Winthrop Rockefeller
Winthrop Rockefeller (May 1, 1912 – February 22, 1973) was an American politician and philanthropist. Rockefeller was the fourth son and fifth child of American financier John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. He is one of the grandchildren of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. As an entrepreneur in Arkansas, he financed many local projects, including a number of new medical clinics in poorer areas, before being elected state governor in 1966, as the first Republican governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction. Despite accusations of lacking insight into the concerns of low-income voters, Rockefeller was re-elected in 1968, and went on to complete the integration of Arkansas schools.
For his son, the Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas, see Winthrop Paul Rockefeller.
Winthrop Rockefeller
May 1, 1912
New York City, New York, U.S.
February 22, 1973 (aged 60)
Palm Springs, California, U.S.
Winrock Farms
Morrilton, Arkansas, U.S.
Politician, businessman
United States
1941–1945
Early life[edit]
Winthrop Rockefeller was born in New York, to philanthropists John Davison Rockefeller Jr. and socialite, Abigail Greene "Abby" Aldrich. He is one of the grandsons of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He had one elder sister named Abby, three elder brothers John III, Nelson, and Laurance, and a younger brother named David. Nelson served as Governor of New York and Vice President of the United States under Gerald Ford.
Winthrop attended Yale University (1931–1934) before resigning to go work in the oil industry. Prior to attending Yale, he graduated from the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut.
On January 22, 1941, he enlisted as a private in the Army, while the United States was still neutral during World War II. He was initially assigned to the 26th Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division. He was later assigned to the 77th Infantry Division. He eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. With the 77th Division he served in the invasions of Guam and Leyte in the Philippines. He earned a Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Clusters and a Purple Heart for his actions aboard the troopship USS Henrico, after a kamikaze attack during the invasion of Okinawa. His image appears in the Infantry Officer Hall of Fame at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Political career[edit]
First campaigns[edit]
Rockefeller resigned his position with the AIDC and conducted his first campaign for governor in 1964 against Orval Faubus. His campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, but Rockefeller energized and reformed the tiny Republican Party to set the stage for the future. In 1964, Osro Cobb, a Republican former state chairman who had also served as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, refused to endorse Rockefeller but openly endorsed Faubus, who subsequently gave Cobb a temporary appointment to the Arkansas Supreme Court.
In his memoirs, Cobb recalls that Rockefeller
Personal life[edit]
An article in Texas Monthly alleges Candace Johnson née Weatherby, later to become the well-known Houston socialite Candy Mossler, was involved with Winthrop Rockefeller during his military service in the South.[21]
On February 14, 1948, Winthrop married actress Jievute "Bobo" Paulekiute (September 6, 1916 – May 19, 2008). She was previously married to Boston Brahmin socialite John Sears Jr.[22] The wedding took place in Florida, and at the reception, a choir sang Negro spirituals.[23] On September 17, 1948, she gave birth to their son, Winthrop Paul "Win" Rockefeller.
The couple separated in 1950 and divorced in 1954. Bobo got custody of Win.[24]
On June 11, 1956, Rockefeller wed the Seattle-born socialite Jeanette Edris (1918–1997).[25] She had two children, Bruce and Ann Bartley, from a previous marriage. Winthrop and Jeanette had no children together and divorced shortly after he left the governorship in 1971.[26]
As the state's First Lady, Jeanette Rockefeller took a special interest in mental health issues.
In September 1972, Rockefeller was diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer and endured a devastating round of chemotherapy. When he returned to Arkansas the populace was shocked at his gaunt and haggard appearance.
Winthrop Rockefeller died February 22, 1973, in Palm Springs, California, at the age of sixty. His body was cremated, and his ashes were interred at Winrock Farms in Morrilton, Arkansas.
Legacy[edit]
The legacy of Winthrop Rockefeller lives on in the form of numerous charities, scholarships, and the activities of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation and the Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust, including Winrock International, an international nonprofit organization based in Little Rock, Arkansas whose mission is to empower disadvantaged people, increase economic opportunity, and sustain natural resources.[27] The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation provides funding for projects across Arkansas to encourage economic development, education, and racial and social justice. In 1964, he founded Museum of Automobiles on Petit Jean Mountain, which after his death in 1973 was given to the Arkansas State Parks system; a non-profit organization was formed to run the museum; in March 2007, the Charitable Trust pledged $100,000 for its ongoing operations if the museum raised an equal amount by the end of that year.[28]
Founded in 2005, the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute (commonly called the Institute) is a nonprofit organization on Petit Jean Mountain that seeks to continue Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller’s collaborative approach to creating transformational change and a 509(a)(3) supporting organization of the University of Arkansas System. The Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust gifted the Institute a $100 million endowment in 2018, which is held by the University of Arkansas Foundation.[29]
Rockefeller's political legacy lives on in both the Republican and Democratic parties of Arkansas, both of which were forced to reform as a result of his presence on the state scene.
Rockefeller was the subject of the December 2, 1966, cover of Time magazine.
Winthrop Rockefeller's son and only child, Win, served as Arkansas lieutenant governor, having won a special election in 1996 to succeed Mike Huckabee. Winthrop Paul Rockefeller then won two full four-year terms in 1998 and 2002. Like his father, Win Paul Rockefeller's political career was cut short by a devastating cancer.
The Winrock Shopping Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is named for Rockefeller. He developed the center in a relationship with the University of New Mexico.[30]
During his tenure as chairman of Colonial Williamsburg, Winthrop was a frequent visitor at the foundation's Carter's Grove Plantation eight miles away in James City County, Virginia. He is credited with helping develop a plan with Gussie Busch in the early 1970s to turn a portion of the large tract of undeveloped land between the two points into the massive Anheuser-Busch (AB) investment there, which included building a large brewery, the Busch Gardens Williamsburg theme park, the Kingsmill planned resort community, and McLaws Circle, an office park. AB and related entities from that development plan now are the source of the area's largest employment base, surpassing both Colonial Williamsburg and the local military bases.
Electoral history[edit]
1964 General Election for Governor
Orval Faubus (D) (inc.) 57%
Winthrop Rockefeller (R) 43%
1966 Republican Primary for Governor
Winthrop Rockefeller 98%
Gus McMillan 2%
1966 General Election for Governor
Winthrop Rockefeller (R) 54%
James D. "Justice Jim" Johnson (D) 46%
1968 Republican Primary for Governor
Winthrop Rockefeller (inc.) 95%
Sidney K. Roberts 5%
1968 General Election for Governor
Winthrop Rockefeller (R) (inc.) 52%
Marion Crank (D) 48%
1970 Republican Primary for Governor
Winthrop Rockefeller (inc.) 95%
James K. "Uncle Mac" MacKrell 2%
R.J. Hampton 2%
Lester Gibbs 1%
1970 General Election for Governor
Dale Bumpers (D) 62%
Winthrop Rockefeller (R) (inc.) 32%
Walter L. Carruth (AIP) 6%