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Nelson Rockefeller

Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky,[1] was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford. A member of the Republican Party and the wealthy Rockefeller family, he previously served as the 49th governor of New York from 1959 to 1973. Rockefeller also served as assistant secretary of State for American Republic Affairs for Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman (1944–1945) as well as under secretary of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) under Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1954. A son of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller as well as a grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller, he was a noted art collector and served as administrator of Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York City.

Nelson Rockefeller
Official portrait, 1975
41st Vice President of the United States
In office
December 19, 1974 – January 20, 1977
PresidentGerald Ford
Preceded byGerald Ford
Succeeded byWalter Mondale
49th Governor of New York
In office
January 1, 1959 – December 18, 1973
LieutenantMalcolm Wilson
Preceded byW. Averell Harriman
Succeeded byMalcolm Wilson
1st Under Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare
In office
June 11, 1953 – December 22, 1954
PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byHerold Christian Hunt
1st Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs
In office
December 20, 1944 – August 17, 1945
President
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded bySpruille Braden
Personal details
Born
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller

(1908-07-08)July 8, 1908
Bar Harbor, Maine, U.S.
DiedJanuary 26, 1979(1979-01-26) (aged 70)
New York City, U.S.
Resting placeRockefeller Family Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, New York, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouses
  • (m. 1930; div. 1962)
  • (m. 1963)
Children7, including Rodman, Steven, Michael, and Mark
Parents
RelativesRockefeller family
EducationDartmouth College (AB)
Signature

Rockefeller was often considered to be liberal, progressive,[2] or moderate. In an agreement that was termed the Treaty of Fifth Avenue, he persuaded Richard Nixon to alter the Republican Party platform just before the 1960 Republican Convention. In his time, liberals in the Republican Party were called "Rockefeller Republicans". As Governor of New York from 1959 to 1973, Rockefeller's achievements included the expansion of the State University of New York (SUNY), efforts to protect the environment, the construction of the Empire State Plaza in Albany, increased facilities and personnel for medical care, and the creation of the New York State Council on the Arts.

After unsuccessfully seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 1960, 1964, and 1968, he was appointed vice president of the United States under President Gerald Ford, who was appointed Vice President by President Richard Nixon after the resignation of Spiro Agnew, and who ascended to the presidency following Nixon's August 1974 resignation. Rockefeller was the second vice president appointed to the position under the 25th Amendment, following Ford himself. Rockefeller did not seek a full term on the 1976 Republican ticket with Ford. He retired from politics in 1977 and died two years later.

As a businessman, Rockefeller was president and later chair of Rockefeller Center, Inc., and he formed the International Basic Economy Corporation in 1947. Rockefeller assembled a significant art collection and promoted public access to the arts. He served as trustee, treasurer, and president of the Museum of Modern Art and founded the Museum of Primitive Art in 1954. In the area of philanthropy, he founded the Rockefeller Brothers Fund in 1940 with his four brothers and established the American International Association for Economic and Social Development in 1946.

Early life and education (1908–1930) edit

Rockefeller was born on July 8, 1908, in Bar Harbor, Maine.[3][4] Named Nelson Aldrich after his maternal grandfather Nelson W. Aldrich,[4] he was the second son and third child of financier and philanthropist John Davison Rockefeller Jr. and philanthropist and socialite Abigail "Abby" Aldrich.[3][4] He had two older siblings—Abby and John III—as well as three younger brothers: Laurance, Winthrop, and David.[5] Their father, John Jr., was the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller and schoolteacher Laura Spelman.[6] Their mother, Abby, was a daughter of Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich and Abigail P. Greene.[7]

Rockefeller grew up in his family's homes in New York City (mainly at 10 West 54th Street), a country home in Pocantico Hills, New York, and a summer home in Seal Harbor, Maine.[5][8] The family also travelled widely.[9] He received his elementary, middle, and high school education at the Lincoln School in Manhattan, an experimental school administered by Teachers College of Columbia University and funded by the Rockefeller family.[5] Nelson was known to disappear on the way to school and was once found exploring the city's sewer system. As a child, he was the "indisputable leader" of his brothers, becoming particularly close to Laurance.[10]

Although his parents saw potential for Nelson to succeed in life, he was a poor student. Generally, in the lower third of his class, he almost failed ninth grade and had undiagnosed dyslexia. Nelson's biographer Joseph E. Persico wrote that as a child he "demonstrated a discipline that throughout life would serve him in lieu of brilliance." Although Nelson was not accepted into Princeton University, he got into Dartmouth College,[10] arriving on campus in 1926.[11] While in college, he met Mary Todhunter Clark at the summer home in Maine, and the two fell in love.[12] They were engaged in autumn 1929.[13] In 1930, he graduated cum laude with an A.B. degree in economics from Dartmouth College, where he was a member of Casque and Gauntlet (a senior society), Phi Beta Kappa, and Psi Upsilon.[14][15][16] Rockefeller and Mary were married after he graduated, on June 23, 1930, at Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.[17]

Early career (1931–1939) edit

Following his graduation, Rockefeller worked in a number of family-related businesses, including Chase National Bank; Rockefeller Center, Inc., joining the board of directors in 1931, serving as president, 1938–1945 and 1948–1951, and as chairman, 1945–1953 and 1956–1958; and Creole Petroleum Corporation, the Venezuelan subsidiary of Standard Oil of New Jersey, 1935–1940.[citation needed]

Rockefeller served as a member of the Westchester County Board of Health from 1933 to 1953.[18] His service with Creole Petroleum led to his deep, lifelong interest in Latin America and he became fluent in the Spanish language.[19]

Mid-career (1940–1958) edit

Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (CIAA) edit

 
Nelson Rockefeller, Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (1940)

In 1940, after he expressed his concern to President Franklin D. Roosevelt over Nazi influence in Latin America, the President appointed Rockfeller to the new position of Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (CIAA) in the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (OCIAA).[20] Rockefeller was charged with overseeing a program of U.S. cooperation with the nations of Latin America to help raise the standard of living, to achieve better relations among the nations of the western hemisphere, and to counter rising Nazi influence in the region.[21] He facilitated this form of cultural diplomacy by collaborating with the director of Latin American Relations at the CBS radio network Edmund A. Chester.[22]

 
Rockefeller (right) with Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas in 1942

The Roosevelt administration encouraged Hollywood to produce films to encourage positive relations with Latin America.[23] Rockefeller required changes in the movie Down Argentine Way (1940) because it was considered offensive to Argentines. It was much more popular in the United States than in Latin America. Charlie Chaplin's satirical The Great Dictator (1940) was banned in several countries.[24]

In the spring of 1943, Rockefeller supported extensive negotiations and mission of North American members of the Junior Chamber of Commerce to Latin America as Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs of the US State Department, establishing the Junior Chamber International after its first Inter-American Congress in December 1944 at Mexico City. After coming back from the Inter-American Congress, Rockefeller convinced his father, John D. Rockefeller Jr., to donate the land to the city of New York to build the foundations of what would later become the United Nations Headquarters.[25][26]

Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs edit

In 1944, President Roosevelt appointed Rockefeller Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs. As assistant secretary of state, he initiated the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace in 1945. The conference produced the Act of Chapultepec, which provided the framework for economic, social and defense cooperation among the nations of the Americas and set the principle that an attack on one of these nations would be regarded as an attack on all and jointly resisted. Rockefeller signed the Act on behalf of the United States.[27]

Rockefeller was a member of the U.S. delegation at the United Nations Conference on International Organization at San Francisco in 1945; this gathering marked the UN's founding. At the Conference there was considerable opposition to the idea of permitting, within the UN charter, the formation of regional pacts such as the Act of Chapultepec. Rockefeller, who believed that the inclusion was essential, especially to U.S. policy in Latin America, successfully urged the need for regional pacts within the framework of the UN.[28] Rockefeller was also instrumental in persuading the UN to establish its headquarters in New York City.[25]

 
Nelson Rockefeller, Under Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, makes a presentation on a proposed public/private health reinsurance program, 1954.

President Truman fired Rockefeller,[29] reversed his policies, and shut down the OCIAA.[30] Reich says that in official Washington, Rockefeller had become "a discredited figure, a pariah." He returned to New York.[31]

International Basic Economy Corporation (IBEC) edit

Rockefeller formed the International Basic Economy Corporation (IBEC) in 1947 to jointly continue the work he had begun as Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. He intermittently served as president through 1958. IBEC was a for-profit business that established companies that would stimulate underdeveloped economies of certain countries. It was hoped that the success of these companies would encourage investors in those countries to set up competing or supporting businesses and further stimulate the local economy.[32] Rockefeller established model farms in Venezuela, Ecuador, and Brazil. He maintained a home at Monte Sacro, the farm in Venezuela.[33]

Chairman of the International Development Advisory Board edit

Rockefeller returned to public service in 1950 when President Harry S. Truman appointed him chairman of the International Development Advisory Board.[34] The Board was charged with developing a plan for implementing the President's Point IV program of providing foreign technical assistance. In 1952 President-Elect Dwight D. Eisenhower asked Rockefeller to chair the President's Advisory Committee on Government Organization to recommend ways of improving efficiency and effectiveness of the executive branch of the federal government. Rockefeller recommended thirteen reorganization plans, all of which were implemented. The plans implemented organizational changes in the Department of Defense, the Office of Defense Mobilization and the Department of Agriculture. His recommendations also led to the creation of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Rockefeller was appointed Under-Secretary of this new department in 1953. Rockefeller was active in HEW's legislative program and implemented measures that added ten million people under the Social Security program.[35]

Special assistant to the president for foreign affairs edit

In 1954, he was appointed special assistant to the president for foreign affairs (sometimes referred to as special assistant to the president for psychological warfare). He was tasked with providing the president with advice and assistance in developing programs by which the various departments of the government could counter Soviet foreign policy challenges. As part of this responsibility, he was named as the president's representative on the Operations Coordinating Board, a committee of the National Security Council. The other members were the Undersecretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the director of the Foreign Operations Administration, and the Central Intelligence Agency director. The OCB's purpose was to oversee coordinated execution of security policy and plans, including clandestine operations.[36]

Rockefeller broadly interpreted his directive and became an advocate for foreign economic aid as indispensable to national security. Most of Rockefeller's initiatives were blocked by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and his Under Secretary, Herbert Hoover Jr., both traditionalists who resented what they perceived as outside interference from Rockefeller,[37] and by Treasury Secretary George M. Humphrey for financial reasons.[38] However, in June 1955 Rockefeller convened a week-long meeting of experts from various disciplines to assess the U.S. position in the psychological aspects of the Cold War and develop proposals that could give the U.S. the initiative at the upcoming Summit Conference in Geneva. The meeting was held at the Marine Corps school at Quantico, Virginia, and became known as the Quantico Study. The Quantico panel developed a proposal called "open skies" wherein the U.S. and the Soviet Union would exchange blueprints of military installations and agree to mutual aerial reconnaissance. Thus, military buildups would be revealed, and the danger of surprise attacks minimized. It was a counter proposal to the Soviet proposal of universal disarmament. The feeling was that the Soviets could not refuse the proposal if they were serious about disarmament.[39]

In March 1955, Rockefeller proposed the creation of the Planning Coordination Group, a small high-level group that would plan and develop national security operations, both overt and covert.[40] The group consisted of the Undersecretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the director the CIA, and special assistant Rockefeller as chairman. The group's purpose was to oversee CIA operation and other anti-communist actions. However, State Department officials and CIA Director Allen Dulles refused to cooperate with the group and its initiatives were stymied or ignored.[41] In September Rockefeller recommended the abolishment of the PCG, and in December he resigned as special assistant to the president.

 
Vice President Rockefeller (right) with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, January 3, 1975.

In 1956, he created the Special Studies Project, a major seven-panel planning group directed by Henry Kissinger and funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, of which he was then president. It was an ambitious study created to define the central problems and opportunities facing the U.S. in the future, and to clarify national purposes and objectives. The reports were published individually as they were released and were republished together in 1961 as Prospect for America: The Rockefeller Panel Reports.[42]

The Special Studies Project came into national prominence with the early release of its military subpanel's report, whose principal recommendation was a massive military buildup to counter a then-perceived military superiority threat posed by the USSR. The report was released two months after the October 1957 launch of Sputnik, and its recommendations were fully endorsed by Eisenhower in his January 1958 State of the Union address.[43]

This initial contact with Kissinger was to develop into a lifelong relationship; Kissinger was later to be described as his closest intellectual associate. From this period Rockefeller employed Kissinger as a personally funded part-time consultant, principally on foreign policy issues, until the appointment to his staff became full-time in late 1968. In 1969, when Kissinger entered Richard Nixon's administration, Rockefeller paid him $50,000 as a severance payment.[44]

Governor of New York (1959–1973) edit

 
Governor Rockefeller meets with President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968

Rockefeller resigned from the federal government in 1956 to focus on New York State and on national politics.[45] From September 1956 to April 1958, he chaired the Temporary State Commission on the Constitutional Convention.[46] That was followed by his chairmanship of the Special Legislative Committee on the Revision and Simplification of the Constitution.[46] In the state election of 1958, he was elected governor of New York by over 570,000 votes, defeating incumbent W. Averell Harriman, even though 1958 was a banner year for Democrats elsewhere in the nation.[47] Rockefeller was re-elected in the three subsequent elections in 1962, 1966 and 1970, increasing the state's role in education, environmental protection, transportation, housing, welfare, medical aid, civil rights, and the arts. To pay for the increased government spending, Rockefeller increased taxation - for example, a sales tax was introduced in New York in 1965.[19] He resigned three years into his fourth term and began to work at the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans.[48]

Abortion edit

Rockefeller supported reform of New York's abortion laws beginning around 1968. The proposals supported by his administration would not have repealed the long-standing prohibition but would have expanded the exceptions allowed for the protection of the mother's health, or in circumstances of fetal abnormality. The reform bills did not pass. However, when an outright repeal of the prohibition managed to pass in 1970, Rockefeller signed it. In 1972, he vetoed another bill that would have restored the abortion ban. He said in his 1972 veto message, "I do not believe it right for one group to impose its vision of morality on an entire society."[49]

Arts and culture edit

Rockefeller created the first State Council on the Arts in the country, which became a model for the National Endowment for the Arts. He also oversaw the construction of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Spa State Park.[50] He supported the bill, enacted in June 1966, which acquired Olana, home of Hudson River School artist Frederic Edwin Church, as a state historic site.[51]

Buildings and public works edit

Rockefeller engaged in massive building projects that left a profound mark on the state of New York. (Some of his detractors claimed that he had an "Edifice Complex.")[52] He was personally interested in the planning, design, and construction of the many projects initiated during his administration, consistent with his interest in architecture. In addition, Rockefeller's construction programs included the US$2 billion South Mall in Albany, later renamed the Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza by Gov. Hugh Carey in 1978. It is a 98-acre (40 ha) campus of skyscrapers housing state offices and public plazas punctuated by an egg-shaped arts center. Along with the Empire State Plaza, in 1966 Rockefeller proposed the construction of the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building in Harlem. The building was ultimately completed in 1973. While in office he supported the construction of the World Trade Center.[53]

Civil rights edit

Rockefeller achieved virtual total prohibition of discrimination in housing and places of public accommodation. He outlawed job discrimination based on sex or age; increased by nearly 50% the number of African Americans and Hispanics holding state jobs; appointed women to head the largest number of state agencies in state history; prohibited discrimination against women in education, employment, housing and credit applications; admitted the first women to the State Police; initiated affirmative action programs for women in state government; and backed New York's ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He outlawed "block-busting" as a means of artificially depressing housing values and banned discrimination in the sale of all forms of insurance.[54]

Commission on Critical Choices for Americans edit

 
Rockefeller addresses a February 1975 meeting of the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans

In 1973, Rockefeller worked with former Delaware Governor Russell W. Peterson to establish the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans.[55] The commission was a private study project on national and international policy similar to the Special Studies Project he led 15 years earlier.[56] It was made up of a nationally representative, bipartisan group of 42 prominent Americans drawn from far-ranging fields of interest who served on a voluntary basis. Members included the majority and minority leaders of both houses of Congress.

