Nelson Rockefeller

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Nelson Rockefeller (1975)
Rockefeller's signature

Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (born July 8, 1908 in Bar Harbor , Maine , †  January 26, 1979 in New York City , New York ) was an American politician ( Republican Party ), from 1959 to 1973 governor of the state of New York and in under the administration of President Gerald Ford from December 19, 1974 to January 20, 1977, the 41st  Vice President of the United States .

Early years

Rocky , as he was called, was the third of six children of John D. Rockefeller II and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and the grandson of John D. Rockefeller , on whose 69th birthday he was born. He got his middle name after his other grandfather, Nelson W. Aldrich , former US Senator for Rhode Island . His brother Winthrop later became governor of Arkansas , his nephew Jay Rockefeller became governor of West Virginia and a US senator for that state.

As a child, he was considered the leader of the five Rockefeller brothers John , Nelson, Laurance , Winthrop and David . In 1930 he graduated from Dartmouth College in Hanover , New Hampshire with a BA in Economics.

Political career

Nelson Rockefeller initially worked for his family's corporations and charities. During the Second World War he was the head of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (OCIAA) responsible for American propaganda in Central and South America. From December 1944 to August 1945 he served as Secretary of State for Affairs of American Republics ( Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs ) in the US State Department . He was dismissed from this office by Harry S. Truman after isolating himself mainly with his friendly attitude towards Peronist Argentina - he saw in Juan Perón an opportunity to control the Argentine left. This isolation resulted mainly from the fact that Argentina was accused both internationally and among the American public of having collaborated with the Axis powers during the Second World War, with Perón in various positions within the government .

After the war he served as chairman of the International Development Advisory Board , part of President Truman's Point IV development aid program .

After the election of his Republican party friend Dwight D. Eisenhower as US president, he became chairman of the President's Advisory Committee on Government Organization in 1953 . He also became a representative of the US President on the Operations Coordinating Board , a secret committee affiliated with the National Security Council that coordinated covert operations of the CIA . This allowed Eisenhower to stay informed about covert operations and at the same time compared to the US Congress a " credible deniability " ( plausible deniability to protect) for the illegal actions in part. Nelson Rockefeller was in this position e.g. B. informed about the MKULTRA program and had given his approval as a representative of the president to some parts of the program, which the CIA chief Allen Dulles did not want to decide himself because of the type of financing. He later became Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Health, Education and Welfare.

Governor of New York

Governor Rockefeller in 1959
Governor Rockefeller and President Lyndon B. Johnson (1968)

In 1956, Rockefeller left the government to pursue politics in New York State . In 1958, he won the governor's election with a lead of 600,000 votes (54 against 39 percent of the vote) against the Democratic incumbent W. Averell Harriman . He was supported by the long-time governor Thomas E. Dewey , who ruled the state from 1943 to 1955. Rockefeller took office as head of government at the beginning of 1959. He was re-elected three times, in 1962, 1966 and 1970.

On September 9, 1971, there was a prisoner riot in Attica State Prison . One of the reasons is said to have been inhuman detention conditions. After four days of trial, Rockefeller had the New York State Police and the United States National Guard stormed the prison. 43 people died, including 11 prison employees who were held hostage , all of whom were shot by state organs. The focus of his work as governor was the improvement of the infrastructure, social housing and education - including the expansion of the State University of New York . Along with major construction projects this led to a sharp increase of the budget of the State of New York of 2.04 billion US dollars in his first year to 8.8 billion dollars in the financial year 1973/1974. Strict laws against drug possession and trafficking that he initiated are known as Rockefeller drug laws . They came into force in 1973 and are considered some of the strictest in the United States. These laws were copied by other states and are now held responsible for the massive prison system and the very high number of inmates in the USA, the number rose from 330,000 in 1973 to 2.3 million. A reorganization of the local public transport system in New York City also falls during his term of office .

He was considered a leading figure in the moderate or liberal wing of the Republicans. The term Rockefeller Republicans was often used for this group in the 1960s and 1970s (as opposed to Barry Goldwater and later Ronald Reagan ).

Rockefeller resigned from the post of governor in December 1973 to take over the leadership of the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans , for which he was committed. His office was then taken over by the previous Lieutenant Governor Malcolm Wilson , who ended the term of office that ran until the turn of the year 1974/75.

Goal presidency

Rockefeller tried in vain for his party's presidential candidacy in 1960 , 1964 and 1968 . In 1960 he gave up early on against the then US Vice President Richard Nixon and then supported his campaign against the Democrat John F. Kennedy .

In 1964, Rockefeller was initially considered the favorite for the Republican presidential nomination against Barry Goldwater . The failure of his candidacy - despite previously encouraging surveys - was explained with his divorce and the quick remarriage of another divorced woman. On July 14, 1964, at the Republican National Convention in San Francisco , he gave a sensational speech in which he warned of the threat of infiltration of the Republican Party by extremists such as the John Birch Society :

“These extremists feed on fear, hatred and terror. They have no program for America, no program for the Republican Party […] There is no place in the Republican Party for those who want to infiltrate them in order to distort their goals and make them a respectable cloak for their dangerous extremism. These people have nothing in common with the Republicans. These people have nothing in common with the American people. The Republican Party must reject these people. "

During his speech he was booed by parts of the audience and interrupted with loud shouts, "We want Barry" (Goldwater). The fact that the nominee Goldwater was publicly portrayed by a prominent party member as an ally of extremists severely damaged Goldwater among moderate voters and contributed to his landslide election loss to President Lyndon B. Johnson in November 1964.

