Nelson Rockefeller's Birthday
The other moderate (or some would even say "liberal" Republican who was born on this day was Nelson Rockefeller, the former New York Governor and Vice-President, who was born on July 8, 1908 (113 years ago today). Nelson Rockefeller was the poor little rich guy who, even in the 1960s, was too moderate for the Republican Party. He wanted to be President, but only made it to the Vice President's chair, with a little help from a resigning Richard Nixon.
He was born Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller on July 8, 1908 in Bar Harbor, Maine, son of the famous John Davison Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. He was the grandson of Standard Oil founder and chairman John Davison Rockefeller, Sr. and United States Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich, a Republican from Rhode Island. He was the third child in a family that included a sister Abby (1903-1976) and four brothers: John D. 3rd (1906-1978), Laurance S. (1910-2004), Winthrop (1912-1973), and David (1915-). In 1930, he graduated with a degree in economics from Dartmouth College and from there he went on to worked in a number of family businesses, including Chase National bank (later Chase Manhattan), the Rockefeller Center Inc., and Creole Petroleum, the Venezuelan subsidiary of Standard Oil of New Jersey. He and his four brothers established the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a philanthropic organization and he became its president in 1956.
He became fluent in Spanish and in 1940 President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him to the new position of Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, in which he was charged with overseeing a program of U.S. cooperation with the nations of Latin America. In 1944 President Roosevelt appointed Rockefeller Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs. Rockefeller was a member of the U.S. delegation at the United Nations Conference on International Organization at San Francisco in 1945, a gathering which marked the UN's founding. Rockefeller was also instrumental in persuading the UN to establish its headquarters in New York City. After a brief hiatus from government, in 1950 President Harry S. Truman appointed him Chairman of the International Development Advisory Board. In 1954 he was appointed Special Assistant to the President for Foreign Affairs by Dwight Eisenhower.
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. This led to a lifelong relationship with Kissinger. Rockefeller resigned federal service in 1956 to focus on New York state politics. In 1958, he was elected Governor of New York by over 600,000 votes, defeating the incumbent, Averell Harriman, even though 1958 was a banner year for Democrats elsewhere in the nation. Rockefeller was ultimately elected to four consecutive four-year terms as governor of New York State, getting re-elected in 1962, 1966 and 1970. He resigned three years into his fourth term to work at the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans. Rockefeller has the ninth longest gubernatorial tenure in U.S. history at 5,466 days. Under his governorship, the state's education system grew from 29 campuses and 38,000 full-time students to 72 campuses and 232,000 full-time students. His administration quadrupled state aid to primary and secondary schools and it provided the first state financial support for educational television and required special education for children with disabilities in public schools.He also began expansion of the New York State Parks system and his administration built or started 55 new state parks. Rockefeller ordered studies of environmental issues and he launched the Pure Waters Program, the first state bond issue to combat water pollution.
In 1967 Rockefeller won approval of the largest state bond issue at the time ($2.5 billion) for the creation and expansion of over 22,000 miles of highway including the Long Island Expressway, the Southern Tier Expressway, the Adirondack Northway, and Interstate 81. He created 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 later the Metro North Railroad.
In the area of public assistance the Rockefeller administration carried out the largest state medical care program in the United States under Medicaid. His administration achieved the first major decline in New York State's welfare rolls since World War II and it 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.
Rockefeller's administration also outlawed job discrimination based on gender or age. It increased by nearly 50% the number of African Americans and Hispanics holding state jobs and appointed women to head the largest number of state agencies in state history. It passed laws prohibiting discrimination against women in education, employment, housing and credit applications and admitted the first women to the State Police. He backed New York's ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
During his time as governor Rockefeller doubled the size of the state police and established the New York State Police Academy.He appointed 228 additional state judgeships to reduce court congestion. In 1963 Rockefeller signed legislation abandoning the mandatory death penalty, although Rockefeller was a supporter of capital punishment and oversaw 14 executions by electrocution as Governor. The execution of Eddie Mays in 1963 remains the last execution in New York. 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.