Rockefeller resigned as New York's governor in December 1973 in order to devote himself full-time to the commission's work as its chairman.[56] He continued in that position after being sworn in as vice president, serving until February 28, 1975.[57]

Conservation edit

Consistent with his personal interest in design and planning, Rockefeller began expansion of the New York State Parks system and improvement of park facilities. He persuaded voters to approve three major bond acts to raise more than $300 million for acquisition of park and forest preserve land[58] and he built or started 55 new state parks.[59] Rockefeller initiated studies of environmental issues, such as loss of agricultural land through development—an issue now characterized as "sprawl." In September 1968, Rockefeller appointed the Temporary Study Commission on the Future of the Adirondacks. This led to his introduction to the Legislature in 1971 of a bill to create the controversial Adirondack Park Agency,[60] which was designed to protect the Adirondack State Park from encroaching development. Also, he launched the Pure Waters Program, the first state bond issue to end water pollution; created the Department of Environmental Conservation; banned DDT and other pesticides; and established the Office of Parks and Recreation.[61]

Crime edit

During his 15 years as governor, Rockefeller doubled the size of the state police, established the New York State Police Academy, adopted the "stop and frisk" and "no-knock" laws to strengthen police powers, and authorized 228 additional state judgeships to reduce court congestion.[62] New York was the last state to have a mandatory death penalty for premeditated first degree murder. In 1963 Rockefeller signed legislation abandoning that and establishing a two-stage trial for murder cases with punishment determined in the second stage.[63] Rockefeller was a supporter of capital punishment and oversaw 14 executions by electrocution as governor.[64] The last execution, of Eddie Mays in 1963, remains to date the last execution in New York and was the last execution before Furman v. Georgia in the Northeast.[65] However, despite his personal support for capital punishment, Rockefeller signed a bill in 1965 to abolish the death penalty except in cases involving the murder of police officers.[66]

Rockefeller was also a supporter of the "law and order" platform.[67]

Attica prison riot edit

On September 9, 1971, prisoners at the state penitentiary at Attica, NY, took control of a cell block and seized thirty-nine correctional officers as hostages. After four days of negotiations, Department of Correctional Services Commissioner Russell Oswald agreed to most of the inmates' demands for various reforms but refused to grant complete amnesty to the rioters, with passage out of the country and removal of the prison's superintendent. When negotiations stalled and the hostages appeared to be in imminent danger, Rockefeller ordered New York State Police and national guard troops to restore order and take back the prison on September 13. Thirty-nine people died in the assault, including ten of the hostages, nine of whom were killed by the State Police and National Guard soldiers. An additional eighty people were wounded in what was called "a turkey shoot" by state prosecutor Malcolm Bell.[68]

A later investigation showed all but three of the deaths were caused by the gunfire of the National Guard and police. The other three were inmates killed by other inmates at the beginning of the riot. Opponents blamed Rockefeller for these deaths in part because of his refusal to go to the prison and negotiate with the inmates, 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. "I was trying to do the best I could to save the hostages, save the prisoners, restore order, and preserve our system without undertaking actions which could set a precedent which would go across this country like wildfire," Rockefeller later said.[69]

In a telephone call with President Nixon, Rockefeller explained the deaths by saying "that's life."[70]

Drugs edit

What became known as the "Rockefeller drug laws" were a product of Rockefeller's attempt to deal with the rapid increase in narcotics addiction and related crime. In 1962, he proposed a program of voluntary rehabilitation for addicted convicts rather than prison time. This was approved by the legislature, but by 1966 it was evident that this program was not working, as most addicts chose short prison terms rather than three years of treatment. Rockefeller then turned to a program of compulsory treatment, rehabilitation, and aftercare for three years. While this program saw success in rehabilitating addicts, it did little to reduce the narcotics trade and associated crime. Rockefeller was also frustrated by his belief that the federal government was not doing anything significant to address the problem. Feeling that existing laws and the way they were being implemented did not solve the problem of the "drug pusher", and pressured by voters angry about the drug problem, Rockefeller proposed a hard-line approach. As approved by the legislature in 1973, the new drug laws included mandatory life sentences without the possibility of plea-bargaining or parole for all drug users, dealers, and those convicted of drug-related violent crimes; a $1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of drug pushers; and removing less harsh penalties for youthful offenders. Public support for the measures was mixed, as were the results. They did not lead more addicts to seek rehabilitation as hoped, and ultimately did not solve the problem of drug trafficking. These were among the toughest drug laws in the United States when they were enacted and are still on the books, albeit in moderated form.[71] To carry out the rehabilitation program, Rockefeller created the State Narcotics Addiction Control Commission (later the State Drug Abuse Control Commission.) New York also provided the financial support for research in methadone maintenance and the administration of the largest methadone maintenance program in the US.[62]

Education edit

Rockefeller was the driving force in turning the State University of New York into the largest system of public higher education in the United States. Under his governorship it grew from 29 campuses and 38,000 full-time students to 72 campuses and 232,000 full-time students. Rockefeller championed the acquisition of the private University of Buffalo into the SUNY system, making the State University of New York at Buffalo, now the largest public university in New York.[72][73] In 1971, he championed the creation of Empire State College to provide higher education to adults by removing impediments to access such as time, location, and institutional processes.

Other accomplishments included more than quadrupling state aid to primary and secondary schools; providing the first state financial support for educational television; and requiring special education for children with disabilities in public schools.[74]

Housing edit

To create more low-income housing, Rockefeller created the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC), with unprecedented powers to override local zoning, condemn property, and create financing schemes to carry out desired development. The financing involved the creation of a new sort of bond—what came to be called "moral obligation" bonds. They were not backed by the full faith and credit of the State, but the quasi-public arrangements were meant to, and did, convey the impression that the State would not let them fail. Rockefeller is criticized in some quarters for having contributed to the "Too Big To Fail" phenomenon in U.S. finance in general.[75] (UDC is now called the Empire State Development Corporation.) By 1973, the Rockefeller administration had completed or started over 88,000 units of housing for limited income families and the aging.[76]

Miscellaneous programs edit

 
Rockefeller with labor leader David Dubinsky, Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr., and Cardinal Spellman at the 1959 Labor Day Parade in New York City

Rockefeller worked with the legislature and unions to create generous pension programs for many public workers, such as teachers, professors, firefighters, police officers, and prison guards. He proposed the first statewide minimum wage law in the U.S. which was increased five times during his administration. Additional accomplishments of Rockefeller's fifteen years as governor of New York include initiating the state lottery and off-track betting; adopting modern treatment techniques in state mental hospitals to reduce the number of mentally ill patients by over 50%; creating the State Office of the Aging and constructing nearly 12,000 units of housing for the aging; the first mandatory seatbelt law in the US; and creating the State Consumer Protection Board.[77]

National Commission on Water Quality edit

In May 1973, President Richard Nixon appointed Rockefeller chairman of the National Commission on Water Quality. The commission was charged with determining the technological, economic, social and environmental implications of meeting water quality standards mandated by the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972. The commission issued its report in March 1976 and he testified before Congress on its findings.

Presidential Mission to Latin America edit

On February 17, 1969, President Nixon commissioned a study to assess the state of Latin America. Nixon appointed Rockefeller to direct the study. The poor relationship between the two politicians suggested that Nixon would not be that interested in the results of the study. There was a lack of interest for the region in the late 1960s to early 1970s.[78]

In April and May 1969, at the request of President Nixon, Rockefeller and a team of 23 advisors visited 20 American republics during four trips to solicit opinions of U.S. inter-American policies and to determine the needs and conditions of each country. Most of the trips turned out to be an embarrassment. Among the recommendations in Rockefeller's report to the President were preferential trade agreements with Latin American countries, refinancing the region's foreign debt, and removing bureaucratic impediments that prevented the efficient use of U.S. aid. The Nixon administration did little to implement the report's recommendations.[79] In his report preface, Rockefeller wrote the following:

There is general frustration over the failure to achieve a more rapid improvement in standards of living. The United States, because of its identification with the failure of the Alliance for Progress to live up to expectations, is blamed. People in the countries concerned also used our visit as an opportunity to demonstrate their frustrations with the failure of their own governments to meet their needs ... demonstrations that began over grievances were taken over and exacerbated by anti-US and subversive elements which sought to weaken the United States, and their own governments in the process.[78]

A major part of the Rockefeller report suggested a reduction of U.S. involvement, "we, in the United States, cannot determine the internal political structure of any other nation". Because there was little the United States should or could do toward changing the political atmosphere in other countries, there was no reason to attempt to use economic aid as a political tool. This was the justification to reduce economic aid in Latin America. The Rockefeller report called for some aid to continue, but the report recommended creating more effective aid programs.[78]

Transportation edit

In 1967 Rockefeller won approval of the largest state bond issue at the time ($2.5 billion) for the coordinated development of mass transportation, highways and airports. He initiated the creation or expansion of over 22,000 miles (35,000 km) of highway[80] including the Long Island Expressway, the Southern Tier Expressway, the Adirondack Northway, and Interstate 81 which vastly improved road transportation in the state of New York. Rockefeller introduced the state's first support for mass transportation. He reformed the governance of New York City's transportation system, creating the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in 1965. The MTA merged the New York City subway system with the publicly owned Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, the Long Island Rail Road, Staten Island Rapid Transit, and operation of lines that would later become Metro-North Railroad, along with the newly created MTA Bus Company, which were purchased by the state from private owners in a massive public bailout of bankrupt railroads and struggling private bus companies located in Queens, NY. He also created the State Department of Transportation.

In taking over control of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, Rockefeller shifted power away from Robert Moses, and in doing so became the first politician to win such a battle with the master builder Moses in decades. 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, now went to support mass transportation operations, thus shifting costs from general state funds to the motorist. In one controversial move, Rockefeller abandoned one of Moses's most desired projects, a Long Island Sound bridge from Rye to Oyster Bay, in 1973 due to environmental opposition.

Welfare and Medicaid edit

In the area of public assistance the Rockefeller administration carried out the largest state medical care program for the needy in the United States under Medicaid; achieved the first major decline in New York State's welfare rolls since World War II; required employable welfare recipients to take available jobs or job training; began the state breakfast program for children in low income areas; and established the first state loan fund for nonprofit groups to start day-care centers.[80]

A supporter of universal healthcare, Rockefeller served as consultant for Senator Jacob Javits' "Medicare for All" bill that would expand benefits to every American. Rockefeller described universal healthcare as the wave of the future and as a human right.[81][82][83]

Presidential campaigns edit

Rockefeller sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1960, 1964, and 1968.

1960 edit

His bid in the 1960 primary ended early when then-Vice President Richard Nixon surged ahead in the polls. After quitting the campaign, Rockefeller backed Nixon and concentrated his efforts on introducing more moderate planks into Nixon's platform, partially succeeding in the Treaty of Fifth Avenue.

1964 edit

Rockefeller, as the leader of the Republicans' "Eastern Establishment," began as the front-runner for the 1964 nomination against conservative Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, who led the conservative wing of the Republican Party.[84][85] In 1963, a year after Rockefeller's divorce from his first wife, he married Margaretta "Happy" Murphy, a divorcee with four children, which alienated many Republican married women. The divorce was widely condemned by politicians, such as liberal Senator Prescott Bush of Connecticut, who condemned his infidelity, divorce, and remarriage. Rockefeller finished third in the New Hampshire primary in March, behind write-in Henry Cabot Lodge II (from neighboring Massachusetts) and Goldwater. He then endured poor showings in several more of the party primaries before winning an upset in Oregon in May. Rockefeller took a strong lead in the California primary, and his team seemed so assured of his victory that it cut advertising funds in the last days of his campaign. However, the birth of Rockefeller's child three days before the California primary put the divorce and remarriage issue back in the minds of voters, and on primary election day, Rockefeller narrowly lost the California primary and dropped out of the race. At a discouraging point in the 1964 California primary campaign against Goldwater, his top political aide Stuart Spencer called on Rockefeller to "summon that fabled nexus of money, influence, and condescension known as the Eastern Establishment. 'You are looking at it, buddy,' Rockefeller told Spencer, 'I am all that is left.'".[86] Rockefeller exaggerated, but the collapse of his wing of the party was underway.[87]

However, at the Republican National Convention in San Francisco in July, Rockefeller was given five minutes to speak before the convention in defense of five amendments to the party platform put forth by the moderate wing of the Republican Party[88] to counter the Goldwater plank. He was booed and heckled for sixteen minutes while he stood firmly at the podium insisting on his right to speak.[89] However, Goldwater supporters claimed that the booing was from not the convention floor but the gallery. Rockefeller was reluctant to support Goldwater in the general election.[90]

Rockefeller's stump speeches often used the phrase "the brotherhood of man, under the fatherhood of God"; reporters covering his campaign came to abbreviate the expression as BOMFOG.[91]

 
Rockefeller campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968

1968 edit

Rockefeller again sought the presidential nomination in the 1968 primaries. His opponents were Nixon and Governor Ronald Reagan of California. In the contest, Rockefeller again represented the liberals, Reagan representing the conservatives, and Nixon representing moderates and conservatives. Shortly before the Republican convention, Rockefeller finally let it be known that he was available to be the nominee, and he sought to round up uncommitted delegates and woo reluctant Nixon delegates to his banner, armed with public opinion polls that showed him doing better among voters than either Nixon or Reagan against Democrat Hubert Humphrey. Despite Rockefeller's efforts, Nixon won the nomination on the first ballot.[92]

 
Rockefeller (front row, 5th from left) at the 1976 Republican National Convention along with (left to right) Robert Dole, Nancy Reagan, Ronald Reagan, President Gerald Ford, Susan Ford and Betty Ford.

Humphrey revealed in 1976 that he tried to convince Rockefeller to be his running mate in the Democratic ticket in 1968, but the latter refused to switch parties.[93]

Vice presidency (1974–1977) edit

Upon President Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974, Vice President Gerald Ford assumed the presidency. On August 20, Ford nominated Rockefeller to be the next vice president of the United States. In considering potential nominees, Rockefeller was one of three primary candidates. The other two were then-United States Ambassador to NATO Donald Rumsfeld, whom Ford eventually chose as his chief of staff and later secretary of defense, and then-Republican National Committee chairman George H. W. Bush, who would eventually become vice president in his own right for two terms and president for one term.[94] While acknowledging that many conservatives opposed Rockefeller, Ford believed he would bring executive expertise to the administration and broaden the ticket's appeal if they ran in 1976, given Rockefeller's ability to attract support from constituencies that did not typically support Republicans, including organized labor, African Americans, Hispanics, and city dwellers. Ford also felt he could demonstrate his own self-confidence by selecting a strong personality like Rockefeller for the number two spot.[95] Although he had said he was "just not built for standby equipment",[96] Rockefeller accepted the President's request to serve as vice president:

It was entirely a question of there being a Constitutional crisis and a crisis of confidence on the part of the American people. ... I felt there was a duty incumbent on any American who could do anything that would contribute to a restoration of confidence in the democratic process and in the integrity of government.

Rockefeller was also persuaded by Ford's promise to make him "a full partner" in his presidency, especially in domestic policy.[97]

Rockefeller underwent extended hearings before Congress, suffering embarrassment when it was revealed he made massive gifts to senior aides, such as Henry Kissinger, and used his personal fortune to finance a scurrilous biography of political opponent Arthur Goldberg.[98] He had also taken debatable deductions on his federal income taxes, and ultimately agreed to pay nearly one million dollars to settle the issue, but no illegalities were uncovered, and he was confirmed. Although conservative Republicans were not pleased that Rockefeller was picked, most of them voted for his confirmation anyway; nevertheless, a minority bloc (including Barry Goldwater, Jesse Helms and Trent Lott) voted against him.[99] Many conservative groups campaigned against Rockefeller's nomination, including the National Right to Life Committee, the American Conservative Union, and others. The New York Conservative Party also opposed his confirmation, despite the fact that its only elected member of the U.S. Congress then, James L. Buckley, supported him.[100] On the left, Americans for Democratic Action opposed Rockefeller's confirmation because it said his wealth posed too much of a conflict of interest.[101]

The Senate had given its approval December 10, 1974, 90 to 7. The House confirmed his nomination 287 to 128 on December 19.[102] Beginning his service upon taking the oath of office on December 19, Rockefeller was the second person appointed vice president under the 25th Amendment—the first being Ford himself. Rockefeller often seemed concerned that Ford gave him little or no power, and few tasks, while he was vice president. Ford initially said he wanted Rockefeller to chair the Domestic Policy Council, but Ford's new White House staff had no intention of sharing power with the vice president and his staff.[103]

 
Vice President Rockefeller (right) and his wife Happy (second on left) entertain President Gerald R. Ford (left) his wife Betty (second on right) and their daughter Susan (center) at Number One Observatory Circle on September 7, 1975.

Rockefeller's attempt to take charge of domestic policy was thwarted by Chief of Staff Rumsfeld, who objected to policy makers reporting to the president through the vice president. When Rockefeller had one of his former aides, James Cannon, appointed executive director of the Domestic Council, Rumsfeld cut its budget. Rockefeller was excluded from the decision-making process on many important issues. When he learned that Ford had proposed cuts in federal taxes and spending, he responded: "This is the most important move the president has made, and I wasn't even consulted."[104] However, Ford appointed him to the Commission on the Organization of Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy, and appointed him Chairman of the Commission on CIA Activities within the United States, the National Commission on Productivity, the Federal Compensation Committee, and the Committee on the Right to Privacy.

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 residence of the Chief of Naval Operations. Previous vice presidents had been responsible for maintaining their own homes at their own expense, but the necessity of full-time Secret Service security had made this custom impractical. Rockefeller already had a well-secured Washington residence and never lived in the home as a principal residence.

