Nelson Rockefeller

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 and the 41st Vice President of the United States of America from December 19, 1974 to January 20, 1977.

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: Laurance(1910-2004), David (1915-present), Winthrop (1912-1973), and John III (1906-1978), and one sister: Abby. He attended Dartmouth College and graduated in 1930.

Political career

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'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 Organization and later as an undersecretary in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Gov. Rockefeller meets with President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968

Governor of New York

Rockefeller left federal service in 1956 to concentrate on New York state politics, where he served in various capacities. In 1958, 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 extremely liberal in domestic policies such as spending and civil rights, and Republicans who hold views similar to his are often referred to as "Rockefeller Republicans". Rockefeller was more liberal than even the Democratic Party is today. Indeed, a hard core of conservative New York Republicans viewed him as being so 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 "Å'difice 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 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 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 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.

Rockefeller was a glad-handler who appeared affable and approachable, and maintained good relationships with the press.

Presidential campaigns

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). Goldwater led the right wing of the Republican Party, while Rockefeller represented the liberal Republicans. However, Rockefeller's divorce from his first wife, who was one year his senior, 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 with whom he had been having an adulterous relationship while he was married to his first wife, 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). USA Senator Prescott S. Bush, the father of former USA President George H.W. Bush and the grandfather of current USA President George W. Bush, a Republican from Conneticut who disliked Rockefeller and supported Goldwater, gave a speech at the Rosemary Hall girl's school in Greenwich, Conneticut denouncing his divorce. (Source: http://www.ereader.com/product/book/excerpt/16982) Prescott Bush's son George H.W. Bush also campaigned for Goldwater and against Rockefeller and disliked Rockefeller. George Bush wrote in a letter that was later published in his book All the Best that he found "Nelson Rockefeller's brand of liberalism" unacceptable and that "Under no circumstances will Texas take Nelson Rockefeller". The birth of a child during the campaign put the issue in the headlines. 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 the 1968 Republican nomination to a resurgent Nixon. He was unable to overcome Nixon's superior organization and support by most state parties and Nixon's support for a conservatism that appealed to the Goldwater wing. Rockefeller continued as governor, however.

Vice President of the United States

Following the resignation of President Richard Nixon, successor Gerald Ford nominated Rockefeller to serve as the 41st Vice President of the United States. Conservative Republicans were not pleased but did vote for his confirmation.

Rockefeller underwent a lengthy series of Congressional hearings which caused considerable embarassment when it was revealed he made massive gifts to senior aides, such as Henry Kissinger. No illegalities were uncovered and he 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. 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. Less than a year later however, (on November 3, 1975), he notified 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..." Journalists speculated that Ford, under pressure from the conservatives, decided to abandon 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, Rockefeller received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Personal Life

On June 23 1930 Rockefeller married Mary Todhunter Clark. He and his wife 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 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.

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.

Family wealth

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.

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.

Nelson Rockefeller: Encyclopedia BETA

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