In 1962, he proposed a program of voluntary rehabilitation for addicted convicts rather than prison time. 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 turned this into a program of compulsory treatment, rehabilitation, and aftercare for three years, but it did little to reduce the drug trade in the state. He passed some of the toughest drug laws in the United States.
Rockefeller supported reform of New York's abortion laws, proposing exceptions allowed for the protection of the mother's health, or in circumstances of fetal abnormality. The reform bills did not pass, but eventually an outright repeal of the prohibition against abortions passed in 1970, and in 1972, he vetoed another bill that would have restored the abortion ban, saying "I do not believe it right for one group to impose its vision of morality on an entire society."
Rockefeller sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1960, 1964, and 1968. His bid in 1960 was ended early when 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. He was considered the front-runner for the 1964 campaign against conservative Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, but in 1963, a year after divorcing his first wife, Rockefeller married Margaretta "Happy" Murphy, a divorcee with four children. The divorce hurt Rockefeller's standing among Republicans. The birth of Rockefeller's child during the California campaign put the divorce and remarriage issue back in the headlines and he dropped out of the race after losing the California primary. At the Republican National Convention in San Francisco in July, right wing delegates booed and heckled Rockefeller for 16 minutes while he stood firmly at the podium insisting on his right to speak. Rockefeller refused to support Goldwater in the general election. This animosity between Rockefeller and Goldwater would be remembered by Goldwater, who would subsequently vote against Rockefeller's confirmation for the Vice Presidency in 1974 and who would block Rockefeller from being on the 1976 presidential ticket.
Rockefeller again sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1968. His opponents were Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Nixon easily defeated both Reagan and Rockefeller, however.
Following Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974, President Gerald Ford nominated Rockefeller on August 20 to serve as Vice President of the United States. Ford believed that Rockefeller would bring executive expertise to the administration and broaden the ticket's appeal if they ran in 1976. Rockefeller accepted the position with some reluctance, saying that he was "not built to be standby equipment." Ford's promised to make him "a full partner" in his presidency, especially in domestic policy. Rockefeller underwent hearings before Congress, where 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. He owed nearly one million dollars in federal income taxes, but he was confirmed nevertheless, even though conservative Republicans were not pleased. Besides Goldwater, Jesse Helms and Trent Lott voted against him.
Rockefeller took the oath of office on Thursday, December 19, 1974. He was the second person appointed vice president under the 25th Amendment (Ford was the first). The opposition to Rockefeller within the party caused Ford to renege on his promise of sharing power with his vice president. 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 said: "This is the most important move the president has made, and I wasn't even consulted."
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. Prior vice presidents had been responsible for maintaining their own homes at their own expense, but the necessity of massive full-time Secret Service security had made this impractical. Rockefeller's wealth enabled him to donate millions of dollars of furnishings to the house.
In November 1975, Rockefeller told Ford that he would not run for election in 1976. At the 1976 Republican National Convention, Ford felt pressure from the conservative wing of the party decided to choose the more conservative Bob Dole from Kansas as his running mate, instead of Rockefeller. Reagan and Goldwater did not want Rockefeller on the ticket. To date, Ford is the last president to not have his vice president as his running mate. Ford later said not choosing Rockefeller was one of the biggest mistakes he ever made. Rockefeller campaigned actively for the Republican ticket. In what would become an famous photo from the campaign, Rockefeller famously responded to hecklers at a rally in Binghamton, New York with a raised middle finger.
Rockefeller died on January 26, 1979, at age 70 from a heart attack. An initial report had incorrectly said that he was at his office at Rockefeller Center working and a security guard found him slumped over his desk. However Rockefeller actually had the fatal heart attack in another office he owned in a townhouse at 13 West 54th Street in the presence of Megan Marshack, an aide. After the heart attack, Marshack called her friend, news reporter Ponchitta Pierce, to the townhouse, and Pierce phoned an ambulance. There was speculation in the press regarding the possibility of an intimate relationship between Rockefeller and Marshack. Neither Marshack nor the Rockefeller family has commented on the rumor.