Rockefeller was slow to make use of Air Force Two, the official vice-presidential aircraft. Instead, he continued to use his own Gulfstream (which had the callsign Executive Two as a private aircraft). Rockefeller felt he was saving taxpayer money this way. Finally, the Secret Service convinced him it was costing more to fly agents around separately for his protective detail than it would for him to travel on Air Force Two with them.[105]

1976 election edit

With the moderate Ford facing continued difficulty in securing the support of conservative Republicans for the 1976 presidential nomination and anticipating a challenge from the conservative Ronald Reagan, he considered the possibility of another running mate, and discussed it with Rockefeller. In November 1975, Rockefeller offered to withdraw. Ford eventually concurred, and in explaining his decision Rockefeller said 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 ..."[106][107]

After Ford was nominated at the 1976 Republican National Convention, Reagan, Barry Goldwater, and other prominent conservatives conditioned their support for Ford on his selection of a suitable vice-presidential nominee.

Ford is the most recent incumbent president to not choose his incumbent vice president as his running mate. Ford later said not choosing Rockefeller was one of his biggest mistakes,[108] and "one of the few cowardly things I did in my life."[109]

Rockefeller campaigned actively for the Republican ticket in 1976.

In what would become an iconic photo of the 1976 campaign, Rockefeller appeared to be responding to hecklers at a rally in Binghamton, New York, with a raised middle finger.[110] Rockefeller's former "right hand man" Malcolm Wilson told reporter Richard Zander that Rockefeller "just got his fingers mixed up" while signaling somebody.[111] While political observers scoffed at that explanation, it may have been true: Rockefeller had dyslexia and was known to favor his middle finger, signing his signature with a pen held between his index and middle fingers. When Rockefeller's camp saw that the obscene gesture story was popular to many Republicans, they stopped denying that that had been his intent. "At the time, Rockefeller's finger flashing was scandalous. Writing about the moment 20 years later, Michael Oricchio of the San Jose Mercury News said the action became known euphemistically as 'the Rockefeller gesture'."[110]

The 1976 presidential campaign ended with Ford losing to Jimmy Carter.

Political ideology edit

Reflecting his interdisciplinary approach to problem solving, Rockefeller took a pragmatic approach to governing. In their book Rockefeller of New York: Executive Power in the State House, Robert Connery and Gerald Benjamin state, "Rockefeller was not committed to any ideology. Rather, he considered himself a practical problem solver, much more interested in defining problems and finding solutions around which he could unite support sufficient to ensure their enactment in legislation than in following either a strictly liberal or strictly conservative course. Rockefeller's programs did not consistently follow either liberal or conservative ideology." Early fiscal policies were conservative while later ones were not so. In the later years of his administration "conservative decisions on social programs were paralleled by liberal ones on environmental issues."[112]Rockefeller was opposed by conservatives in the GOP such as Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan because of his liberal political views. Described as a big spender by historian Geoffrey Kabaservice, Rockefeller spent more money as governor of New York than his Republican predecessor Thomas E. Dewey, who was more fiscally conservative.[113][114] Rockefeller expanded the state's infrastructure, increased spending on education including a massive expansion of the State University of New York and increased the state's involvement in environmental issues.

In foreign affairs, Rockefeller supported U.S. involvement in the United Nations as well as U.S. foreign aid. He also supported the U.S.'s fight against communism and its membership in NATO. As a result of Rockefeller's policies, some conservatives sought to gain leverage by creating the Conservative Party of New York. The small party acted as a minor counterweight to the Liberal Party of New York.[115] The most common criticism of Rockefeller's governorship of New York is that he tried to do too much too fast, vastly increasing the level of state debt which later contributed to New York's fiscal crisis in 1975.[116] Rockefeller created some 230 public-benefit authorities like the Urban Development Corporation. 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 1959–1960 to $8.8 billion in his last year, 1973–1974. "Rockefeller sought and obtained eight tax increases during his fifteen years in office."[117] "During his administration, the tax burden rose to a higher level than in any other state, and the incidence of taxation shifted, with a greater share being borne by the individual taxpayer."[118]

Philanthropy and art patronage edit

Rockefeller served as Chairman of Rockefeller Center, Inc., (1945–1953 and 1956–1958) and began a program of physical expansion there. He and his four brothers established the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a philanthropy, in 1940; he served as a trustee from 1940–1975 and 1977–1979 and as president in 1956. He established the American International Association for Economic and Social Development (AIA) in 1946. AIA was a philanthropy for the dissemination of technical and managerial expertise and equipment to underdeveloped countries to support grass-roots efforts in overcoming illiteracy, disease and poverty.[119]

Rockefeller served as a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art from 1932 to 1979. He also served as treasurer, 1935–1939, and president, 1939–1941 and 1946–1953. In 1933 Rockefeller was a member of the committee selecting art for the new Rockefeller Center. For the wall opposite the main entrance of 30 Rockefeller Plaza Nelson Rockefeller wanted Henri Matisse or Pablo Picasso to paint a mural because he favored their modern style, but neither was available. Diego Rivera was one of Nelson Rockefeller's mother's favorite artists and therefore was commissioned to create the huge mural. He was given a theme: New Frontiers. Rockefeller wanted the painting to make people pause and think. Rivera submitted a sketch for a mural entitled Man at the Crossroads Looking with Hope and High Vision to the Choosing of a New and Better Future. The sketch featured an anonymous man at the center. However, when it was painted the work caused great controversy due to the inclusion of a painting of Lenin (depicting communism) just off-center.[120] The Directors of Rockefeller Center objected and Rockefeller asked Rivera to change the face of Lenin to that of an unknown laborer's face as was originally intended, but the painter refused.

The work was paid for on May 22, 1933, and immediately draped. Rockefeller suggested that the fresco could be donated to the Museum of Modern Art, but the trustees of the museum were not interested.[121] People protested but it remained covered until the early weeks of 1934, when it was smashed by workers and hauled away in wheelbarrows. Rivera responded by saying that it was "cultural vandalism". At Rockefeller Center in its place is a mural by Jose Maria Sert which includes an image of Abraham Lincoln. The Rockefeller-Rivera dispute is covered in the films Cradle Will Rock and Frida.

Rockefeller was a noted collector of both modern and non-Western art. During his governorship, New York State acquired major works of art for the new Empire State Plaza in Albany. He continued his mother's work at the Museum of Modern Art as president and turned the basement of his Kykuit mansion into a gallery while placing works of sculpture around the grounds (an activity he enjoyed personally supervising, frequently moving the pieces from place to place by helicopter). While he was overseeing construction of the State University of New York system, Rockefeller built, in collaboration with his lifelong friend Roy Neuberger, the Philip Johnson-designed Neuberger Museum on the campus of the State University of New York at Purchase.

He commissioned Master Santiago Martínez Delgado to make a canvas mural for the Bank of New York (City Bank) in Bogotá, Colombia; this ended up being the last work of the artist, as he died while finishing it.

Rockefeller's early visits to Mexico kindled a collecting interest in pre-Columbian and contemporary Mexican art, to which he added works of traditional African and Pacific Island art. In 1954 he established the Museum of Primitive Art devoted to the indigenous art of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and early Asia and Europe. His personal collection formed the core of the collection. "In 1956, Frederic Huntington Douglas was named honorary Curator of the American Indian section of the Nelson Rockefeller Museum of Native Arts in New York."[122] The museum opened to the public in 1957 in a townhouse at 15 West 54th Street in New York City. In 1969 he gave the museum's collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where it became the Michael C. Rockefeller Collection.

In 1978, Alfred A. Knopf published a book on primitive art from Rockefeller's collection. Rockefeller, impressed with the work of photographer Lee Boltin and editor/publisher Paul Anbinder on the book, co-founded Nelson Rockefeller Publications, Inc. with them, with the goal of publishing fine art books of high quality. After Rockefeller's death less than a year later, the company continued as Hudson Hills Press, Inc.

In 1977 he founded Nelson Rockefeller Collection, Inc., (NRC) an art reproduction company that produced and sold licensed reproductions of selected works from Rockefeller's collection. In the introduction to the NRC catalog, he stated he was motivated by his desire to share with others "the joy of living with these beautiful objects."

Personal life edit

On June 23, 1930, Rockefeller married Mary Todhunter Clark.[17] They had five children: Rodman Clark Rockefeller, Ann Rockefeller, Steven Clark Rockefeller, and twins Michael Clark Rockefeller and Mary Rockefeller. Michael Rockefeller disappeared in New Guinea in November 1961. He is presumed to have drowned while trying to swim to shore after his dugout canoe capsized.

Nelson and Mary Rockefeller were divorced in 1962. On May 4, 1963, Rockefeller married Margaretta Large "Happy" Fitler. They had two sons together: Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller Jr. and Mark Fitler Rockefeller.

With his first wife, Rockefeller had lived at the three top floors at 810 Fifth Avenue. After his divorce and second marriage, Mary Rockefeller kept the two top floors of the triplex apartment.[123] The apartment was expanded by purchasing a floor of 812 Fifth Avenue. The two spaces connected via a flight of six steps.[124] Nelson and Happy Rockefeller used the entrance at 812 Fifth, while his first wife entered through 810 Fifth.[125] They remained married until his death.

Rockefeller engaged in numerous extramarital affairs during his marriages. His first wife resented his adultery, which was one of the main reasons for their divorce.[126] Rockefeller convinced his first wife early in the marriage that they should live separate lives but stay married for the sake of public appearances and the children.[126]

There has been speculation surrounding Malinda Fitler Murphy (b.1960), the youngest daughter of Happy Rockefeller and Dr. James Slater Murphy, with many in the Rockefeller inner circle believing her to be Nelson Rockefeller's daughter. In his diary, Rockefeller intimate Ken Riland used a tone of knowing irony when mentioning Malinda, putting the word stepfather in quotes. Ellen, the wife of Wally Harrison, the architect and Rockefeller confidant, claimed that Malinda's parentage was an open secret among Rockefeller associates.[126]

Rockefeller was a patient of famous psychic Edgar Cayce.[127]

Death edit

 
Rockefeller and President Jimmy Carter in October 1977

Rockefeller died on January 26, 1979, from a heart attack, two years and six days after departing the vice presidency.[128] He was 70.[129] An initial report incorrectly stated that he died at his desk in his office at Rockefeller Center.[130][131] However, the report was soon corrected to state that Rockefeller actually had the fatal heart attack at another location: a townhouse he owned at 13 West 54th Street.[132] The heart attack occurred in the late evening in the presence of Megan Marshack, a 25-year-old aide.[133] After Rockefeller suffered the heart attack, Marshack called her friend, news reporter Ponchitta Pierce, to the townhouse; Pierce phoned an ambulance approximately an hour after the heart attack.[134]

Rockefeller's remains were cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery in nearby Hartsdale, New York. On January 29, 1979, family and close friends gathered to inter his ashes in the private Rockefeller family cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York.[135] A memorial service was held at Riverside Church in Upper Manhattan on February 2; the service was attended by 2,200 people. Attendees included President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.[136]

Speculation surrounding death edit

The circumstances of Rockefeller's death led to widespread speculation regarding a possible adulterous relationship between Rockefeller and Marshack.[137][138][139] Marshack had worked for Rockefeller when he served as vice president, had relocated to New York and continued to work for him after his term as vice president ended, and had received financial assistance from Rockefeller in purchasing and furnishing a condominium several doors down from his Manhattan townhouse.[138]

In a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) documentary about the Rockefeller family, longtime Rockefeller aide Joseph E. Persico said: "It became known that [Rockefeller] had been alone with a young woman who worked for him, in undeniably intimate circumstances, and in the course of that evening had died from a heart attack."[140] Rockefeller's four oldest children issued a statement saying that they had conducted their own review, that they believed their father could not have been saved, and that all those who tried to help had acted responsibly. Neither Marshack nor the family has ever commented publicly on the circumstances surrounding Rockefeller's death.[141] The family would not consent to an autopsy.[142] In 2017, the New York Daily News stated that following Rockefeller's death, "it wasn't long before Johnny Carson could start drawing laughs merely by uttering the words 'Megan Marshack.'"[138] New York magazine quipped that "Nelson thought he was coming, but he was going."[143]

Legacy edit

Awards named after Rockefeller edit

  • Nelson A. Rockefeller Award, Purchase College School of the Arts, presented annually to five individuals who have distinguished themselves through their contributions to the arts or the environment.
  • Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Award for Excellence in Public Service, State Academy for Public Administration.
  • Nelson A. Rockefeller Distinguished Public Service Award, Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences, Dartmouth College.
  • Nelson A. Rockefeller Award, American Society for Public Administration, Empire State Capital Area Chapter, presented to an individual whose governmental career in New York State demonstrates exemplary leadership, performance and achievement in shaping public policy, developing and implementing major public programs, or resolving major public problems.
  • Nelson A. Rockefeller Award, The New York Water Environment Association, Inc., awarded to an elected official at a city (population over 250,000), state or national level who has made a substantial and meaningful contribution to advancing effective environmental programs.
  • Nelson A. Rockefeller Public Service Award, Rockefeller Institute of Government (1988–1994).

Awards received edit

Memorials edit

 
Nelson A. Rockefeller Park is an enclave within Battery Park City in New York City.

The following institutions and facilities have been named in honor of Nelson A. Rockefeller:

