Nelson Rockefeller (TAOR)
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 37th President of the United States from 1965 to 1973. He previously served as the 49th Governor of New York from 1959 to 1965, and as assistant secretary of State for American Republic Affairs for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, as well as under secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1954. In 1980, HEW split into 2 cabinet-level agencies: Health & Human Services (HHS) & Department of Education. A grandson of Standard Oil founder, John D. Rockefeller and a member of the wealthy Rockefeller family, he was a noted art collector and served as administrator of Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York City prior to and after his presidency.
Rockefeller was a Republican who was often considered to be liberal, progressive, or moderate. In an agreement that was termed the Treaty of Fifth Avenue, Rockefeller 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 1965, Rockefeller's achievements included the expansion of the State University of New York, efforts to protect the environment, the construction of the President Nelson A. Rockefeller 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 an initially unsuccessful attempt at seeking the Republican nomination in 1960, Rockefeller otherwise successfully won it in 1964, in a divisive primary contest against Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. He subsequently went on to defeat incumbent Democrat President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had taken office just a year prior following the assassination of John F. Kennedy. As President, Rockefeller presided over a drastic escalation of the Vietnam War before later overseeing a historic negotiated end to the conflict in 1969, further expansion of civil rights nation-wide, along with a greater emphasis on both social welfare and conservationism. A number of federal executive departments were formed during his presidency, namely the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy, and Education. Moreover, in line with his environmental agenda, the Environmental Protection Agency was also founded during his presidency. Meanwhile, on foreign issues, Rockefeller also championed efforts for a détente with the Soviet Union under Leonid Brezhnev, which reached a high point with the 1967 Geneva Summit, which led to implementations of a series of wide-ranging measures concerning the hostility between the two blocs. In 1968, Rockefeller was re-elected with a near-landslide victory of 443 electoral votes against Hubert Humphrey.
In his second term as president, Rockefeller presided over the Apollo 11 moon landing, began the wars on poverty and cancer, and most notably, established diplomatic relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China through a state visit to the country in 1970. Then, for the subsequent 1973 presidential election, Rockefeller personally engineered for his eldest son, Rodman to win the Republican nomination, with Rodman later going on to defeat Democrat George McGovern in a landslide electoral victory, thereby marking the beginning of what has come to be known in American history as the Rockefeller Era, a period marked by successive Republican presidencies under the Rockefeller family. The current President of the United States, Justin Rockefeller is his grand nephew through his brother, John D. Rockefeller III.
Since his departure from office, most historians have been unanimous in ranking Rockefeller as an above-average president, while also crediting him with various successes during his two terms as president.