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
Gerald Ford
Malcolm Wilson
Position established
Position established
January 26, 1979 (aged 70)
New York City, U.S.
Rockefeller Family Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, New York, U.S.
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 career (1931–1939)
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.
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]
Philanthropy and art patronage
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 to 1975 and 1977 to 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
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]