See also edit

References edit

Citations edit

  1. ^ "Biography: Nelson A. Rockefeller | American Experience". PBS.
  2. ^ Kabaservice, Geoffrey (2012). Rule and Ruin. Oxford University Press. p. 46. ISBN 9780199912902. Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller remains the best-known progressive Republican of recent times
  3. ^ a b Morris 1960, p. 7.
  4. ^ a b c Persico 1982, p. 23.
  5. ^ a b c Persico 1982, p. 24.
  6. ^ Persico 1982, pp. 23–24.
  7. ^ "NELSON W. ALDRICH, EX-SENATOR, DEAD: Leader in Congress for Thirty Years Stricken with Apoplexy in Fifth Avenue Home". The New York Times. April 17, 1915.
  8. ^ Morris 1960, p. 11.
  9. ^ Morris 1960, p. 12.
  10. ^ a b Persico 1982, pp. 24–25.
  11. ^ Morris 1960, p. 29.
  12. ^ Persico 1982, p. 29.
  13. ^ Morris 1960, p. 81.
  14. ^ Morris 1960, p. 39.
  15. ^ Persico 1982, p. 28.
  16. ^ Sobel, Robert; Sicilia, David B. (2003). The United States Executive Branch: A Biographical Directory of Heads of State and Cabinet Officials. Greenwood Press. p. 538. ISBN 978-0-313-31134-5.
  17. ^ a b Morris 1960, p. 82.
  18. ^ Gervasi, Frank (1964). The Real Rockefeller: The Story of the Rise, Decline and Resurgence of the Presidential Aspirations of Nelson Rockefeller. New York, NY: Atheneum. p. 210 – via Google Books.
  19. ^ a b Greenhouse, Linda (January 28, 1979). "For Nearly a Generation Nelson Rockefeller Held the Reins of New York State". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  20. ^ Cramer, Gisela; Prutsch, Ursula, "Nelson A. Rockefeller's Office of Inter-American Affairs (1940–1946) and Record Group 229", Hispanic American Historical Review 2006 86(4):785–806; doi:10.1215/00182168-2006-050.
  21. ^ Morris 1960, pp. 129–135
  22. ^ Time, June 1, 1942
  23. ^ Káritha Bernardo de Macedo. "Brazilian cinema, Hollywood and the Good Neighbourhood Policy in the 1930s: a background for Carmen Miranda" (PDF). Retrieved November 22, 2014.
  24. ^ [1]Charles Higham, The Films of Orson Welles, University of California Press, 1971. ISBN 0-520-02048-0, ISBN 978-0-520-02048-1. p. 85
  25. ^ a b Reich 1996, pp. 383–386
  26. ^ Glass, Andrew (October 23, 2015). "United Nations comes into existence, Oct. 24, 1945". Politico.com. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  27. ^ Reich 1996, pp. 278–304
  28. ^ Morris 1960, pp. 215–222
  29. ^ Crandall, Britta H. (January 16, 2011). Hemispheric Giants: The Misunderstood History of U.S.-Brazilian Relations. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-4422-0787-5.
  30. ^ "Holocaust Era Assets: Records of the Office of Inter-American Affairs". Civilian Agency Records. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
  31. ^ Cary Reich (1996). The Life of Nelson A. Rockefeller: Worlds to Conquer, 1908-1958. Doubleday. p. 383. ISBN 9780385246965.
  32. ^ Morris 1960, pp. 251–255
  33. ^ Smith (2014) ch 10
  34. ^ "Nelson A. Rockefeller". North American Congress on Latin America. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  35. ^ Reich 1996, pp. 521–527
  36. ^ Reich 1996, p. 558
  37. ^ Reich 1996, pp. 611–618
  38. ^ Reich 1996, p. 575
  39. ^ Reich 1996, pp. 577–583
  40. ^ Reich 1996, p. 560
  41. ^ Reich 1996, p. 617
  42. ^ Fund, Rockefeller Brothers (1961). Prospect for America: The Rockefeller Panel Reports. Doubleday. ISBN 9780598500687.
  43. ^ Creation of the Special Studies Project in 1956—see Reich 1996, pp. 650–667
  44. ^ Relationship with Kissinger—Isaacson 2005, pp. 90–93
  45. ^ Frank, Jeffrey (October 6, 2014). "Big Spender". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  46. ^ a b (PDF). Rockefeller Archive Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  47. ^ "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 4 1958" (PDF). clerk.house.gov. March 16, 1959. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  48. ^ Lynn, Frank (February 27, 1974). "A Zestful Rockefeller Steers 'Choices' Study". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  49. ^ Maeder, Jay (July 10, 2001). "Repealing the abortion law, May 1972 Chapter 397". New York Daily News. p. 4. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  50. ^ Benjamin, Gerald; Hurd, T. Norman, eds. (1984). "The Builder". Rockefeller in Retrospect: The Governor's New York Legacy. Albany, N.Y.: Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Govt. pp. 79–82. ISBN 0-914341-01-4. OCLC 11770290.
  51. ^ Frederic Church's Olana on the Hudson. Hudson, NY: The Olana Partnership/Rizzoli International Publications. 2018. p. 195. ISBN 9780847863112.
  52. ^ , Time, October 19, 1970
  53. ^ City in the sky: the rise and fall of the World Trade Center, James Glanz, Eric Lipton. Macmillan, 2003. ISBN 0-8050-7428-7, ISBN 978-0-8050-7428-4. p. 55
  54. ^ State of New York, Public Papers of Nelson A. Rockefeller, Fifty-third Governor of the State of New York, vol. 15, 1973 (Albany, NY: State of New York, 1973), pp. 1382, 1386.
  55. ^ "Portage native Russell Peterson dies at 94". Wiscnews.com. February 24, 2011. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  56. ^ a b Smith, J. Y. (January 28, 1979). "Nelson Rockefeller, 41st Vice President, N.Y. Ex-Governor, Art Connoisseur". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  57. ^ Lynn, Frank (March 1, 1975). "Rockefeller Quits as Chairman of Critical Choices Commission". The New York times. Retrieved February 13, 2019 – via The Times's print archive.
  58. ^ "Theodore RooseveltAlfred E. Smith – Nelson Rockefeller – George Pataki." The New York State Preservationist. NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Fall/Winter 2006, p. 20
  59. ^ State of New York, Public Papers of Nelson A. Rockefeller, Fifty-third Governor of the State of New York, vol. 15, 1973 (Albany, NY: State of New York, 1973), p. 1384.
  60. ^ Graham, Frank Jr. The Adirondack Park: A Political History. New York City: Knopf, 1978
  61. ^ State of New York, Public Papers of Nelson A. Rockefeller, Fifty-third Governor of the State of New York, vol. 15, 1973 (Albany, NY: State of New York, 1973), p. 1381.
  62. ^ a b State of New York, Public Papers of Nelson A. Rockefeller, Fifty-third Governor of the State of New York, vol. 15, 1973 (Albany, NY: State of New York, 1973), p. 1379.
  63. ^ Connery & Benjamin 1979, p. 242
  64. ^ List of pre-Furman executions in New York March 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  65. ^ Regional Studies Northeast April 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  66. ^ Craig Brandon, The Electric Chair: An Unnatural American History, 1999
  67. ^ WGBH 2000
  68. ^ Clyde Haberman (September 14, 2011). "The Somber Shadows of Attica". The New York Times. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  69. ^ Benjamin and Rappaport, "Attica and Prison Reform", in Governing New York State: The Rockefeller Years, p. 206.
  70. ^ Francis X. Clines (September 19, 2011). "Postscripts to the Attica Story". The New York Times. p. A26. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  71. ^ Connery & Benjamin 1979, pp. 266–274
  72. ^ . University at Buffalo. 2017. Archived from the original on October 5, 2017. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
  73. ^ . Buffalo.edu. Archived from the original on May 18, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
  74. ^ State of New York, Public Papers of Nelson A. Rockefeller, Fifty-third Governor of the State of New York, vol. 15, 1973 (Albany, NY: State of New York, 1973), p. 1380.
  75. ^ Christine S. Richard, Confidence Game: How a Hedge Fund Manager Called Wall Street's Bluff, (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons, 2010), 62–63.
  76. ^ State of New York, Public Papers of Nelson A. Rockefeller, Fifty-third Governor of the State of New York, vol. 15, 1973 (Albany, NY: State of New York, 1973), p. 1382.
  77. ^ State of New York, Public Papers of Nelson A. Rockefeller, Fifty-third Governor of the State of New York, vol. 15, 1973 (Albany, NY: State of New York, 1973), pp. 1378, 1382, 1383, 1384.
  78. ^ a b c Taffet, Jeffrey (April 23, 2007). Foreign Aid as Foreign Policy: The Alliance for Progress in Latin America. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-97771-5. page 185-188
  79. ^ Persico 1982, p. 106
  80. ^ a b State of New York, Public Papers of Nelson A. Rockefeller, Fifty-third Governor of the State of New York, vol. 15, 1973 (Albany, NY: State of New York, 1973), p. 1385.
  81. ^ MEDICARE FOR ALL IS ASKED BY JAVITS; The Nw York, April 15, 1970
  82. ^ Unity, Freedom and Peace: A Blueprint for Tomorrow, by Nelson Rockefeller, Random House, 1968
  83. ^ Universal Health Insurance Is the Wave of the Future, Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1971
  84. ^ Richard Norton Smith (2014). "18". On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller.
  85. ^ Rick Perlstein (2001). "18". Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus.
  86. ^ Smith (2014). On His Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller. p. xxi.
  87. ^ Nicol C. Rae (1989). The Decline and Fall of the Liberal Republicans: From 1952 to the Present.
  88. ^ Kramer & Roberts 1976, p. 283
  89. ^ Persico 1982, pp. 65–66
  90. ^ "Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (vice president of United States)". Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
  91. ^ "Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller, 41st Vice President (1974-1977)". United States Senate. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  92. ^ Buchanan, Patrick (2015). The greatest comeback: How Richard Nixon rose from defeat to create the new majority. Crown Forum. ISBN 978-0553418651.
  93. ^ Humphrey Reports Rockefeller Rejected Role as Running Mate; The New York Times, May 2, 1976
  94. ^ "George H. W. Bush". December 29, 2014.
  95. ^ Gerald R. Ford, A Time to Heal: The Autobiography of Gerald R. Ford (New York, 1979), pp. 143–144.
  96. ^ Persico 1982, p. 245
  97. ^ Robert T. Hartmann, Palace Politics: An Inside Account of the Ford Years (New York, 1980), pp. 230-236.
  98. ^ Peter Carroll It Seemed Like Nothing Happened, p. 162
  99. ^ Time magazine article November 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  100. ^ "TO CONFIRM THE NOMINATION OF NELSON A. ROCKEFELLER TO BE ... -- Senate Vote #1092 -- Dec 10, 1974".
  101. ^ "Rockefeller conflicts raise debate". Anchorage Daily News. Associated Press. November 26, 1974. Retrieved November 10, 2012.[permanent dead link]
  102. ^ "CQ Almanac Online Edition".
  103. ^ Paul C. Light, Vice-Presidential Power: Advice and influence in the White House (Baltimore, Press, 1984), pp. 180-183.
  104. ^ Persico 1982, pp. 262
  105. ^ Petro, Joseph; Jeffrey Robinson (2005). Standing Next to History: An Agent's Life Inside the Secret Service. New York: Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 0-312-33221-1.
  106. ^ "Excerpts From Rockefeller Conference Explaining His Withdrawal; 'Are You Going to Stop' Interests of the People". The New York Times. November 7, 1975. p. 16. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  107. ^ "Mutual Decision: Vice President's Letter Gives No Reason for his Withdrawal". The New York Times. November 4, 1975. p. 73.
  108. ^ Remarks of Gerald R. Ford, Nelson A. Rockefeller Public Service Award Dinner, May 22, 1991.
  109. ^ Mieczkowski, Yanek (2005). Gerald Ford and the Challenges of the 1970s. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky. p. 311. ISBN 978-0-8131-2349-3.
  110. ^ a b Weeks, Linton (August 26, 2010) Is 'Giving The Finger' Getting Out Of Hand?, NPR
  111. ^ Rosen, Sy (1998). From Rocky to Pataki: Character and Caricatures in New York Politics. p. 48.
  112. ^ Connery & Benjamin 1979, p. 424
  113. ^ Connery & Benjamin 1979, p. 189
  114. ^ The Last Liberal Republican President, with John R. Price, The Niskanen Center, October 27, 1971
  115. ^ Connery & Benjamin 1979, pp. 44–45
  116. ^ Connery & Benjamin 1979, p. 439
  117. ^ Connery & Benjamin 1979, p. 427
  118. ^ Connery & Benjamin 1979, p. 428
  119. ^ Morris 1960, p. 242
  120. ^ . Diego Rivera Prints. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved October 2, 2007.
  121. ^ Reich 1996, p. 110
  122. ^ Wormington, H. Marie. "Frederic Huntington Douglas" (PDF). Cambridge.
  123. ^ "The Upper East Side Book: Fifth Avenue: 810 Fifth Avenue". Thecityreview.com. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  124. ^ Luxury apartment houses of Manhattan: an illustrated history, Andrew Alpern, Dover Publications, 1992, p. 112.
  125. ^ "Presidential Politics Yields to Privacy At Apartments of 3 Candidates Here; Where Privacy Eclipses Politics", March 18, 1968, The New York Times
  126. ^ a b c Smith, Richard Norton (October 21, 2014). On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 9780812996876.
  127. ^ Edgar Cayce: an American prophet, Sidney Kirkpatrick, Riverhead Books 2000 page 10
  128. ^ "New York Governor and United States Vice President Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller dies after a heart attack in 1979". nydailynews.com. January 25, 2015.
  129. ^ Siemaszko, Corky (August 14, 2017). "The story of Nelson Rockefeller's death and the spin that kept the (sexy) truth out of the headlines". nydailynews.com.
  130. ^ "On This Day In History, January 26: Dream of Presidency Never Achieved". Brooklyn Eagle. January 26, 2012.
  131. ^ See, for example, CBS News report of February 8, 1979, Roger Mudd reporting on conflicting stories about circumstances of Rockefeller's death.
  132. ^ McFadden, Robert D. (January 29, 1979). "New Details Are Reported on How Rockefeller Died". The New York Times.
  133. ^ "Rockefellers have known prominence, tragedy". lohud.com.
  134. ^ See Deane 1999 and these print media articles: Robert C. McFadden (January 29, 1979). "New Details Are Reported on How Rockefeller Died". The New York Times. p. B4. Retrieved November 10, 2012.; Robert C. McFadden (January 30, 1979). "Call to 911 for Stricken Rockefeller Did Not Identify Him, Tape Shows". The New York Times. p. A13. Retrieved November 10, 2012.; Robert C. McFadden (February 7, 1979). "Rockefeller's Attack Is Now Placed at 10:15, Hour Before Emergency Call". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved November 10, 2012.; Robert D. McFadden (February 9, 1979). "Rockefeller Aide Did Not Make Call to 911; TV Personality, Friend of Megan Marshack, Phoned for Help". The New York Times. p. B3. Retrieved November 10, 2012.; and "Marshack Friend Makes Statement on Rockefeller". The New York Times. February 11, 1979. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  135. ^ Francis X. Clines, "About Pocantico Hills: Advance Man Stays on the Job," The New York Times, January 30, 1979.
  136. ^ Fried, Joseph P. (February 3, 1979). "Memorial Expresses Rockefeller Spirit". The New York Times.
  137. ^ Frank, Jeffrey (October 6, 2014). "Big Spender". The New Yorker – via www.newyorker.com.
  138. ^ a b c Siemaszko, Corky (August 14, 2017). "The story of Nelson Rockefeller's death and the spin that kept the (sexy) truth out of the headlines". New York Daily News. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  139. ^ Jackovich, Karen; Clifford, Garry (February 26, 1979). "Megan Marshack: the Ambitious Aide Whose Silence Deepens the Mystery of Rockefeller's Death". People. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  140. ^ (See Deane 1999). The speculation was further fueled by reports that Marshack was a named beneficiary in his will; see, for example, Peter Kihss, "Bulk of Rockefeller's Estate Is Left to Wife; Museums Get Large Gifts", The New York Times, February 10, 1979; a piece that aired on NBC's Evening News on February 9, 1979; and a piece by Max Robinson that aired on ABC Evening News on February 9, 1979.
  141. ^ Robert D. McFadden, "4 Rockefeller Children Say All At Hand Did Their Best", The New York Times, February 15, 1979: the statement released by Rockefeller's children concludes, "we do not intend to make any further public comment."
  142. ^ The Book of Lists 2. The People's Almanac. 1981. p. 453. ISBN 0-552-11681-5. Compiled by David Wallechinsky and others. List "10 Prominent People Who Died In Suspicious Circumstances and Never Had Autopsies". It places the first report of his death as being at his town house, not office.
  143. ^ Siegel, Lee (March 30, 2012). "Rocks Off!". New York. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
  144. ^ "History of the Center | Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy". rockefeller.dartmouth.edu. August 14, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  145. ^ . www.binghamton.edu. Archived from the original on April 29, 2017. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  146. ^ Matthews, Joe (September 29, 1997). . The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  147. ^ "Nelson A. Rockefeller Park". NYMag.com.
  148. ^ "Welcome - P.S. 121 Nelson A. Rockefeller - K121 - New York City Department of Education". schools.nyc.gov.

Cited works edit

  • Connery, Robert H.; Benjamin, Gerald (1979). Rockefeller of New York; Executive Power in the Statehouse. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801411885.
  • Deane, Elizabeth (1999). . American Experience. Boston: PBS. Archived from the original on January 26, 2012. Retrieved September 6, 2017.
  • Isaacson, Walter (2005) [1992]. Kissinger: A Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster.
  • Kramer, Michael; Roberts, Sam (1976). "I Never Wanted to be Vice-President of Anything!": An Investigative Biography of Nelson Rockefeller. New York: Basic Books.
  • Persico, Joseph E. (1982). The Imperial Rockefeller: A Biography of Nelson A. Rockefeller. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780671254186.
  • Rae, Nicol C. The Decline and Fall of the Liberal Republicans: From 1952 to the Present (1989).
  • Reich, Cary (1996). The Life of Nelson A. Rockefeller: Worlds to Conquer, 1908-1958. Doubleday. ISBN 9780385246965.
  • Smith, Richard Norton. On His Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller. New York: Random House, 2014; A standard scholarly biography
  • . American Experience. Boston: WGBH. 2000. Archived from the original on November 20, 2012. Retrieved September 6, 2017.

