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Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979) was an American politician, philanthropist and businessman. A leader of the liberal wing of the Republican Party, he was Governor of New York from 1959 to 1973, where he launched many construction and modernization projects. Scion of one of the richest and best known families, he failed repeatedly to become president, but he was appointed to the Vice President of the United States of America. He served without significant power (1974-77), until he was dropped from the 1976 GOP national ticket by President Gerald Ford and retired.

Early life

Rockefeller was born in Bar Harbor, Maine. He was the son of John Davison Rockefeller, Jr. and his wife Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. He was the grandson on his father's side of Standard Oil's founder and owner John Davison Rockefeller, Sr. and on his mother's side of United States Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich, a Republican from Rhode Island. He had four brothers: David (1915- ), Laurance (1910-2004), Winthrop (1912-1973), and John D. 3rd (1906-1978), and one sister, Abby (1903-1906). He attended Dartmouth College and graduated in 1930.

Early political career

Rockefeller worked for a time in several family-run businesses and philanthropies before entering public service. He was especially active in promoting modernization and democracy in Brazil and other parts of Latin America. 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's 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 Reorganization and later as an undersecretary in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Governor of New York

Rockefeller left federal service in 1956 to concentrate on New York state and national politics, where he served in various capacities. In 1958, he was elected governor by over 600,000 votes, defeating incumbent governor, multi-millionaire W. Averell Harriman, even though 1958 was a banner year for Democrats elsewhere in the nation.

Tough laws on drug offenders

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.

Liberal Republican

Rockefeller was a very liberal Republican. Jonathan Alter of Newsweek once wrote that he was "to the left of where even the Democratic Party is today". Rockefeller was opposed by far right conservatives in the GOP such as Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan and moderate conservatives in the Republican Party such George H.W. Bush and his father, USA Senator Prescott S. Bush (1895-1972). The Bush family vehemently despised Rockefeller because of his perverse sexual behavior and his extreme left-wing policies. Compared to the conservatives, Rockefeller was more liberal in domestic policies such as favoring high taxation, high government spending, building more infrastructure (especially highways and universities), civil rights for African Americans, and supporting environmentalism, the arts, New Deal regulations of business, and Social Security. Unlike the conservatives who vehemently opposed labor unions, he collaborated successfully with them in New York, especially the construction trades that benefited from his extensive building programs. In foreign affairs, Rockefeller opposed the isolationism of conservatives and supported the USA's involvement in internationalist groups such as the United Nations and foreign aid to help developing countries. But on the other hand he also supported the USA's fight against communism and its membership in NATO, an anti-Soviet military alliance between the USA and the western European nations.

As a result of Rockefeller's policies, a core of conservative New York Republicans viewed him as being so liberal that they bolted the state Republican organization and formed the Conservative Party. The small party acted as a counter-weight to the state's Liberal Party of New York State.

Attica Riots

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'.

Massive construction programs

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 Expressway, the Adirondack Northway, 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 construction programs included as well the $2 billion South Mall in Albany, later renamed the Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza. It is a vast campus of government skyscrapers and plazas punctuated by an egg-shaped arts center. He worked with the legislature and unions to create generous pension programs for many public workers in the state, such as teachers, professors, firefighters, police officers, prison guards. He pushed through the highest-in-the-nation minimum wage. Public-benefit authorities (some 230 of them, like UDC) were brought into existence by Rockefeller). They were often used to issue bonds 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 $2.04 billion in 1959-60 to $8.8 billion in his last year 1973-74.

Rockefeller also reformed the governance of New York City's transportation system, creating the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1965. It 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.

Presidential campaigns

Rockefeller was a glad-handler who appeared affable and approachable, and maintained good relationships with the press. He easily won time and again in New York, but he wanted to be president. 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. Goldwater led the right wing of the Republican Party, while Rockefeller represented the liberal Republicans. Personal behavior became an issue (for the first time since the Grover Cleveland scandal of 1884), regarding Rockefeller's divorce and remarriage. Social conservatives were offended not so much because of the divorce as the betrayal of his wife of 32 years. Thus Senator Prescott S. Bush, Republican from Connecticut, denounced the divorce, asking, "Have we come to the point in our life as a nation where the governor of a great state...can desert a good wife, mother of his grown children, divorce her, then persuade the mother of four youngsters to abandon her husband and their four children and marry the governor?" In addition to Prescott's opposition to Rockefeller his George H.W. Bush also opposed Rockefeller, writing that he found "Rockefeller's brand of liberalism" unacceptable and that "under no circumstances will Texas take Nelson Rockefeller".

The birth of Rockefeller's child during the California campaign put the issue in the headlines. After a furious contest, Rockefeller lost the California primary and dropped out of the race.

Rockefeller again sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1968. His opponents were Nixon and Governor Ronald W. Reagan of California. In the contest, Rockefeller again represented the liberals in the GOP, Reagan represented the conservative Goldwater element in the Republican party, and Nixon represented the moderates. Nixon was always clearly the front runner throughout the contest because of his superior organization and he easily defeated both Reagan and Rockefeller.