He was born Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller on July 8, 1908 in Bar Harbor, Maine, son of the famous John Davison Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. He was the grandson of Standard Oil founder and chairman John Davison Rockefeller, Sr. and United States Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich, a Republican from Rhode Island. He was the third child in a family that included a sister Abby (1903-1976) and four brothers: John D. 3rd (1906-1978), Laurance S. (1910-2004), Winthrop (1912-1973), and David (1915-). In 1930, he graduated with a degree in economics from Dartmouth College and from there he went on to worked in a number of family businesses, including Chase National bank (later Chase Manhattan), the Rockefeller Center Inc., and Creole Petroleum, the Venezuelan subsidiary of Standard Oil of New Jersey. He and his four brothers established the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a philanthropic organization and he became its president in 1956.
He became fluent in Spanish and in 1940 President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him to the new position of Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, in which he was charged with overseeing a program of U.S. cooperation with the nations of Latin America. In 1944 President Roosevelt appointed Rockefeller Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs. Rockefeller was a member of the U.S. delegation at the United Nations Conference on International Organization at San Francisco in 1945, a gathering which marked the UN's founding. Rockefeller was also instrumental in persuading the UN to establish its headquarters in New York City. After a brief hiatus from government, in 1950 President Harry S. Truman appointed him Chairman of the International Development Advisory Board. In 1954 he was appointed Special Assistant to the President for Foreign Affairs by Dwight Eisenhower.
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. This led to a lifelong relationship with Kissinger. Rockefeller resigned federal service in 1956 to focus on New York state politics. In 1958, he was elected Governor of New York by over 600,000 votes, defeating the incumbent, Averell Harriman, even though 1958 was a banner year for Democrats elsewhere in the nation. Rockefeller was ultimately elected to four consecutive four-year terms as governor of New York State, getting re-elected in 1962, 1966 and 1970. He resigned three years into his fourth term to work at the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans. Rockefeller has the ninth longest gubernatorial tenure in U.S. history at 5,466 days. Under his governorship, the state's education system grew from 29 campuses and 38,000 full-time students to 72 campuses and 232,000 full-time students. His administration quadrupled state aid to primary and secondary schools and it provided the first state financial support for educational television and required special education for children with disabilities in public schools.He also began expansion of the New York State Parks system and his administration built or started 55 new state parks. Rockefeller ordered studies of environmental issues and he launched the Pure Waters Program, the first state bond issue to combat water pollution.
In 1967 Rockefeller won approval of the largest state bond issue at the time ($2.5 billion) for the creation and expansion of over 22,000 miles of highway including the Long Island Expressway, the Southern Tier Expressway, the Adirondack Northway, and Interstate 81. He created 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 later the Metro North Railroad.
In the area of public assistance the Rockefeller administration carried out the largest state medical care program in the United States under Medicaid. His administration achieved the first major decline in New York State's welfare rolls since World War II and it 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.
Rockefeller's administration also outlawed job discrimination based on gender or age. It increased by nearly 50% the number of African Americans and Hispanics holding state jobs and appointed women to head the largest number of state agencies in state history. It passed laws prohibiting discrimination against women in education, employment, housing and credit applications and admitted the first women to the State Police. He backed New York's ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
During his time as governor Rockefeller doubled the size of the state police and established the New York State Police Academy.He appointed 228 additional state judgeships to reduce court congestion. In 1963 Rockefeller signed legislation abandoning the mandatory death penalty, although Rockefeller was a supporter of capital punishment and oversaw 14 executions by electrocution as Governor. The execution of Eddie Mays in 1963 remains the last execution in New York. 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.