Further reading edit

  • Boyd, Joseph H. Jr.; Holcomb, Charles R. (2012). Oreos and Dubonnet: Remembering Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller. Albany: SUNY Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-4183-2.
  • Colby, Gerard; Dennet, Charlotte (1996). Thy Will be Done, The Conquest of The Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil. HarperPerennial. ISBN 0-06-092723-2.
  • Dagen Bloom, Nicholas. 2019. How States Shaped Postwar America. University of Chicago Press.
  • Maxwell, Allen Brewster, Evoking Latin American collaboration in the Second World War: A study of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (1940–1946), PhD dissertation, Tufts University, Medford, MA., 1971.
  • Morris, Joe Alex (1960). Nelson Rockefeller, A Biography. New York: Harper & Brothers.
  • Paquette, Catha (2017). At the Crossroads: Diego Rivera and his Patrons at MoMA, Rockefeller Center, and the Palace of Fine Arts. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-1477311004.
  • Rae, Nicol C. "Rockefeller, Nelson Aldrich"; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000. Access: Oct 21 2014
  • Rowland, Donald W., History of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, US Government Printing Office, 1947.
  • Turner, Michael. The Vice-President as Policy-Maker: Rockefeller in the Ford White House (1982).
  • Underwood, James F., and William J. Daniels. Governor Rockefeller in New York: The Apex of Pragmatic Liberalism in the United States (1982)

External links edit

  • Contains details on the collection of public and private papers available to researchers at the Center.
  • An extended portrait by Time Magazine of Rockefeller campaigning for Governor of New York in 1958.
  • Rockefeller Archive Center: Archived papers of the Special Studies Project, 1956–1960.
  • Rockefeller biography at Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  • Spartacus educational biography.
  • Rockefeller profile at SourceWatch.
  • Nelson Rockefeller at Find a Grave.
  • Finding aid for the Nelson Rockefeller Oral History, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library. January 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  • Newspaper clippings about Nelson Rockefeller in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW.
Government offices
New office Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs
1944–1945
Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Republican nominee for Governor of New York
1958, 1962, 1966, 1970
Succeeded by
Political offices
New office Under Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
1953–1954
Succeeded by
Preceded by Governor of New York
1959–1973
Succeeded by
Preceded by Vice President of the United States
1974–1977
Succeeded by

