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"Rocky," as he was called, was born in Bar Harbor, Maine, he was the son of John D. Rockefeller, Jr, the grandson of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller and Senator Nelson W. Aldrich of Rhode Island (for whom he was named), the brother of Governor Winthrop Rockefeller of Arkansas, and the uncle of Governor and Senator John Davison Rockefeller, IV of West Virginia. Nelson Rockefeller was born on the same day of the year as his paternal grandfather, and from childhood was the leader of the five Rockefeller brothers. He graduated from Dartmouth University in 1930.
Rockefeller worked for a time in several family-run businesses and philanthropies before entering public service. He became an Assistant Secretary of State during World War II, where he mainly dealt with issues in the geographical areas of Central and South America. After the war he headed the International Development Advisory Board, part of Truman's Point Four Program.
The election of fellow-Republican Dwight Eisenhower to the presidency saw Rockefeller appointed first as chair of the President's Advisory Committee on Government Organization and later as an undersecretary in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Rockefeller left federal service in 1956 to concentrate on governor (winning with a plurality of over 600,000 in a year mostly dominated by state Democrats).
He served as governor of New York from 1959 to 1973 (elected to four terms, he served three and a half), and then as the 41st Vice President of the United States of America under Gerald Ford (1974-1977). He was the 2nd Vice President to be appointed to the position under the 25th Amendment.
Rockefeller's dream was the presidency; he spent millions in attempts in 1960, 1964, and 1968. His bid in 1960 was ended early when then-Vice President Richard Nixon surged ahead in the polls; after quitting the campaign Rockefeller backed Nixon enthusiastically, and concentrated his efforts on introducing more moderate stances into Nixon's platform.
Rockefeller was considered the front-runner for the 1964 campaign against the more conservative Barry Goldwater of Arizona (Nixon had declined to run after a major defeat in the 1962 California gubernatorial election). However, Rockefeller's divorce and quick remarriage to a woman (who had until then been married to someone else) twenty years his junior turned many people off. After polls predicted Rockfeller would win the California primary, he lost by a slim margin and dropped out of the race, endorsing Goldwater (but more hesitantly than he had previously supported Nixon). Rockefeller lost again to Nixon in 1968.
Rockefeller left office as governor in 1973 in what was rumored at the time to be a move toward a fourth bid for the presidency; however this never materialized. Some analysts speculated that his appointment to the vice presidency by Gerald Ford was calculated to forestall a Rockefeller presidential campaign in 1976.
As governor of New York, he pushed for extremely strict laws against possession of drugs; these laws, still in force, mandate longer prison sentences for drug possession than for most other felonies. He was considered one of the leaders of the moderate wing of the Republican Party of the United States, and is hailed as an example of one of the chief figures of the "1960s and 1970s Republican" movement.
Rockefeller was a great collector of modern art. He continued his mother's work at the Museum of Modern Art and turned the basement of his Kykuit mansion into a first-class museum. While he was overseeing construction of the State University of New York system, he agreed with his lifelong friend Roy Neuberger to build a museum on the campus of SUNY Purchase College. The Neuberger Museum, designed by Philip Johnson, hosted several paintings collected by Neuberger and helped popularize several artists. His decision to purchase and then destroy Diego Rivera's mural at Rockefeller Center is still controversial.
Rockefeller suffered a heart attack during sexual congress with his mistress Megan Marshak. Marshak was afraid to call the police and so left him on the floor of his apartment, where he may have lingered for minutes if not hours. It is believed that had Marshak called an ambulance promptly Rockefeller may have survived.
| Preceded by: Gerald Ford |
Vice Presidents of the United States | Succeeded by: Walter Mondale |