In 1962, he proposed a program of voluntary rehabilitation for addicted convicts rather than prison time. 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 turned this into a program of compulsory treatment, rehabilitation, and aftercare for three years, but it did little to reduce the drug trade in the state. He passed some of the toughest drug laws in the United States.
Rockefeller supported reform of New York's abortion laws, proposing exceptions allowed for the protection of the mother's health, or in circumstances of fetal abnormality. The reform bills did not pass, but eventually an outright repeal of the prohibition against abortions passed in 1970, and in 1972, he vetoed another bill that would have restored the abortion ban, saying "I do not believe it right for one group to impose its vision of morality on an entire society."
Rockefeller sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1960, 1964, and 1968. His bid in 1960 was ended early when 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. He was considered the front-runner for the 1964 campaign against conservative Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, but in 1963, a year after divorcing his first wife, Rockefeller married Margaretta "Happy" Murphy, a divorcee with four children. The divorce hurt Rockefeller's standing among Republicans. The birth of Rockefeller's child during the California campaign put the divorce and remarriage issue back in the headlines and he dropped out of the race after losing the California primary. At the Republican National Convention in San Francisco in July, right wing delegates booed and heckled Rockefeller for 16 minutes while he stood firmly at the podium insisting on his right to speak. Rockefeller refused to support Goldwater in the general election. This animosity between Rockefeller and Goldwater would be remembered by Goldwater, who would subsequently vote against Rockefeller's confirmation for the Vice Presidency in 1974 and who would block Rockefeller from being on the 1976 presidential ticket.
Rockefeller again sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1968. His opponents were Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Nixon easily defeated both Reagan and Rockefeller, however.
Following Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974, President Gerald Ford nominated Rockefeller on August 20 to serve as Vice President of the United States. Ford believed that Rockefeller would bring executive expertise to the administration and broaden the ticket's appeal if they ran in 1976. Rockefeller accepted the position with some reluctance, saying that he was "not built to be standby equipment." Ford's promised to make him "a full partner" in his presidency, especially in domestic policy. Rockefeller underwent hearings before Congress, where 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. He owed nearly one million dollars in federal income taxes, but he was confirmed nevertheless, even though conservative Republicans were not pleased. Besides Goldwater, Jesse Helms and Trent Lott voted against him.
Rockefeller took the oath of office on Thursday, December 19, 1974. He was the second person appointed vice president under the 25th Amendment (Ford was the first). The opposition to Rockefeller within the party caused Ford to renege on his promise of sharing power with his vice president. 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 said: "This is the most important move the president has made, and I wasn't even consulted."
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. Prior vice presidents had been responsible for maintaining their own homes at their own expense, but the necessity of massive full-time Secret Service security had made this impractical. Rockefeller's wealth enabled him to donate millions of dollars of furnishings to the house.
In November 1975, Rockefeller told Ford that he would not run for election in 1976. At the 1976 Republican National Convention, Ford felt pressure from the conservative wing of the party decided to choose the more conservative Bob Dole from Kansas as his running mate, instead of Rockefeller. Reagan and Goldwater did not want Rockefeller on the ticket. To date, Ford is the last president to not have his vice president as his running mate. Ford later said not choosing Rockefeller was one of the biggest mistakes he ever made. Rockefeller campaigned actively for the Republican ticket. In what would become an famous photo from the campaign, Rockefeller famously responded to hecklers at a rally in Binghamton, New York with a raised middle finger.
Rockefeller died on January 26, 1979, at age 70 from a heart attack. An initial report had incorrectly said that he was at his office at Rockefeller Center working and a security guard found him slumped over his desk. However Rockefeller actually had the fatal heart attack in another office he owned in a townhouse at 13 West 54th Street in the presence of Megan Marshack, an aide. After the heart attack, Marshack called her friend, news reporter Ponchitta Pierce, to the townhouse, and Pierce phoned an ambulance. There was speculation in the press regarding the possibility of an intimate relationship between Rockefeller and Marshack. Neither Marshack nor the Rockefeller family has commented on the rumor.