nelson, rockefeller, nelson, aldrich, rockefeller, july, 1908, january, 1979, sometimes, referred, nickname, rocky, american, businessman, politician, served, 41st, vice, president, united, states, from, 1974, 1977, under, president, gerald, ford, member, repu. Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller July 8 1908 January 26 1979 sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky 1 was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford A member of the Republican Party and the wealthy Rockefeller family he previously served as the 49th governor of New York from 1959 to 1973 Rockefeller also served as assistant secretary of State for American Republic Affairs for Presidents Franklin D Roosevelt and Harry S Truman 1944 1945 as well as under secretary of Health Education and Welfare HEW under Dwight D Eisenhower from 1953 to 1954 A son of John D Rockefeller Jr and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller as well as a grandson of Standard Oil co founder John D Rockefeller he was a noted art collector and served as administrator of Rockefeller Center in Manhattan New York City Nelson RockefellerOfficial portrait 197541st Vice President of the United StatesIn office December 19 1974 January 20 1977PresidentGerald FordPreceded byGerald FordSucceeded byWalter Mondale49th Governor of New YorkIn office January 1 1959 December 18 1973LieutenantMalcolm WilsonPreceded byW Averell HarrimanSucceeded byMalcolm Wilson1st Under Secretary of Health Education and WelfareIn office June 11 1953 December 22 1954PresidentDwight D EisenhowerPreceded byPosition establishedSucceeded byHerold Christian Hunt1st Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic AffairsIn office December 20 1944 August 17 1945PresidentFranklin D RooseveltHarry S TrumanPreceded byPosition establishedSucceeded bySpruille BradenPersonal detailsBornNelson Aldrich Rockefeller 1908 07 08 July 8 1908Bar Harbor Maine U S DiedJanuary 26 1979 1979 01 26 aged 70 New York City U S Resting placeRockefeller Family Cemetery Sleepy Hollow New York U S Political partyRepublicanSpousesMary Todhunter Clark m 1930 div 1962 wbr Margaretta Large Fitler m 1963 wbr Children7 including Rodman Steven Michael and MarkParentsJohn D Rockefeller Jr Abby AldrichRelativesRockefeller familyEducationDartmouth College AB SignatureNelson Rockefeller s voice source source Rockefeller s speech following his 1974 vice presidential confirmationRecorded December 19 1974Rockefeller was often considered to be liberal progressive 2 or moderate In an agreement that was termed the Treaty of Fifth Avenue he persuaded Richard Nixon to alter the Republican Party platform just before the 1960 Republican Convention In his time liberals in the Republican Party were called Rockefeller Republicans As Governor of New York from 1959 to 1973 Rockefeller s achievements included the expansion of the State University of New York SUNY efforts to protect the environment the construction of the Empire State Plaza in Albany increased facilities and personnel for medical care and the creation of the New York State Council on the Arts After unsuccessfully seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 1960 1964 and 1968 he was appointed vice president of the United States under President Gerald Ford who was appointed Vice President by President Richard Nixon after the resignation of Spiro Agnew and who ascended to the presidency following Nixon s August 1974 resignation Rockefeller was the second vice president appointed to the position under the 25th Amendment following Ford himself Rockefeller did not seek a full term on the 1976 Republican ticket with Ford He retired from politics in 1977 and died two years later As a businessman Rockefeller was president and later chair of Rockefeller Center Inc and he formed the International Basic Economy Corporation in 1947 Rockefeller assembled a significant art collection and promoted public access to the arts He served as trustee treasurer and president of the Museum of Modern Art and founded the Museum of Primitive Art in 1954 In the area of philanthropy he founded the Rockefeller Brothers Fund in 1940 with his four brothers and established the American International Association for Economic and Social Development in 1946 Contents 1 Early life and education 1908 1930 2 Early career 1931 1939 3 Mid career 1940 1958 3 1 Coordinator of Inter American Affairs CIAA 3 2 Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs 3 3 International Basic Economy Corporation IBEC 3 4 Chairman of the International Development Advisory Board 3 5 Special assistant to the president for foreign affairs 4 Governor of New York 1959 1973 4 1 Abortion 4 2 Arts and culture 4 3 Buildings and public works 4 4 Civil rights 4 5 Commission on Critical Choices for Americans 4 6 Conservation 4 7 Crime 4 7 1 Attica prison riot 4 8 Drugs 4 9 Education 4 10 Housing 4 11 Miscellaneous programs 4 12 National Commission on Water Quality 4 13 Presidential Mission to Latin America 4 14 Transportation 4 15 Welfare and Medicaid 5 Presidential campaigns 5 1 1960 5 2 1964 5 3 1968 6 Vice presidency 1974 1977 6 1 1976 election 7 Political ideology 8 Philanthropy and art patronage 9 Personal life 10 Death 10 1 Speculation surrounding death 11 Legacy 11 1 Awards named after Rockefeller 11 2 Awards received 11 3 Memorials 12 See also 13 References 13 1 Citations 13 2 Cited works 14 Further reading 15 External linksEarly life and education 1908 1930 editSee also Rockefeller family Rockefeller was born on July 8 1908 in Bar Harbor Maine 3 4 Named Nelson Aldrich after his maternal grandfather Nelson W Aldrich 4 he was the second son and third child of financier and philanthropist John Davison Rockefeller Jr and philanthropist and socialite Abigail Abby Aldrich 3 4 He had two older siblings Abby and John III as well as three younger brothers Laurance Winthrop and David 5 Their father John Jr was the only son of Standard Oil co founder John D Rockefeller and schoolteacher Laura Spelman 6 Their mother Abby was a daughter of Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich and Abigail P Greene 7 Rockefeller grew up in his family s homes in New York City mainly at 10 West 54th Street a country home in Pocantico Hills New York and a summer home in Seal Harbor Maine 5 8 The family also travelled widely 9 He received his elementary middle and high school education at the Lincoln School in Manhattan an experimental school administered by Teachers College of Columbia University and funded by the Rockefeller family 5 Nelson was known to disappear on the way to school and was once found exploring the city s sewer system As a child he was the indisputable leader of his brothers becoming particularly close to Laurance 10 Although his parents saw potential for Nelson to succeed in life he was a poor student Generally in the lower third of his class he almost failed ninth grade and had undiagnosed dyslexia Nelson s biographer Joseph E Persico wrote that as a child he demonstrated a discipline that throughout life would serve him in lieu of brilliance Although Nelson was not accepted into Princeton University he got into Dartmouth College 10 arriving on campus in 1926 11 While in college he met Mary Todhunter Clark at the summer home in Maine and the two fell in love 12 They were engaged in autumn 1929 13 In 1930 he graduated cum laude with an A B degree in economics from Dartmouth College where he was a member of Casque and Gauntlet a senior society Phi Beta Kappa and Psi Upsilon 14 15 16 Rockefeller and Mary were married after he graduated on June 23 1930 at Bala Cynwyd Pennsylvania 17 Early career 1931 1939 editFollowing his graduation Rockefeller worked in a number of family related businesses including Chase National Bank Rockefeller Center Inc joining the board of directors in 1931 serving as president 1938 1945 and 1948 1951 and as chairman 1945 1953 and 1956 1958 and Creole Petroleum Corporation the Venezuelan subsidiary of Standard Oil of New Jersey 1935 1940 citation needed Rockefeller served as a member of the Westchester County Board of Health from 1933 to 1953 18 His service with Creole Petroleum led to his deep lifelong interest in Latin America and he became fluent in the Spanish language 19 Mid career 1940 1958 editCoordinator of Inter American Affairs CIAA edit nbsp Nelson Rockefeller Coordinator of Inter American Affairs 1940 In 1940 after he expressed his concern to President Franklin D Roosevelt over Nazi influence in Latin America the President appointed Rockfeller to the new position of Coordinator of Inter American Affairs CIAA in the Office of the Coordinator of Inter American Affairs OCIAA 20 Rockefeller was charged with overseeing a program of U S cooperation with the nations of Latin America to help raise the standard of living to achieve better relations among the nations of the western hemisphere and to counter rising Nazi influence in the region 21 He facilitated this form of cultural diplomacy by collaborating with the director of Latin American Relations at the CBS radio network Edmund A Chester 22 nbsp Rockefeller right with Brazilian President Getulio Vargas in 1942The Roosevelt administration encouraged Hollywood to produce films to encourage positive relations with Latin America 23 Rockefeller required changes in the movie Down Argentine Way 1940 because it was considered offensive to Argentines It was much more popular in the United States than in Latin America Charlie Chaplin s satirical The Great Dictator 1940 was banned in several countries 24 In the spring of 1943 Rockefeller supported extensive negotiations and mission of North American members of the Junior Chamber of Commerce to Latin America as Coordinator of Inter American Affairs of the US State Department establishing the Junior Chamber International after its first Inter American Congress in December 1944 at Mexico City After coming back from the Inter American Congress Rockefeller convinced his father John D Rockefeller Jr to donate the land to the city of New York to build the foundations of what would later become the United Nations Headquarters 25 26 Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs edit In 1944 President Roosevelt appointed Rockefeller Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs As assistant secretary of state he initiated the Inter American Conference on Problems of War and Peace in 1945 The conference produced the Act of Chapultepec which provided the framework for economic social and defense cooperation among the nations of the Americas and set the principle that an attack on one of these nations would be regarded as an attack on all and jointly resisted Rockefeller signed the Act on behalf of the United States 27 Rockefeller was a member of the U S delegation at the United Nations Conference on International Organization at San Francisco in 1945 this gathering marked the UN s founding At the Conference there was considerable opposition to the idea of permitting within the UN charter the formation of regional pacts such as the Act of Chapultepec Rockefeller who believed that the inclusion was essential especially to U S policy in Latin America successfully urged the need for regional pacts within the framework of the UN 28 Rockefeller was also instrumental in persuading the UN to establish its headquarters in New York City 25 nbsp Nelson Rockefeller Under Secretary of Health Education and Welfare makes a presentation on a proposed public private health reinsurance program 1954 President Truman fired Rockefeller 29 reversed his policies and shut down the OCIAA 30 Reich says that in official Washington Rockefeller had become a discredited figure a pariah He returned to New York 31 International Basic Economy Corporation IBEC edit Rockefeller formed the International Basic Economy Corporation IBEC in 1947 to jointly continue the work he had begun as Coordinator of Inter American Affairs He intermittently served as president through 1958 IBEC was a for profit business that established companies that would stimulate underdeveloped economies of certain countries It was hoped that the success of these companies would encourage investors in those countries to set up competing or supporting businesses and further stimulate the local economy 32 Rockefeller established model farms in Venezuela Ecuador and Brazil He maintained a home at Monte Sacro the farm in Venezuela 33 Chairman of the International Development Advisory Board edit Rockefeller returned to public service in 1950 when President Harry S Truman appointed him chairman of the International Development Advisory Board 34 The Board was charged with developing a plan for implementing the President s Point IV program of providing foreign technical assistance In 1952 President Elect Dwight D Eisenhower asked Rockefeller to chair the President s Advisory Committee on Government Organization to recommend ways of improving efficiency and effectiveness of the executive branch of the federal government Rockefeller recommended thirteen reorganization plans all of which were implemented The plans implemented organizational changes in the Department of Defense the Office of Defense Mobilization and the Department of Agriculture His recommendations also led to the creation of the Department of Health Education and Welfare Rockefeller was appointed Under Secretary of this new department in 1953 Rockefeller was active in HEW s legislative program and implemented measures that added ten million people under the Social Security program 35 Special assistant to the president for foreign affairs edit In 1954 he was appointed special assistant to the president for foreign affairs sometimes referred to as special assistant to the president for psychological warfare He was tasked with providing the president with advice and assistance in developing programs by which the various departments of the government could counter Soviet foreign policy challenges As part of this responsibility he was named as the president s representative on the Operations Coordinating Board a committee of the National Security Council The other members were the Undersecretary of State the Deputy Secretary of Defense the director of the Foreign Operations Administration and the Central Intelligence Agency director The OCB s purpose was to oversee coordinated execution of security policy and plans including clandestine operations 36 Rockefeller broadly interpreted his directive and became an advocate for foreign economic aid as indispensable to national security Most of Rockefeller s initiatives were blocked by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and his Under Secretary Herbert Hoover Jr both traditionalists who resented what they perceived as outside interference from Rockefeller 37 and by Treasury Secretary George M Humphrey for financial reasons 38 However in June 1955 Rockefeller convened a week long meeting of experts from various disciplines to assess the U S position in the psychological aspects of the Cold War and develop proposals that could give the U S the initiative at the upcoming Summit Conference in Geneva The meeting was held at the Marine Corps school at Quantico Virginia and became known as the Quantico Study The Quantico panel developed a proposal called open skies wherein the U S and the Soviet Union would exchange blueprints of military installations and agree to mutual aerial reconnaissance Thus military buildups would be revealed and the danger of surprise attacks minimized It was a counter proposal to the Soviet proposal of universal disarmament The feeling was that the Soviets could not refuse the proposal if they were serious about disarmament 39 In March 1955 Rockefeller proposed the creation of the Planning Coordination Group a small high level group that would plan and develop national security operations both overt and covert 40 The group consisted of the Undersecretary of State the Deputy Secretary of Defense the director the CIA and special assistant Rockefeller as chairman The group s purpose was to oversee CIA operation and other anti communist actions However State Department officials and CIA Director Allen Dulles refused to cooperate with the group and its initiatives were stymied or ignored 41 In September Rockefeller recommended the abolishment of the PCG and in December he resigned as special assistant to the president nbsp Vice President Rockefeller right with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger January 3 1975 In 1956 he created the Special Studies Project a major seven panel planning group directed by Henry Kissinger and funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund of which he was then president It was an ambitious study created to define the central problems and opportunities facing the U S in the future and to clarify national purposes and objectives The reports were published individually as they were released and were republished together in 1961 as Prospect for America The Rockefeller Panel Reports 42 The Special Studies Project came into national prominence with the early release of its military subpanel s report whose principal recommendation was a massive military buildup to counter a then perceived military superiority threat posed by the USSR The report was released two months after the October 1957 launch of Sputnik and its recommendations were fully endorsed by Eisenhower in his January 1958 State of the Union address 43 This initial contact with Kissinger was to develop into a lifelong relationship Kissinger was later to be described as his closest intellectual associate From this period Rockefeller employed Kissinger as a personally funded part time consultant principally on foreign policy issues until the appointment to his staff became full time in late 1968 In 1969 when Kissinger entered Richard Nixon s administration Rockefeller paid him 50 000 as a severance payment 44 Governor of New York 1959 1973 edit nbsp Governor Rockefeller meets with President Lyndon B Johnson in 1968Rockefeller resigned from the federal government in 1956 to focus on New York State and on national politics 45 From September 1956 to April 1958 he chaired the Temporary State Commission on the Constitutional Convention 46 That was followed by his chairmanship of the Special Legislative Committee on the Revision and Simplification of the Constitution 46 In the state election of 1958 he was elected governor of New York by over 570 000 votes defeating incumbent W Averell Harriman even though 1958 was a banner year for Democrats elsewhere in the nation 47 Rockefeller was re elected in the three subsequent elections in 1962 1966 and 1970 increasing the state s role in education environmental protection transportation housing welfare medical aid civil rights and the arts To pay for the increased government spending Rockefeller increased taxation for example a sales tax was introduced in New York in 1965 19 He resigned three years into his fourth term and began to work at the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans 48 Abortion edit Rockefeller supported reform of New York s abortion laws beginning around 1968 The proposals supported by his administration would not have repealed the long standing prohibition but would have expanded the exceptions allowed for the protection of the mother s health or in circumstances of fetal abnormality The reform bills did not pass However when an outright repeal of the prohibition managed to pass in 1970 Rockefeller signed it In 1972 he vetoed another bill that would have restored the abortion ban He said in his 1972 veto message I do not believe it right for one group to impose its vision of morality on an entire society 49 Arts and culture edit Rockefeller created the first State Council on the Arts in the country which became a model for the National Endowment for the Arts He also oversaw the construction of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Spa State Park 50 He supported the bill enacted in June 1966 which acquired Olana home of Hudson River School artist Frederic Edwin Church as a state historic site 51 Buildings and public works edit Rockefeller engaged in massive building projects that left a profound mark on the state of New York Some of his detractors claimed that he had an Edifice Complex 52 He was personally interested in the planning design and construction of the many projects initiated during his administration consistent with his interest in architecture In addition Rockefeller s construction programs included the US 2 billion South Mall in Albany later renamed the Nelson A Rockefeller Empire State Plaza by Gov Hugh Carey in 1978 It is a 98 acre 40 ha campus of skyscrapers housing state offices and public plazas punctuated by an egg shaped arts center Along with the Empire State Plaza in 1966 Rockefeller proposed the construction of the Adam Clayton Powell Jr State Office Building in Harlem The building was ultimately completed in 1973 While in office he supported the construction of the World Trade Center 53 Civil rights edit Rockefeller achieved virtual total prohibition of discrimination in housing and places of public accommodation He outlawed job discrimination based on sex or age increased by nearly 50 the number of African Americans and Hispanics holding state jobs appointed women to head the largest number of state agencies in state history prohibited discrimination against women in education employment housing and credit applications admitted the first women to the State Police initiated affirmative action programs for women in state government and backed New York s ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U S Constitution He outlawed block busting as a means of artificially depressing housing values and banned discrimination in the sale of all forms of insurance 54 Commission on Critical Choices for Americans edit nbsp Rockefeller addresses a February 1975 meeting of the Commission on Critical Choices for AmericansIn 1973 Rockefeller worked with former Delaware Governor Russell W Peterson to establish the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans 55 The commission was a private study project on national and international policy similar to the Special Studies Project he led 15 years earlier 56 It was made up of a nationally representative bipartisan group of 42 prominent Americans drawn from far ranging fields of interest who served on a voluntary basis Members included the majority and minority leaders of both houses of Congress Rockefeller resigned as New York s governor in December 1973 in order to devote himself full time to the commission s work as its chairman 56 He continued in that position after being sworn in as vice president serving until February 28 1975 57 Conservation edit Consistent with his personal interest in design and planning Rockefeller began expansion of the New York State Parks system and improvement of park facilities He persuaded voters to approve three major bond acts to raise more than 300 million for acquisition of park and forest preserve land 58 and he built or started 55 new state parks 59 Rockefeller initiated studies of environmental issues such as loss of agricultural land through development an issue now characterized as sprawl In September 1968 Rockefeller appointed the Temporary Study Commission on the Future of the Adirondacks This led to his introduction to the Legislature in 1971 of a bill to create the controversial Adirondack Park Agency 60 which was designed to protect the Adirondack State Park from encroaching development Also he launched the Pure Waters Program the first state bond issue to end water pollution created the Department of Environmental Conservation banned DDT and other pesticides and established the Office of Parks and Recreation 61 Crime edit During his 15 years as governor Rockefeller doubled the size of the state police established the New York State Police Academy adopted the stop and frisk and no knock laws to strengthen police powers and authorized 228 additional state judgeships to reduce court congestion 62 New York was the last state to have a mandatory death penalty for premeditated first degree murder In 1963 Rockefeller signed legislation abandoning that and establishing a two stage trial for murder cases with punishment determined in the second stage 63 Rockefeller was a supporter of capital punishment and oversaw 14 executions by electrocution as governor 64 The last execution of Eddie Mays in 1963 remains to date the last execution in New York and was the last execution before Furman v Georgia in the Northeast 65 However despite his personal support for capital punishment Rockefeller signed a bill in 1965 to abolish the death penalty except in cases involving the murder of police officers 66 Rockefeller was also a supporter of the law and order platform 67 Attica prison riot edit Main article Attica Prison riot On September 9 1971 prisoners at the state penitentiary at Attica NY took control of a cell block and seized thirty nine correctional officers as hostages After four days of negotiations Department of Correctional Services Commissioner Russell Oswald agreed to most of the inmates demands for various reforms but refused to grant complete amnesty to the rioters with passage out of the country and removal of the prison s superintendent When negotiations stalled and the hostages appeared to be in imminent danger Rockefeller ordered New York State Police and national guard troops to restore order and take back the prison on September 13 Thirty nine people died in the assault including ten of the hostages nine of whom were killed by the State Police and National Guard soldiers An additional eighty people were wounded in what was called a turkey shoot by state prosecutor Malcolm Bell 68 A later investigation showed all but three of the deaths were caused by the gunfire of the National Guard and police The other three were inmates killed by other inmates at the beginning of the riot Opponents blamed Rockefeller for these deaths in part because of his refusal to go to the prison and negotiate with the inmates 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 I was trying to do the best I could to save the hostages save the prisoners restore order and preserve our system without undertaking actions which could set a precedent which would go across this country like wildfire Rockefeller later said 69 In a telephone call with President Nixon Rockefeller explained the deaths by saying that s life 70 Drugs edit What became known as the Rockefeller drug laws were a product of Rockefeller s attempt to deal with the rapid increase in narcotics addiction and related crime In 1962 he proposed a program of voluntary rehabilitation for addicted convicts rather than prison time This was approved by the legislature but by 1966 it was evident that this program was not working as most addicts chose short prison terms rather than three years of treatment Rockefeller then turned to a program of compulsory treatment rehabilitation and aftercare for three years While this program saw success in rehabilitating addicts it did little to reduce the narcotics trade and associated crime Rockefeller was also frustrated by his belief that the federal government was not doing anything significant to address the problem