In 1968 another attempt failed again because of Nixon, who also won the subsequent elections. A foreign policy advisor (and friend) to Rockefeller in the 1968 campaign was Henry Kissinger , who held important positions in Nixon's presidency. When Rockefeller stepped down as governor in 1973, it was suggested that he would run for a fourth time for the presidency. Some agencies also speculated that Gerald Ford's nomination for US Vice President was in preparation for the 1976 election campaign.

Rockefeller financed his numerous election campaigns for the most part himself and used practically all of his inherited fortune, so that from the late 1960s - although originally a multimillionaire - he ran into financial difficulties and had to be financially supported several times by his siblings.

Vice President of the USA

Rockefeller (center) in the Oval Office with President Ford (right) and Foreign Minister Kissinger in April 1975

After Nixon's resignation as president, his successor Gerald Ford Rockefeller nominated as the new vice president. After the necessary hearings in Congress, he was confirmed by both houses of the legislature and took office on December 19, 1974. After Ford, Rockefeller was the second and, to date, the last Vice President to be appointed by the 25th Amendment to the Constitution . In addition to Ford, he was also the only non-popular vice president in US history. As Vice President, he headed the Rockefeller Commission .

On November 3, 1975, he announced to the President that he would not be available as his running mate for the 1976 election campaign . Since Ford had to assert itself within the Republicans against the conservative Ronald Reagan as a candidate for the presidential election, the liberal Rockefeller was considered a burden. Ford won the nomination and instead ran with Senator Bob Dole as a running mate. However, the vice president took an active part in the election campaign to support Ford. In a close race, however, Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale decided the choice for themselves. On January 20, 1977, Rockefeller's tenure as Vice President ended. Ten days before the end of his term of office, Ford presented his deputy with the Presidential Medal of Freedom , the highest civilian honor in the United States.

Last years and death

Rockefeller (left) meeting President Carter at the White House, October 1977

After the end of his political activities in 1977, Rockefeller withdrew as much as possible into private life. Rockefeller died of a heart attack on January 26, 1979 at the age of 70 in his New York office.

Long-time Rockefeller employee Joseph E. Persico said in a PBS documentary about the Rockefeller family that he was said to have been intimate with a young woman named Marshack shortly before his death. The children publish a statement in which they absolved all those involved from criminal guilt and did not comment on the death. They prevented an autopsy.

On February 2, 1979 he was buried in Sleepy Hollow , New York. More than 2,200 guests attended his funeral, including ex-President Gerald Ford , Henry Kissinger and President Jimmy Carter, as well as more than 100 members of the US Congress.

family

On June 23, 1930, Rockefeller married Mary Todhunter Clark. They had five children:

Michael disappeared forever in the jungles of New Guinea in November 1961. Nelson and Mary divorced in 1962.

On May 4, 1963, he married Margaretta Large "Happy" Fitler. They had two sons together:

  • Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller Jr.
  • Mark Fitler Rockefeller

Trivia

  • Rockefeller was a very active collector of modern art. He continued his mother's commitment to the Museum of Modern Art and supported a number of other museums.
  • From the election campaign of 1976, an image is obtained on which he a group of disturbing hippies the middle finger holds out. This gesture was known for a long time as the Rockefeller Salute .

See also

literature

  • Jules Witcover: The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power. Smithsonian Books, Washington, D. C. 2014, ISBN 978-1-5883-4471-7 , pp. 416-428 (= 41. Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York ).

Web links

Commons : Nelson Rockefeller  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerard Colby, Charlotte Dennet Thy Will be Done. The Conquest of The Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil. HarperPerennial, (1996) page 107ff, ISBN 0-06-092723-2 .
  2. ↑ Gerard Colby, Charlotte Dennet Thy Will be Done. The Conquest of The Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil. Pp. 169, 177-179.
  3. ↑ Gerard Colby, Charlotte Dennet Thy Will be Done. The Conquest of The Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil. Pp. 263-266.
  4. ↑ Article in the New York Times, February 28, 2015
  5. ^ Brian Mann, "The Drug Laws That Changed How We Punish." National Public Radio, Feb. 14, 2013
  6. ↑ American President: Vice President Nelson Rockefeller ( Memento of the original from June 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / millercenter.org
  7. ↑ Original: These extremists feed on fear, hate and terror. They have no program for America - no program for the Republican party. [...] There is no place in this Republican party for those who would infiltrate its ranks, distort its aims, and convert it into a cloak of apparent respectability for a dangerous extremism. These people have nothing in common with Republicanism. These people have nothing in common with Americans. The Republican party must repudiate these people. Rockefeller Archive Center
  8. ↑ Politico: Nelson Rockefeller's Last Stand
  9. ↑ David Rockefeller : Memories of a World Banker . Finanzbuch-Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-89879-327-8 , pp. 267f.
  10. ^ 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."
  11. ↑ Vice President Rockefeller gives the middle finger, 1976. Retrieved October 7, 2019 . Eugene S. Robinson: The Life and Strangely Sexual Death of Nelson Rockefeller. In: ozy.com, May 21, 2018, accessed October 7, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Rockefeller, Nelson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rockefeller, Nelson Aldrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician, Vice President of the United States
DATE OF BIRTH July 8, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Bar Harbor , Maine
DATE OF DEATH January 26, 1979
Place of death New York City