until then been married to someone else and had served as a Rockefeller housekeeper) nearly 20 years his junior offended many, and no major American party had ever nominated a divorced person for President to that point in history (this precedent eventually being overcome by
Ronald Reagan ). After polls predicted Rockefeller would win the California primary, he lost by a slim margin and dropped out of the race, endorsing Goldwater (but more hesitantly than he had previously supported Nixon). (Many of Rockefeller's supporters then coalesced behind an "anybody but Goldwater" movement led by
Pennsylvania governor
William Scranton , but this was defeated by the conservative tide rising in the Republican Party in 1964.)
Rockefeller lost again to a resurgent Nixon in 1968, unable to overcome Nixon's superior organization and support by most state Republican Party mechanisms outside of New York and Nixon's apparent conversion to a moderate conservatism, making him acceptable to many of the Goldwater activists of four years earlier without making him appear to be unelectable on a national basis as Goldwater had proved to be. The 1968 race proved to be Rockefeller's last bid for national office. Even though by the time of the 1968
Republican National Convention Nixon's nomination seemed to be a foregone conclusion, some of the delegates Rockefeller had won during the campaign nonetheless voted for him. A movement in the Arkansas delegation to back Winthrop Rockefeller as a "
Favorite Son " candidate led to their becoming the only brothers in U.S. history to receive votes for President at the same major-party convention.
Following the resignation of
President Richard Nixon , successor
Gerald Ford nominated Rockefeller to serve as the 41st
Vice President Of The United States . Rockefeller is the last governor to date to have served as Vice President.
Rockefeller underwent a lengthy series of
Congressional hearings but ultimately was confirmed, beginning his service on
December 19 ,
1974 . He became the second Vice President to be appointed to the position under the
25th Amendment — the first being Ford himself.
Less than a year later however, (on
November 3 ,
1975 ), he notified President
Ford that he would not seek election to the Vice Presidency in
1976 , saying that he "didn't come down (to Washington) to get caught up in party squabbles which only make it more difficult for the President in a very difficult time..."
While Rockefeller was Vice President, the official Vice Presidential residence was established at
Number One Observatory Circle on the grounds of the
United States Naval Observatory . This residence had previously been the home of the
Chief Of Naval Operations ; prior Vice Presidents had been responsible for maintaining their own homes at their own expense, but the necessity of massive full-time
Secret Service security had made this custom impracticable to continue. Rockefeller, though, already had a luxurious, well-secured Washington residence and never actually lived in the home as a principal residence, although he did host several official functions there. His wealth enabled him to give millions of dollars of furnishings to the home, which he allowed to remain there after his term ended, and which have been made available to any subsequent Vice Presidential families who choose to use them.
A memorable moment of Rockefeller's Vice Presidency occurred during a public speech at
Broome County Airport in
Binghamton, New York . A group of
Hippies started to heckle him, which obviously irritated him, causing him to retaliate by giving the group
The Finger , in a widely circulated photo. Senator
Robert Dole , who would be the
Republican nominee to succeed Rockefeller in the 1976 election, was on hand at the speech. When questioned by an
ABC reporter as to why he didn't join in with Rockefeller, Dole replied "I have trouble with my right arm," referrying to his right-side paralysis, an injury he sustained in
World War II .
In 1977, Rockefeller received the
Presidential Medal Of Freedom .
On June 23 1930 Rockefeller married Mary Todhunter Clark. He and his wife had five children. They divorced in 1962. The following year he married Margaretta Fitler Murphy. They had two children and he remained married to her until his death in 1979.
Rockefeller was a great collector of modern art. He continued his mother's work at the
Museum Of Modern Art and turned the basement of his
Kykuit mansion into a first-class museum. While he was overseeing construction of the State University of New York system, Rockefeller built, in collaboration with his lifelong friend
Roy Neuberger , a museum on the campus of
SUNY Purchase College . The
Neuberger Museum , designed by
Philip Johnson , hosted several paintings collected by Neuberger and helped popularize several artists.
On
January 26 ,
1979 Rockefeller suffered a
Heart Attack and died. It is officially recorded that this occurred during sexual intercourse with his
Mistress and staff member
Megan Marshak . Nelson Rockefeller was
Cremated at the
Ferncliff Cemetery in
Hartsdale, New York , less than 48 hours after his death. Apparently, his ashes were scattered in
Lower Manhattan just a few hours after the cremation was completed.
As Of 2004 , ''
Forbes '' estimated that the overall Rockefeller family fortune could be as much as $9 billion. Nelson Rockefeller was worth approximately $1 billion at the time of his death.
- Cobbs, Elizabeth Anne. ''The Rich Neighbor Policy: Rockefeller and Kaiser in Brazil.'' Yale U. Press, 1992.
- Connery, Robert H. and Gerald Benjamin. ''Governing New York State: The Rockefeller Years'' (1974)
- Bernard J. Firestone and Alexej Ugrinsky, eds. ''Gerald R. Ford and the Politics of Post-Watergate America. Volume: 1.'' Greenwood Press. 1993. pp 137-94, discussion by scholars of Vice Presidency
- Kramer, Michael and Roberts, Sam. ''"I Never Wanted to Be Vice-President of Anything!": An Investigative Biography of Nelson Rockefeller.'' 1976.
- Light, Paul. "Vice-presidential Influence under Rockefeller and Mondale." ''Political Science Quarterly'' 1983-1984 98(4): 617-640. Issn: 0032-3195
- Perlstein, Rick. ''Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the
Unmaking of the American Consensus'' (2002) on 1964
- Persico, Joseph E. ''The Imperial Rockefeller: A Biography of Nelson A. Rockefeller.'' 1982. by senior aide
- Reich, Cary. ''The Life of Nelson A. Rockefeller'' (1996) vol 1 to 1958, the most detailed biography
- James Reichley; ''Conservatives in an Age of Change: The Nixon and Ford Administrations'' Brookings Institution. 1981.
- Rivas, Darlene. ''Title: Missionary Capitalist: Nelson Rockefeller in Venezuela.'' U. of North Carolina Press 2002.
- Turner, Michael. ''The Vice President as Policy Maker: Rockefeller in the Ford White House.'' Greenwood, 1982
- Underwood, James E. and Daniels, William J. ''Governor Rockefeller in New York: The Apex of Pragmatic Liberalism.'' Greenwood, 1982
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