Feeling that existing laws and the way they were being implemented did not solve the problem of the drug pusher and pressured by voters angry about the drug problem Rockefeller proposed a hard line approach As approved by the legislature in 1973 the new drug laws included mandatory life sentences without the possibility of plea bargaining or parole for all drug users dealers and those convicted of drug related violent crimes a 1 000 reward for information leading to the conviction of drug pushers and removing less harsh penalties for youthful offenders Public support for the measures was mixed as were the results They did not lead more addicts to seek rehabilitation as hoped and ultimately did not solve the problem of drug trafficking These were among the toughest drug laws in the United States when they were enacted and are still on the books albeit in moderated form 71 To carry out the rehabilitation program Rockefeller created the State Narcotics Addiction Control Commission later the State Drug Abuse Control Commission New York also provided the financial support for research in methadone maintenance and the administration of the largest methadone maintenance program in the US 62 Education edit Rockefeller was the driving force in turning the State University of New York into the largest system of public higher education in the United States Under his governorship it grew from 29 campuses and 38 000 full time students to 72 campuses and 232 000 full time students Rockefeller championed the acquisition of the private University of Buffalo into the SUNY system making the State University of New York at Buffalo now the largest public university in New York 72 73 In 1971 he championed the creation of Empire State College to provide higher education to adults by removing impediments to access such as time location and institutional processes Other accomplishments included more than quadrupling state aid to primary and secondary schools providing the first state financial support for educational television and requiring special education for children with disabilities in public schools 74 Housing edit To create more low income housing Rockefeller created the New York State Urban Development Corporation UDC with unprecedented powers to override local zoning condemn property and create financing schemes to carry out desired development The financing involved the creation of a new sort of bond what came to be called moral obligation bonds They were not backed by the full faith and credit of the State but the quasi public arrangements were meant to and did convey the impression that the State would not let them fail Rockefeller is criticized in some quarters for having contributed to the Too Big To Fail phenomenon in U S finance in general 75 UDC is now called the Empire State Development Corporation By 1973 the Rockefeller administration had completed or started over 88 000 units of housing for limited income families and the aging 76 Miscellaneous programs edit nbsp Rockefeller with labor leader David Dubinsky Mayor Robert F Wagner Jr and Cardinal Spellman at the 1959 Labor Day Parade in New York CityRockefeller worked with the legislature and unions to create generous pension programs for many public workers such as teachers professors firefighters police officers and prison guards He proposed the first statewide minimum wage law in the U S which was increased five times during his administration Additional accomplishments of Rockefeller s fifteen years as governor of New York include initiating the state lottery and off track betting adopting modern treatment techniques in state mental hospitals to reduce the number of mentally ill patients by over 50 creating the State Office of the Aging and constructing nearly 12 000 units of housing for the aging the first mandatory seatbelt law in the US and creating the State Consumer Protection Board 77 National Commission on Water Quality edit In May 1973 President Richard Nixon appointed Rockefeller chairman of the National Commission on Water Quality The commission was charged with determining the technological economic social and environmental implications of meeting water quality standards mandated by the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 The commission issued its report in March 1976 and he testified before Congress on its findings Presidential Mission to Latin America edit On February 17 1969 President Nixon commissioned a study to assess the state of Latin America Nixon appointed Rockefeller to direct the study The poor relationship between the two politicians suggested that Nixon would not be that interested in the results of the study There was a lack of interest for the region in the late 1960s to early 1970s 78 In April and May 1969 at the request of President Nixon Rockefeller and a team of 23 advisors visited 20 American republics during four trips to solicit opinions of U S inter American policies and to determine the needs and conditions of each country Most of the trips turned out to be an embarrassment Among the recommendations in Rockefeller s report to the President were preferential trade agreements with Latin American countries refinancing the region s foreign debt and removing bureaucratic impediments that prevented the efficient use of U S aid The Nixon administration did little to implement the report s recommendations 79 In his report preface Rockefeller wrote the following There is general frustration over the failure to achieve a more rapid improvement in standards of living The United States because of its identification with the failure of the Alliance for Progress to live up to expectations is blamed People in the countries concerned also used our visit as an opportunity to demonstrate their frustrations with the failure of their own governments to meet their needs demonstrations that began over grievances were taken over and exacerbated by anti US and subversive elements which sought to weaken the United States and their own governments in the process 78 A major part of the Rockefeller report suggested a reduction of U S involvement we in the United States cannot determine the internal political structure of any other nation Because there was little the United States should or could do toward changing the political atmosphere in other countries there was no reason to attempt to use economic aid as a political tool This was the justification to reduce economic aid in Latin America The Rockefeller report called for some aid to continue but the report recommended creating more effective aid programs 78 Transportation edit In 1967 Rockefeller won approval of the largest state bond issue at the time 2 5 billion for the coordinated development of mass transportation highways and airports He initiated the creation or expansion of over 22 000 miles 35 000 km of highway 80 including the Long Island Expressway the Southern Tier Expressway the Adirondack Northway and Interstate 81 which vastly improved road transportation in the state of New York Rockefeller introduced the state s first support for mass transportation He reformed the governance of New York City s transportation system creating the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority MTA in 1965 The MTA merged the New York City subway system with the publicly owned Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority the Long Island Rail Road Staten Island Rapid Transit and operation of lines that would later become Metro North Railroad along with the newly created MTA Bus Company which were purchased by the state from private owners in a massive public bailout of bankrupt railroads and struggling private bus companies located in Queens NY He also created the State Department of Transportation In taking over control of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Rockefeller shifted power away from Robert Moses and in doing so became the first politician to win such a battle with the master builder Moses in decades 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 now went to support mass transportation operations thus shifting costs from general state funds to the motorist In one controversial move Rockefeller abandoned one of Moses s most desired projects a Long Island Sound bridge from Rye to Oyster Bay in 1973 due to environmental opposition Welfare and Medicaid edit In the area of public assistance the Rockefeller administration carried out the largest state medical care program for the needy in the United States under Medicaid achieved the first major decline in New York State s welfare rolls since World War II required employable welfare recipients to take available jobs or job training began the state breakfast program for children in low income areas and established the first state loan fund for nonprofit groups to start day care centers 80 A supporter of universal healthcare Rockefeller served as consultant for Senator Jacob Javits Medicare for All bill that would expand benefits to every American Rockefeller described universal healthcare as the wave of the future and as a human right 81 82 83 Presidential campaigns editRockefeller sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1960 1964 and 1968 1960 edit His bid in the 1960 primary ended early when then Vice President Richard Nixon surged ahead in the polls After quitting the campaign Rockefeller backed Nixon and concentrated his efforts on introducing more moderate planks into Nixon s platform partially succeeding in the Treaty of Fifth Avenue 1964 edit Rockefeller as the leader of the Republicans Eastern Establishment began as the front runner for the 1964 nomination against conservative Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona who led the conservative wing of the Republican Party 84 85 In 1963 a year after Rockefeller s divorce from his first wife he married Margaretta Happy Murphy a divorcee with four children which alienated many Republican married women The divorce was widely condemned by politicians such as liberal Senator Prescott Bush of Connecticut who condemned his infidelity divorce and remarriage Rockefeller finished third in the New Hampshire primary in March behind write in Henry Cabot Lodge II from neighboring Massachusetts and Goldwater He then endured poor showings in several more of the party primaries before winning an upset in Oregon in May Rockefeller took a strong lead in the California primary and his team seemed so assured of his victory that it cut advertising funds in the last days of his campaign However the birth of Rockefeller s child three days before the California primary put the divorce and remarriage issue back in the minds of voters and on primary election day Rockefeller narrowly lost the California primary and dropped out of the race At a discouraging point in the 1964 California primary campaign against Goldwater his top political aide Stuart Spencer called on Rockefeller to summon that fabled nexus of money influence and condescension known as the Eastern Establishment You are looking at it buddy Rockefeller told Spencer I am all that is left 86 Rockefeller exaggerated but the collapse of his wing of the party was underway 87 However at the Republican National Convention in San Francisco in July Rockefeller was given five minutes to speak before the convention in defense of five amendments to the party platform put forth by the moderate wing of the Republican Party 88 to counter the Goldwater plank He was booed and heckled for sixteen minutes while he stood firmly at the podium insisting on his right to speak 89 However Goldwater supporters claimed that the booing was from not the convention floor but the gallery Rockefeller was reluctant to support Goldwater in the general election 90 Rockefeller s stump speeches often used the phrase the brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God reporters covering his campaign came to abbreviate the expression as BOMFOG 91 nbsp Rockefeller campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination in 19681968 edit Rockefeller again sought the presidential nomination in the 1968 primaries His opponents were Nixon and Governor Ronald Reagan of California In the contest Rockefeller again represented the liberals Reagan representing the conservatives and Nixon representing moderates and conservatives Shortly before the Republican convention Rockefeller finally let it be known that he was available to be the nominee and he sought to round up uncommitted delegates and woo reluctant Nixon delegates to his banner armed with public opinion polls that showed him doing better among voters than either Nixon or Reagan against Democrat Hubert Humphrey Despite Rockefeller s efforts Nixon won the nomination on the first ballot 92 nbsp Rockefeller front row 5th from left at the 1976 Republican National Convention along with left to right Robert Dole Nancy Reagan Ronald Reagan President Gerald Ford Susan Ford and Betty Ford Humphrey revealed in 1976 that he tried to convince Rockefeller to be his running mate in the Democratic ticket in 1968 but the latter refused to switch parties 93 Vice presidency 1974 1977 editSee also 1974 United States vice presidential confirmation Upon President Nixon s resignation on August 9 1974 Vice President Gerald Ford assumed the presidency On August 20 Ford nominated Rockefeller to be the next vice president of the United States In considering potential nominees Rockefeller was one of three primary candidates The other two were then United States Ambassador to NATO Donald Rumsfeld whom Ford eventually chose as his chief of staff and later secretary of defense and then Republican National Committee chairman George H W Bush who would eventually become vice president in his own right for two terms and president for one term 94 While acknowledging that many conservatives opposed Rockefeller Ford believed he would bring executive expertise to the administration and broaden the ticket s appeal if they ran in 1976 given Rockefeller s ability to attract support from constituencies that did not typically support Republicans including organized labor African Americans Hispanics and city dwellers Ford also felt he could demonstrate his own self confidence by selecting a strong personality like Rockefeller for the number two spot 95 Although he had said he was just not built for standby equipment 96 Rockefeller accepted the President s request to serve as vice president It was entirely a question of there being a Constitutional crisis and a crisis of confidence on the part of the American people I felt there was a duty incumbent on any American who could do anything that would contribute to a restoration of confidence in the democratic process and in the integrity of government Rockefeller was also persuaded by Ford s promise to make him a full partner in his presidency especially in domestic policy 97 Rockefeller underwent extended hearings before Congress suffering embarrassment when it was revealed he made massive gifts to senior aides such as Henry Kissinger and used his personal fortune to finance a scurrilous biography of political opponent Arthur Goldberg 98 He had also taken debatable deductions on his federal income taxes and ultimately agreed to pay nearly one million dollars to settle the issue but no illegalities were uncovered and he was confirmed Although conservative Republicans were not pleased that Rockefeller was picked most of them voted for his confirmation anyway nevertheless a minority bloc including Barry Goldwater Jesse Helms and Trent Lott voted against him 99 Many conservative groups campaigned against Rockefeller s nomination including the National Right to Life Committee the American Conservative Union and others The New York Conservative Party also opposed his confirmation despite the fact that its only elected member of the U S Congress then James L Buckley supported him 100 On the left Americans for Democratic Action opposed Rockefeller s confirmation because it said his wealth posed too much of a conflict of interest 101 The Senate had given its approval December 10 1974 90 to 7 The House confirmed his nomination 287 to 128 on December 19 102 Beginning his service upon taking the oath of office on December 19 Rockefeller was the second person appointed vice president under the 25th Amendment the first being Ford himself Rockefeller often seemed concerned that Ford gave him little or no power and few tasks while he was vice president Ford initially said he wanted Rockefeller to chair the Domestic Policy Council but Ford s new White House staff had no intention of sharing power with the vice president and his staff 103 nbsp Vice President Rockefeller right and his wife Happy second on left entertain President Gerald R Ford left his wife Betty second on right and their daughter Susan center at Number One Observatory Circle on September 7 1975 Rockefeller s attempt to take charge of domestic policy was thwarted by Chief of Staff Rumsfeld who objected to policy makers reporting to the president through the vice president When Rockefeller had one of his former aides James Cannon appointed executive director of the Domestic Council Rumsfeld cut its budget Rockefeller was excluded from the decision making process on many important issues When he learned that Ford had proposed cuts in federal taxes and spending he responded This is the most important move the president has made and I wasn t even consulted 104 However Ford appointed him to the Commission on the Organization of Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy and appointed him Chairman of the Commission on CIA Activities within the United States the National Commission on Productivity the Federal Compensation Committee and the Committee on the Right to Privacy 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 residence of the Chief of Naval Operations Previous vice presidents had been responsible for maintaining their own homes at their own expense but the necessity of full time Secret Service security had made this custom impractical Rockefeller already had a well secured Washington residence and never lived in the home as a principal residence Rockefeller was slow to make use of Air Force Two the official vice presidential aircraft Instead he continued to use his own Gulfstream which had the callsign Executive Two as a private aircraft Rockefeller felt he was saving taxpayer money this way Finally the Secret Service convinced him it was costing more to fly agents around separately for his protective detail than it would for him to travel on Air Force Two with them 105 1976 election edit With the moderate Ford facing continued difficulty in securing the support of conservative Republicans for the 1976 presidential nomination and anticipating a challenge from the conservative Ronald Reagan he considered the possibility of another running mate and discussed it with Rockefeller In November 1975 Rockefeller offered to withdraw Ford eventually concurred and in explaining his decision Rockefeller said 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 106 107 After Ford was nominated at the 1976 Republican National Convention Reagan Barry Goldwater and other prominent conservatives conditioned their support for Ford on his selection of a suitable vice presidential nominee Ford is the most recent incumbent president to not choose his incumbent vice president as his running mate Ford later said not choosing Rockefeller was one of his biggest mistakes 108 and one of the few cowardly things I did in my life 109 Rockefeller campaigned actively for the Republican ticket in 1976 In what would become an iconic photo of the 1976 campaign Rockefeller appeared to be responding to hecklers at a rally in Binghamton New York with a raised middle finger 110 Rockefeller s former right hand man Malcolm Wilson told reporter Richard Zander that Rockefeller just got his fingers mixed up while signaling somebody 111 While political observers scoffed at that explanation it may have been true Rockefeller had dyslexia and was known to favor his middle finger signing his signature with a pen held between his index and middle fingers When Rockefeller s camp saw that the obscene gesture story was popular to many Republicans they stopped denying that that had been his intent At the time Rockefeller s finger flashing was scandalous Writing about the moment 20 years later Michael Oricchio of the San Jose Mercury News said the action became known euphemistically as the Rockefeller gesture 110 The 1976 presidential campaign ended with Ford losing to Jimmy Carter Political ideology editMain article Rockefeller Republican Reflecting his interdisciplinary approach to problem solving Rockefeller took a pragmatic approach to governing In their book Rockefeller of New York Executive Power in the State House Robert Connery and Gerald Benjamin state Rockefeller was not committed to any ideology Rather he considered himself a practical problem solver much more interested in defining problems and finding solutions around which he could unite support sufficient to ensure their enactment in legislation than in following either a strictly liberal or strictly conservative course Rockefeller s programs did not consistently follow either liberal or conservative ideology Early fiscal policies were conservative while later ones were not so In the later years of his administration conservative decisions on social programs were paralleled by liberal ones on environmental issues 112 Rockefeller was opposed by conservatives in the GOP such as Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan because of his liberal political views Described as a big spender by historian Geoffrey Kabaservice Rockefeller spent more money as governor of New York than his Republican predecessor Thomas E Dewey who was more fiscally conservative 113 114 Rockefeller expanded the state s infrastructure increased spending on education including a massive expansion of the State University of New York and increased the state s involvement in environmental issues In foreign affairs Rockefeller supported U S involvement in the United Nations as well as U S foreign aid He also supported the U S s fight against communism and its membership in NATO As a result of Rockefeller s policies some conservatives sought to gain leverage by creating the Conservative Party of New York The small party acted as a minor counterweight to the Liberal Party of New York 115 The most common criticism of Rockefeller s governorship of New York is that he tried to do too much too fast vastly increasing the level of state debt which later contributed to New York s fiscal crisis in 1975 116 Rockefeller created some 230 public benefit authorities like the Urban Development Corporation 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 1960 to 8 8 billion in his last year 1973 1974 Rockefeller sought and obtained eight tax increases during his fifteen years in office 117 During his administration the tax burden rose to a higher level than in any other state and the incidence of taxation shifted with a greater share being borne by the individual taxpayer 118 Philanthropy and art patronage editRockefeller served as Chairman of Rockefeller Center Inc 1945 1953 and 1956 1958 and began a program of physical expansion there He and his four brothers established the Rockefeller Brothers Fund a philanthropy in 1940 he served as a trustee from 1940 1975 and 1977 1979 and as president in 1956 He established the American International Association for Economic and Social Development AIA in 1946 AIA was a philanthropy for the dissemination of technical and managerial expertise and equipment to underdeveloped countries to support grass roots efforts in overcoming illiteracy disease and poverty 119 Rockefeller served as a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art from 1932 to 1979 He also served as treasurer 1935 1939 and president 1939 1941 and 1946 1953 In 1933 Rockefeller was a member of the committee selecting art for the new Rockefeller Center For the wall opposite the main entrance of 30 Rockefeller Plaza Nelson Rockefeller wanted Henri Matisse or Pablo Picasso to paint a mural because he favored their modern style but neither was available Diego Rivera was one of Nelson Rockefeller s mother s favorite artists and therefore was commissioned to create the huge mural He was given a theme New Frontiers Rockefeller wanted the painting to make people pause and think Rivera submitted a sketch for a mural entitled Man at the Crossroads Looking with Hope and High Vision to the Choosing of a New and Better Future The sketch featured an anonymous man at the center However when it was painted the work caused great controversy due to the inclusion of a painting of Lenin depicting communism just off center 120 The Directors of Rockefeller Center objected and Rockefeller asked Rivera to change the face of Lenin to that of an unknown laborer s face as was originally intended but the painter refused The work was paid for on May 22 1933 and immediately draped Rockefeller suggested that the fresco could be donated to the Museum of Modern Art but the trustees of the museum were not interested 121 People protested but it remained covered until the early weeks of 1934 when it was smashed by workers and hauled away in wheelbarrows Rivera responded by saying that it was cultural vandalism At Rockefeller Center in its place is a mural by Jose Maria Sert which includes an image of Abraham Lincoln The Rockefeller Rivera dispute is covered in the films Cradle Will Rock and Frida Rockefeller was a noted collector of both modern and non Western art During his governorship New York State acquired major works of art for the new Empire State Plaza in Albany He continued his mother s work at the Museum of Modern Art as president and turned the basement of his Kykuit mansion into a gallery while placing works of sculpture around the grounds an activity he enjoyed personally supervising frequently moving the pieces from place to place by helicopter While he was overseeing construction of the State University of New York system Rockefeller built in collaboration with his lifelong friend Roy Neuberger the Philip Johnson designed Neuberger Museum on the campus of the State University of New York at Purchase He commissioned Master Santiago Martinez Delgado to make a canvas mural for the Bank of New York City Bank in Bogota Colombia this ended up being the last work of the artist as he died while finishing it Rockefeller s early visits to Mexico kindled a collecting interest in pre Columbian and contemporary Mexican art to which he added works of traditional African and Pacific Island art In 1954 he established the Museum of Primitive Art devoted to the indigenous art of the Americas Africa Oceania and early Asia and Europe His personal collection formed the core of the collection In 1956 Frederic Huntington Douglas was named honorary Curator of the American Indian section of the Nelson Rockefeller Museum of Native Arts in New York 122 The museum opened to the public in 1957 in a townhouse at 15 West 54th Street in New York City In 1969 he gave the museum s collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where it became the Michael C Rockefeller Collection In 1978 Alfred A Knopf published a book on primitive