Vice President of the United States

Following the resignation of Nixon, the new president Gerald Ford nominated Rockefeller to serve as the 41st Vice President of the United States. This was after a long process of considering various candidates. Rockefeller's top competitor was George H.W. Bush, a conservative Goldwater Republican who intensley disliked Rockefeller. Bush had the support of Goldwater. Conservative Republicans were not pleased that Rockefeller was picked, but most of them did vote for his confirmation, although some, such as Goldwater voted against his confirmation (source http://205.188.238.109/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917422,00.html). Rockefeller underwent extended hearings before Congress, which caused considerable embarrassment when it was revealed he made massive gifts to senior aides, such as Henry Kissinger. He paid all his taxes and no illegalities were uncovered and so he was confirmed. Beginning his service on December 19, 1974, he was the second person appointed Vice President 25th Amendment — the first being Ford himself. Rockefeller often complained that Ford gave him little or no power, and few tasks, while he was Vice President. Ford responded to this by putting Rockefeller in charge of his "Whip Inflation Now" initiative. In November 1975, Rockefeller told Ford he wanted off the ticket, 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..." Journalists speculated that Ford, under pressure from the conservatives, decided to drop Rockefeller in favor of the more conservative Robert Dole.

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 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 donate millions of dollars of furnishings to the house.

In 1977, Ford gave Rockefeller the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Personal life

On June 23 1930, Rockefeller married Mary Todhunter Clark. They had five children: Rodman, Anne, Steven, and the twins Michael Rockefeller and Mary. They divorced in 1962. The following year he married Margaretta Fitler "Happy" Murphy. They had two children together: Nelson Jr., and Mark. He remained married to her until his death in 1979.

Art collector

Rockefeller was a noted 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.

Death

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. An ambulance was not summoned for 1-2 hours following the heart attack, as his mistress first called a friend for assistance in hiding their activity, prior to requesting emergency medical assistance. Rockefeller died en route to the hospital. Nelson Rockefeller was cremated at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York, less than 18 hours after his death. Apparently, his ashes were scattered in Lower Manhattan just a few hours after the cremation was completed. The quickness of the process was believed to have been done to prevent an autopsy confirming the cause of death. Investigators looking into the delay in the reporting of his heart attack, also reviewed the circumstances of the timing of his disposal, but no charges were brought as a result.

Assessment

Nelson Rockefeller was a ruthless opportunist. He had no morals. He would do anything to get what he wanted. He would flip flop and change his ideas easily. He was a falgrant womanizer and dumped his first wife for a woman twenty years his junior with whom he had been having an adulterous relationship and died while committing adultery with a staff assisstant. He was an unprincipled liar. He was without a doubt the worst governor that New York ever had. He bankrupted the state's treasury.

Depiction in film

• A young Nelson Rockefeller was depicted in the 1999 period film Cradle Will Rock (played by John Cusack). Rockefeller's command to destroy Diego Rivera's controversial mural Man at the Crossroads is one of the film's major climactic events.
• Edward Norton also played a young Nelson Rockefeller in the 2002 film Frida, which depicts exactly the same mural episode.
• Rockefeller was portrayed by Edward Herrmann in Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995)
• The 1980 TV movie Attica ( based on A Time To Die by journalist Tom Wicker ) portrays the events occurring during the Attica prison riot. Rockefeller is only heard, not seen in this movie. The actor supplying the voice was Walter Edmiston.

Further reading

• Bleecker, Samuel E. The Politics of Architecture: A Perspective on Nelson A. Rockefeller, Rutledge Press, 1981, deals with architecture of state buildings.
• Cobbs, Elizabeth Anne. The Rich Neighbor Policy: Rockefeller and Kaiser in Brazil, Yale University Press, 1992.
• Cobbs, Elizabeth A. "Entrepreneurship as Diplomacy: Nelson Rockefeller and the Development of the Brazilian Capital Market," Business History Review, 1989 63(1): 88-121. Examines NR's Fundo Crescinco, a mutual fund that he started in Brazil in the 1950s to continue FDR's Good Neighbor policy. It reflected both liberal assumptions about the importance of the middle class to economic development and the concerns of business people about placating Latin American nationalism.
• Colby, Gerard & Charlotte Dennett. Thy Will be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil, 1995.
• Connery, Robert H. and Gerald Benjamin. Governing New York State: The Rockefeller Years, 1974, in-depth analysis
• 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). One chapter has analysis by scholars of the 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. in JSTOR
• Perlstein, Rick. Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, 2002. On the 1964 election.
• Persico, Joseph E. The Imperial Rockefeller: A Biography of Nelson A. Rockefeller, New York: Pocket Books, 1982 (The author was a senior aide).
• Reich, Cary. The Life of Nelson A. Rockefeller: Worlds to Conquer, 1908-1958, New York: Doubleday, 1996. {The initial intended Volume 1 of the most comprehensive biography of Nelson ever written, the author had accessed many papers in the Rockefeller Archive Center in his research, but died before he could commence writing Volume 2, crucially covering the rest of his life from 1959 to his death in 1979.}
• James Reichley; Conservatives in an Age of Change: The Nixon and Ford Administrations, Brookings Institution, 1981.
• Rivas, Darlene. Missionary Capitalist: Nelson Rockefeller in Venezuela. U. of North Carolina Press, 2002.
• Straight, Michael. Nancy Hanks, an Intimate Portrait: The Creation of a National Commitment to the Arts. Duke University Press, 1988. She was a top aide (and lover).
• 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.

See also

• Rockefeller Republican
• Henry Kissinger
• Rockefeller family
• David Rockefeller
• Kykuit The Rockefeller family mansion
• Rockefeller Center
• Museum of Modern Art
• Rockefeller Brothers Fund
• Room 5600 - The Rockefeller Family Office
• World Trade Center
• Robert Moses
• J Edgar Hoover
• United Nations
• Gerald Ford
• Richard Nixon
• Franklin D. Roosevelt

External links

• Rockefeller Archive Center: Nelson Rockefeller Contains details on the collection of public and private papers available to researchers at the Center.
• The Rocky Roll An extended portrait by Time Magazine of Nelson campaigning for New York Governor in 1958.

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