Nelson Rockefeller

Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was the 41st vice president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford. He had previously served as the 49th governor of New York from 1959 to 1973, the state's longest-serving governor since the end of the Revolutionary War. Rockefeller was a member of the Republican Party and the wealthy Rockefeller family.

Rockefeller served as assistant secretary of State for American Republic Affairs for Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman (1944–1945), as well as Undersecretary 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 an administrator of the Rockefeller Center in New York City.

Rockefeller was often considered to be liberal, progressive, 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 National 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, Rockefeller was appointed vice president of the United States under President Gerald Ford, who was appointed Vice President by President Nixon after the resignation of Spiro Agnew, and who ascended to the presidency following Nixon's resignation in August 1974. Rockefeller was the second vice president appointed to the position under the 25th Amendment, following Ford himself. Rockefeller did not seek a full term in the 1976 election with Ford, who named Kansas Senator Bob Dole his running mate instead of Rockefeller on the Republican ticket that election. 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 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. As of 2024, Rockefeller is the most recent Vice President who did not previously serve in the United States Congress. Provided by Wikipedia