art from Rockefeller s collection Rockefeller impressed with the work of photographer Lee Boltin and editor publisher Paul Anbinder on the book co founded Nelson Rockefeller Publications Inc with them with the goal of publishing fine art books of high quality After Rockefeller s death less than a year later the company continued as Hudson Hills Press Inc In 1977 he founded Nelson Rockefeller Collection Inc NRC an art reproduction company that produced and sold licensed reproductions of selected works from Rockefeller s collection In the introduction to the NRC catalog he stated he was motivated by his desire to share with others the joy of living with these beautiful objects Personal life editOn June 23 1930 Rockefeller married Mary Todhunter Clark 17 They had five children Rodman Clark Rockefeller Ann Rockefeller Steven Clark Rockefeller and twins Michael Clark Rockefeller and Mary Rockefeller Michael Rockefeller disappeared in New Guinea in November 1961 He is presumed to have drowned while trying to swim to shore after his dugout canoe capsized Nelson and Mary Rockefeller were divorced in 1962 On May 4 1963 Rockefeller married Margaretta Large Happy Fitler They had two sons together Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller Jr and Mark Fitler Rockefeller With his first wife Rockefeller had lived at the three top floors at 810 Fifth Avenue After his divorce and second marriage Mary Rockefeller kept the two top floors of the triplex apartment 123 The apartment was expanded by purchasing a floor of 812 Fifth Avenue The two spaces connected via a flight of six steps 124 Nelson and Happy Rockefeller used the entrance at 812 Fifth while his first wife entered through 810 Fifth 125 They remained married until his death Rockefeller engaged in numerous extramarital affairs during his marriages His first wife resented his adultery which was one of the main reasons for their divorce 126 Rockefeller convinced his first wife early in the marriage that they should live separate lives but stay married for the sake of public appearances and the children 126 There has been speculation surrounding Malinda Fitler Murphy b 1960 the youngest daughter of Happy Rockefeller and Dr James Slater Murphy with many in the Rockefeller inner circle believing her to be Nelson Rockefeller s daughter In his diary Rockefeller intimate Ken Riland used a tone of knowing irony when mentioning Malinda putting the word stepfather in quotes Ellen the wife of Wally Harrison the architect and Rockefeller confidant claimed that Malinda s parentage was an open secret among Rockefeller associates 126 Rockefeller was a patient of famous psychic Edgar Cayce 127 Death edit nbsp Rockefeller and President Jimmy Carter in October 1977Rockefeller died on January 26 1979 from a heart attack two years and six days after departing the vice presidency 128 He was 70 129 An initial report incorrectly stated that he died at his desk in his office at Rockefeller Center 130 131 However the report was soon corrected to state that Rockefeller actually had the fatal heart attack at another location a townhouse he owned at 13 West 54th Street 132 The heart attack occurred in the late evening in the presence of Megan Marshack a 25 year old aide 133 After Rockefeller suffered the heart attack Marshack called her friend news reporter Ponchitta Pierce to the townhouse Pierce phoned an ambulance approximately an hour after the heart attack 134 Rockefeller s remains were cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery in nearby Hartsdale New York On January 29 1979 family and close friends gathered to inter his ashes in the private Rockefeller family cemetery in Sleepy Hollow New York 135 A memorial service was held at Riverside Church in Upper Manhattan on February 2 the service was attended by 2 200 people Attendees included President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger 136 Speculation surrounding death edit The circumstances of Rockefeller s death led to widespread speculation regarding a possible adulterous relationship between Rockefeller and Marshack 137 138 139 Marshack had worked for Rockefeller when he served as vice president had relocated to New York and continued to work for him after his term as vice president ended and had received financial assistance from Rockefeller in purchasing and furnishing a condominium several doors down from his Manhattan townhouse 138 In a Public Broadcasting Service PBS documentary about the Rockefeller family longtime Rockefeller aide Joseph E Persico said It became known that Rockefeller had been alone with a young woman who worked for him in undeniably intimate circumstances and in the course of that evening had died from a heart attack 140 Rockefeller s four oldest children issued a statement saying that they had conducted their own review that they believed their father could not have been saved and that all those who tried to help had acted responsibly Neither Marshack nor the family has ever commented publicly on the circumstances surrounding Rockefeller s death 141 The family would not consent to an autopsy 142 In 2017 the New York Daily News stated that following Rockefeller s death it wasn t long before Johnny Carson could start drawing laughs merely by uttering the words Megan Marshack 138 New York magazine quipped that Nelson thought he was coming but he was going 143 Legacy editAwards named after Rockefeller edit Nelson A Rockefeller Award Purchase College School of the Arts presented annually to five individuals who have distinguished themselves through their contributions to the arts or the environment Governor Nelson A Rockefeller Award for Excellence in Public Service State Academy for Public Administration Nelson A Rockefeller Distinguished Public Service Award Nelson A Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences Dartmouth College Nelson A Rockefeller Award American Society for Public Administration Empire State Capital Area Chapter presented to an individual whose governmental career in New York State demonstrates exemplary leadership performance and achievement in shaping public policy developing and implementing major public programs or resolving major public problems Nelson A Rockefeller Award The New York Water Environment Association Inc awarded to an elected official at a city population over 250 000 state or national level who has made a substantial and meaningful contribution to advancing effective environmental programs Nelson A Rockefeller Public Service Award Rockefeller Institute of Government 1988 1994 Awards received edit Presidential Medal of Freedom 1977 Universal Brotherhood Medal Jewish Theological Seminary of America 1961 Charles Evans Hughes Medal National Conference of Christians and Jews 1965 Distinguished Service to Conservation Award National Wildlife Federation Sears Roebuck Foundation 1966 Gold Medal Award National Institute of Social Sciences 1967 awarded to all five Rockefeller brothers Award of Merit American Institute of Architects New York Chapter 1968 Distinguished Service Award State University of New York 1973 Four Freedoms Foundation Award 1974 Order of Merit Chile 1945 National Order of the Southern Cross Brazil 1946 Order of the Aztec Eagle Mexico 1949 Order of Ruben Dario Nicaragua 1953 Medallion de los Andes University of the Andes Colombia 1958 Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres France 1958 Grande Croix de l Ordre de Leopold II of Belgium 1959 Ramon Magsaysay Award Philippines 1959 Grand Cross of the Order of Orange Nassau Netherlands 1960 Prathamabhorn Knight Grand Cross of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant Thailand 1960 Legion d honneur Commandeur France 1960 Commander of the Order of Dannebrog 1st Class Denmark 1960 Grand Ufficials del Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana Italy 1962 Order of the White Rose Commander 1st Class Finland 1962 Agricultural Merit Award Brazilian Rural Confederation 1963 Grand Cordon of the Order of the Brilliant Star Nationalist China 1969 Nicholas Copernicus Award Poland 1972Memorials edit nbsp Nelson A Rockefeller Park is an enclave within Battery Park City in New York City The following institutions and facilities have been named in honor of Nelson A Rockefeller The Nelson A Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences Dartmouth College a social science research center 144 The Nelson A Rockefeller Collegiate Center Binghamton University New York 145 The Governor Nelson A Rockefeller Empire State Plaza 146 Nelson A Rockefeller Park Battery Park City New York City 147 P S 121 in Brooklyn NY was renamed Nelson A Rockefeller Elementary School 148 See also editElectoral history of Nelson Rockefeller GE Building Room 5600 The Rockefeller Family Office Wallace HarrisonReferences editCitations edit Biography Nelson A Rockefeller American Experience PBS Kabaservice Geoffrey 2012 Rule and Ruin Oxford University Press p 46 ISBN 9780199912902 Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller remains the best known progressive Republican of recent times a b Morris 1960 p 7 a b c Persico 1982 p 23 a b c Persico 1982 p 24 Persico 1982 pp 23 24 NELSON W ALDRICH EX SENATOR DEAD Leader in Congress for Thirty Years Stricken with Apoplexy in Fifth Avenue Home The New York Times April 17 1915 Morris 1960 p 11 Morris 1960 p 12 a b Persico 1982 pp 24 25 Morris 1960 p 29 Persico 1982 p 29 Morris 1960 p 81 Morris 1960 p 39 Persico 1982 p 28 Sobel Robert Sicilia David B 2003 The United States Executive Branch A Biographical Directory of Heads of State and Cabinet Officials Greenwood Press p 538 ISBN 978 0 313 31134 5 a b Morris 1960 p 82 Gervasi Frank 1964 The Real Rockefeller The Story of the Rise Decline and Resurgence of the Presidential Aspirations of Nelson Rockefeller New York NY Atheneum p 210 via Google Books a b Greenhouse Linda January 28 1979 For Nearly a Generation Nelson Rockefeller Held the Reins of New York State The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 19 2019 Cramer Gisela Prutsch Ursula Nelson A Rockefeller s Office of Inter American Affairs 1940 1946 and Record Group 229 Hispanic American Historical Review 2006 86 4 785 806 doi 10 1215 00182168 2006 050 Morris 1960 pp 129 135 Time June 1 1942 Karitha Bernardo de Macedo Brazilian cinema Hollywood and the Good Neighbourhood Policy in the 1930s a background for Carmen Miranda PDF Retrieved November 22 2014 1 Charles Higham The Films of Orson Welles University of California Press 1971 ISBN 0 520 02048 0 ISBN 978 0 520 02048 1 p 85 a b Reich 1996 pp 383 386 Glass Andrew October 23 2015 United Nations comes into existence Oct 24 1945 Politico com Retrieved January 19 2017 Reich 1996 pp 278 304 Morris 1960 pp 215 222 Crandall Britta H January 16 2011 Hemispheric Giants The Misunderstood History of U S Brazilian Relations Lanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield p 59 ISBN 978 1 4422 0787 5 Holocaust Era Assets Records of the Office of Inter American Affairs Civilian Agency Records National Archives and Records Administration Retrieved March 18 2015 Cary Reich 1996 The Life of Nelson A Rockefeller Worlds to Conquer 1908 1958 Doubleday p 383 ISBN 9780385246965 Morris 1960 pp 251 255 Smith 2014 ch 10 Nelson A Rockefeller North American Congress on Latin America Retrieved January 20 2017 Reich 1996 pp 521 527 Reich 1996 p 558 Reich 1996 pp 611 618 Reich 1996 p 575 Reich 1996 pp 577 583 Reich 1996 p 560 Reich 1996 p 617 Fund Rockefeller Brothers 1961 Prospect for America The Rockefeller Panel Reports Doubleday ISBN 9780598500687 Creation of the Special Studies Project in 1956 see Reich 1996 pp 650 667 Relationship with Kissinger Isaacson 2005 pp 90 93 Frank Jeffrey October 6 2014 Big Spender The New Yorker ISSN 0028 792X Retrieved October 19 2019 a b Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller A Biographical Chronology PDF Rockefeller Archive Center Archived from the original PDF on March 4 2016 Retrieved October 18 2019 Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 4 1958 PDF clerk house gov March 16 1959 Retrieved October 18 2019 Lynn Frank February 27 1974 A Zestful Rockefeller Steers Choices Study The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 19 2019 Maeder Jay July 10 2001 Repealing the abortion law May 1972 Chapter 397 New York Daily News p 4 Archived from the original on July 10 2012 Retrieved January 14 2012 Benjamin Gerald Hurd T Norman eds 1984 The Builder Rockefeller in Retrospect The Governor s New York Legacy Albany N Y Nelson A Rockefeller Institute of Govt pp 79 82 ISBN 0 914341 01 4 OCLC 11770290 Frederic Church s Olana on the Hudson Hudson NY The Olana Partnership Rizzoli International Publications 2018 p 195 ISBN 9780847863112 Is the Rock Still Solid Time October 19 1970 City in the sky the rise and fall of the World Trade Center James Glanz Eric Lipton Macmillan 2003 ISBN 0 8050 7428 7 ISBN 978 0 8050 7428 4 p 55 State of New York Public Papers of Nelson A Rockefeller Fifty third Governor of the State of New York vol 15 1973 Albany NY State of New York 1973 pp 1382 1386 Portage native Russell Peterson dies at 94 Wiscnews com February 24 2011 Retrieved January 14 2012 a b Smith J Y January 28 1979 Nelson Rockefeller 41st Vice President N Y Ex Governor Art Connoisseur The Washington Post Retrieved February 13 2019 Lynn Frank March 1 1975 Rockefeller Quits as Chairman of Critical Choices Commission The New York times Retrieved February 13 2019 via The Times s print archive Theodore Roosevelt Alfred E Smith Nelson Rockefeller George Pataki The New York State Preservationist NYS Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation Fall Winter 2006 p 20 State of New York Public Papers of Nelson A Rockefeller Fifty third Governor of the State of New York vol 15 1973 Albany NY State of New York 1973 p 1384 Graham Frank Jr The Adirondack Park A Political History New York City Knopf 1978 State of New York Public Papers of Nelson A Rockefeller Fifty third Governor of the State of New York vol 15 1973 Albany NY State of New York 1973 p 1381 a b State of New York Public Papers of Nelson A Rockefeller Fifty third Governor of the State of New York vol 15 1973 Albany NY State of New York 1973 p 1379 Connery amp Benjamin 1979 p 242 List of pre Furman executions in New York Archived March 25 2008 at the Wayback Machine Regional Studies Northeast Archived April 22 2008 at the Wayback Machine Craig Brandon The Electric Chair An Unnatural American History 1999 WGBH 2000 Clyde Haberman September 14 2011 The Somber Shadows of Attica The New York Times Retrieved November 10 2012 Benjamin and Rappaport Attica and Prison Reform in Governing New York State The Rockefeller Years p 206 Francis X Clines September 19 2011 Postscripts to the Attica Story The New York Times p A26 Retrieved November 10 2012 Connery amp Benjamin 1979 pp 266 274 SUNY Buffalo School of Management History University at Buffalo 2017 Archived from the original on October 5 2017 Retrieved October 4 2017 UB at a Glance Buffalo edu Archived from the original on May 18 2019 Retrieved October 4 2017 State of New York Public Papers of Nelson A Rockefeller Fifty third Governor of the State of New York vol 15 1973 Albany NY State of New York 1973 p 1380 Christine S Richard Confidence Game How a Hedge Fund Manager Called Wall Street s Bluff Hoboken NJ Wiley amp Sons 2010 62 63 State of New York Public Papers of Nelson A Rockefeller Fifty third Governor of the State of New York vol 15 1973 Albany NY State of New York 1973 p 1382 State of New York Public Papers of Nelson A Rockefeller Fifty third Governor of the State of New York vol 15 1973 Albany NY State of New York 1973 pp 1378 1382 1383 1384 a b c Taffet Jeffrey April 23 2007 Foreign Aid as Foreign Policy The Alliance for Progress in Latin America Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 97771 5 page 185 188 Persico 1982 p 106 a b State of New York Public Papers of Nelson A Rockefeller Fifty third Governor of the State of New York vol 15 1973 Albany NY State of New York 1973 p 1385 MEDICARE FOR ALL IS ASKED BY JAVITS The Nw York April 15 1970 Unity Freedom and Peace A Blueprint for Tomorrow by Nelson Rockefeller Random House 1968 Universal Health Insurance Is the Wave of the Future Nelson A Rockefeller 1971 Richard Norton Smith 2014 18 On His Own Terms A Life of Nelson Rockefeller Rick Perlstein 2001 18 Before the Storm Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus Smith 2014 On His Terms A Life of Nelson Rockefeller p xxi Nicol C Rae 1989 The Decline and Fall of the Liberal Republicans From 1952 to the Present Kramer amp Roberts 1976 p 283 Persico 1982 pp 65 66 Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller vice president of United States Britannica Online Encyclopedia Retrieved November 6 2013 Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller 41st Vice President 1974 1977 United States Senate Retrieved November 7 2012 Buchanan Patrick 2015 The greatest comeback How Richard Nixon rose from defeat to create the new majority Crown Forum ISBN 978 0553418651 Humphrey Reports Rockefeller Rejected Role as Running Mate The New York Times May 2 1976 George H W Bush December 29 2014 Gerald R Ford A Time to Heal The Autobiography of Gerald R Ford New York 1979 pp 143 144 Persico 1982 p 245 Robert T Hartmann Palace Politics An Inside Account of the Ford Years New York 1980 pp 230 236 Peter Carroll It Seemed Like Nothing Happened p 162 Time magazine article Archived November 30 2007 at the Wayback Machine TO CONFIRM THE NOMINATION OF NELSON A ROCKEFELLER TO BE Senate Vote 1092 Dec 10 1974 Rockefeller conflicts raise debate Anchorage Daily News Associated Press November 26 1974 Retrieved November 10 2012 permanent dead link CQ Almanac Online Edition Paul C Light Vice Presidential Power Advice and influence in the White House Baltimore Press 1984 pp 180 183 Persico 1982 pp 262 Petro Joseph Jeffrey Robinson 2005 Standing Next to History An Agent s Life Inside the Secret Service New York Thomas Dunne Books ISBN 0 312 33221 1 Excerpts From Rockefeller Conference Explaining His Withdrawal Are You Going to Stop Interests of the People The New York Times November 7 1975 p 16 Retrieved November 10 2012 Mutual Decision Vice President s Letter Gives No Reason for his Withdrawal The New York Times November 4 1975 p 73 Remarks of Gerald R Ford Nelson A Rockefeller Public Service Award Dinner May 22 1991 Mieczkowski Yanek 2005 Gerald Ford and the Challenges of the 1970s Lexington KY University Press of Kentucky p 311 ISBN 978 0 8131 2349 3 a b Weeks Linton August 26 2010 Is Giving The Finger Getting Out Of Hand NPR Rosen Sy 1998 From Rocky to Pataki Character and Caricatures in New York Politics p 48 Connery amp Benjamin 1979 p 424 Connery amp Benjamin 1979 p 189 The Last Liberal Republican President with John R Price The Niskanen Center October 27 1971 Connery amp Benjamin 1979 pp 44 45 Connery amp Benjamin 1979 p 439 Connery amp Benjamin 1979 p 427 Connery amp Benjamin 1979 p 428 Morris 1960 p 242 Rockefeller Controversy Diego Rivera Prints Archived from the original on October 11 2007 Retrieved October 2 2007 Reich 1996 p 110 Wormington H Marie Frederic Huntington Douglas PDF Cambridge The Upper East Side Book Fifth Avenue 810 Fifth Avenue Thecityreview com Retrieved January 14 2012 Luxury apartment houses of Manhattan an illustrated history Andrew Alpern Dover Publications 1992 p 112 Presidential Politics Yields to Privacy At Apartments of 3 Candidates Here Where Privacy Eclipses Politics March 18 1968 The New York Times a b c Smith Richard Norton October 21 2014 On His Own Terms A Life of Nelson Rockefeller Random House Publishing Group ISBN 9780812996876 Edgar Cayce an American prophet Sidney Kirkpatrick Riverhead Books 2000 page 10 New York Governor and United States Vice President Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller dies after a heart attack in 1979 nydailynews com January 25 2015 Siemaszko Corky August 14 2017 The story of Nelson Rockefeller s death and the spin that kept the sexy truth out of the headlines nydailynews com On This Day In History January 26 Dream of Presidency Never Achieved Brooklyn Eagle January 26 2012 See for example CBS News report of February 8 1979 Roger Mudd reporting on conflicting stories about circumstances of Rockefeller s death McFadden Robert D January 29 1979 New Details Are Reported on How Rockefeller Died The New York Times Rockefellers have known prominence tragedy lohud com See Deane 1999 and these print media articles Robert C McFadden January 29 1979 New Details Are Reported on How Rockefeller Died The New York Times p B4 Retrieved November 10 2012 Robert C McFadden January 30 1979 Call to 911 for Stricken Rockefeller Did Not Identify Him Tape Shows The New York Times p A13 Retrieved November 10 2012 Robert C McFadden February 7 1979 Rockefeller s Attack Is Now Placed at 10 15 Hour Before Emergency Call The New York Times p 1 Retrieved November 10 2012 Robert D McFadden February 9 1979 Rockefeller Aide Did Not Make Call to 911 TV Personality Friend of Megan Marshack Phoned for Help The New York Times p B3 Retrieved November 10 2012 and Marshack Friend Makes Statement on Rockefeller The New York Times February 11 1979 Retrieved November 10 2012 Francis X Clines About Pocantico Hills Advance Man Stays on the Job The New York Times January 30 1979 Fried Joseph P February 3 1979 Memorial Expresses Rockefeller Spirit The New York Times Frank Jeffrey October 6 2014 Big Spender The New Yorker via www newyorker com a b c Siemaszko Corky August 14 2017 The story of Nelson Rockefeller s death and the spin that kept the sexy truth out of the headlines New York Daily News Retrieved March 30 2018 Jackovich Karen Clifford Garry February 26 1979 Megan Marshack the Ambitious Aide Whose Silence Deepens the Mystery of Rockefeller s Death People Retrieved March 30 2018 See Deane 1999 The speculation was further fueled by reports that Marshack was a named beneficiary in his will see for example Peter Kihss Bulk of Rockefeller s Estate Is Left to Wife Museums Get Large Gifts The New York Times February 10 1979 a piece that aired on NBC s Evening News on February 9 1979 and a piece by Max Robinson that aired on ABC Evening News on February 9 1979 Robert D McFadden 4 Rockefeller Children Say All At Hand Did Their Best The New York Times February 15 1979 the statement released by Rockefeller s children concludes we do not intend to make any further public comment The Book of Lists 2 The People s Almanac 1981 p 453 ISBN 0 552 11681 5 Compiled by David Wallechinsky and others List 10 Prominent People Who Died In Suspicious Circumstances and Never Had Autopsies It places the first report of his death as being at his town house not office Siegel Lee March 30 2012 Rocks Off New York Retrieved November 21 2022 History of the Center Nelson A Rockefeller Center for Public Policy rockefeller dartmouth edu August 14 2015 Retrieved February 21 2016 Binghamton University Hinman History www binghamton edu Archived from the original on April 29 2017 Retrieved June 6 2017 Matthews Joe September 29 1997 Rockefeller s big dream realized The Baltimore Sun Archived from the original on February 2 2017 Retrieved January 19 2017 Nelson A Rockefeller Park NYMag com Welcome P S 121 Nelson A Rockefeller K121 New York City Department of Education schools nyc gov Cited works edit Connery Robert H Benjamin Gerald 1979 Rockefeller of New York Executive Power in the Statehouse Ithaca New York Cornell University Press ISBN 9780801411885 Deane Elizabeth 1999 Transcript The Rockefellers American Experience Boston PBS Archived from the original on January 26 2012 Retrieved September 6 2017 Isaacson Walter 2005 1992 Kissinger A Biography New York Simon amp Schuster Kramer Michael Roberts Sam 1976 I Never Wanted to be Vice President of Anything An Investigative Biography of Nelson Rockefeller New York Basic Books Persico Joseph E 1982 The Imperial Rockefeller A Biography of Nelson A Rockefeller New York Simon amp Schuster ISBN 9780671254186 Rae Nicol C The Decline and Fall of the Liberal Republicans From 1952 to the Present 1989 Reich Cary 1996 The Life of Nelson A Rockefeller Worlds to Conquer 1908 1958 Doubleday ISBN 9780385246965 Smith Richard Norton On His Terms A Life of Nelson Rockefeller New York Random House 2014 A standard scholarly biography People amp Events Nelson A Rockefeller 1908 1979 American Experience Boston WGBH 2000 Archived from the original on November 20 2012 Retrieved September 6 2017 Further reading editBoyd Joseph H Jr Holcomb Charles R 2012 Oreos and Dubonnet Remembering Governor Nelson A Rockefeller Albany SUNY Press ISBN 978 1 4384 4183 2 Colby Gerard Dennet Charlotte 1996 Thy Will be Done The Conquest of The Amazon Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil HarperPerennial ISBN 0 06 092723 2 Dagen Bloom Nicholas 2019 How States Shaped Postwar America University of Chicago Press Maxwell Allen Brewster Evoking Latin American collaboration in the Second World War A study of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter American Affairs 1940 1946 PhD dissertation Tufts University Medford MA 1971 Morris Joe Alex 1960 Nelson Rockefeller A Biography New York Harper amp Brothers Paquette Catha 2017 At the Crossroads Diego Rivera and his Patrons at MoMA Rockefeller Center and the Palace of Fine Arts Austin University of Texas Press ISBN 978 1477311004 Rae Nicol C Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich American National Biography Online Feb 2000 Access Oct 21 2014 Rowland Donald W History of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter American Affairs US Government Printing Office 1947 Turner Michael The Vice President as Policy Maker Rockefeller in the Ford White House 1982 Underwood James F and William J Daniels Governor Rockefeller in New York The Apex of Pragmatic Liberalism in the United States 1982 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nelson Rockefeller 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 Rockefeller campaigning for Governor of New York in 1958 Rockefeller Archive Center Archived papers of the Special Studies Project 1956 1960 Rockefeller biography at Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Spartacus educational biography Rockefeller profile at SourceWatch Nelson Rockefeller at Find a Grave Finding aid for the Nelson Rockefeller Oral History Dwight D Eisenhower Presidential Library Archived January 14 2009 at the Wayback Machine Newspaper clippings about Nelson Rockefeller in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW Government officesNew office Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs1944 1945 Succeeded bySpruille BradenParty political officesPreceded byIrving Ives Republican nominee for Governor of New York1958 1962 1966 1970 Succeeded byMalcolm WilsonPolitical officesNew office Under Secretary of Health Education and Welfare1953 1954 Succeeded byHerold C HuntPreceded byW Averell Harriman Governor of New York1959 1973 Succeeded byMalcolm WilsonPreceded byGerald Ford Vice President of the United States1974 1977 Succeeded byWalter Mondale Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Nelson Rockefeller amp oldid 1206871014, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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