Jane Rockefeller
Jane Rockefeller | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 69th United States Secretary of Treasury | |
| In office January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Nicholas F. Brady |
| Succeeded by | Paul H. O'Neill |
| United States Senator from New York | |
| In office September 10, 1968 – January 20, 1993 | |
| Preceded by | Robert F. Kennedy |
| Succeeded by | Daniel Patrick Moynihan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jane George Abby Aldrich Rockefeller May 26, 1925 New York City, New York, United States |
| Died | February 1, 2007 (aged 81) Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts |
| Resting place | Rockefeller Family Cemetery Sleepy Hollow, New York |
| Political party | Republican (until 1980) Independent (1980-2007) |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | George C. Rockefeller |
| Parent(s) | Prince George, Duke of Southampton Abby Rockefeller |
| Relatives | Rockefeller family |
| Education | Harvard University (BEc, MEc, PhD) |
Jane George Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (May 26, 1925 - February 1, 2007) was an American businesswoman, socialite, and politician who served as the 69th United States Secretary of Treasury from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton, and previously a senator from New York from 1968 to 1993, making her the longest-serving senator from the state at twenty-five years long and formerly the longest-serving female senator until surpassed by the late Dianne Feinstein. A member of the prominent and wealthy Rockefeller family, Rockefeller, much like her relatives, was originally a member of the Republican Party. However, following the election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980, Rockefeller dramatically departed the party in favour of becoming an independent politician, a move that made her one of the most prominent independent politicians in America until her retirement from politics in 2001. As perhaps the most famous female member of the Rockefeller family, coupled with her status as the daughter of a British prince, she was popularly nicknamed "Princess Rockefeller" by the media, while supporters of her have come to popularly nickname her the "Princess of American Liberalism".
Much like her uncle Nelson, Jane was generally considered to be an ideological liberal or progressive. Prior to entering politics, she served as her father's chief assistant in running the latter's company Atlantic Connection. Around that same time, after completing her secondary education, Rockefeller went on to further her education at Harvard University, where she majored in economics and subsequently graduated with a PhD in 1949. In 1952, she joined the International Basic Economy Corporation, a business founded by her uncle Nelson hoping to stimulate the underdeveloped economies of certain countries, while in 1962, following her father's passing, she was given a 50% stake in The R&S Organisation, making her one of the richest women in the United States. As the effective leader of the company's American half of operations, Rockefeller was instrumental in overseeing the company's growing expansion and diversification within the American market via strong overall presence in a wide range of industries, ranging from shipping to real estate and aviation, eventually culminating in it being one of the biggest companies in the United States by the time she later relinquished her control of the company's American operations to her only son George.
Following the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy on 6 June 1968, which had left a vacancy in one of the two Senate seats for New York, Jane, amidst some controversy, was appointed by her uncle and then-Governor Nelson Rockefeller to finish Kennedy's senatorial term, with Rockefeller herself later going on to successfully defend her seat in subsequent elections, becoming the first woman to be elected as a senator for New York, the first woman to be re-elected, and the state's longest-serving senator at twenty-five years long. During her nearly two-decade-long tenure as senator, Rockefeller was an avid champion of environmentalism, public housing, civil rights, and social welfare. Most notably, soon after being sworn in as New York senator, Rockefeller publicly advocated for the creation of a federal executive agency meant to address the environment, similar to that of the United States Department of Transportation and the United States Department of Labor, with Rockefeller's proposal eventually materialising in the form of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, established in 1970 by President Richard Nixon.
Despite originally being a Republican like most members of the Rockefeller family, in 1980, Jane, in an act of protest against the nomination of the conservative Governor of California, Ronald Reagan as the party candidate for the 1980 presidential election, left the party to become a political independent, during which she famously gave her famous "Party of Lincoln No More" farewell speech, in which she publicly criticised the growing trend towards right-wing conservatism in the Republican Party, which she felt "was making the party loved by the very people this same party under Abraham Lincoln fought to end the slavery of African-Americans". Nonetheless, despite her withdrawal from the Republican Party, Rockefeller's position as New York senator remained largely unchallenged for the next thirteen years, thereby cementing her as the state's longest-serving and one of its most high-profile senators.
In 1993, Rockefeller, by then a political independent, was chosen by President Bill Clinton to become the new Secretary of Treasury, a position that she promptly accepted. During her almost decade-long tenure as Treasury Secretary, Rockefeller proved instrumental in the United States's ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which led to the formation of a trilateral trade bloc consisting of the United States and its two close neighbours, Canada and Mexico. At the same time, in line with her longstanding emphasis on social welfare, Rockefeller also advocated for further financial investment into low-income areas, as well as for areas with a large presence of minorities, namely African-Americans and Hispanics. Later, in 2001, concurrent with the election of George W. Bush as president, an elderly Rockefeller chose to retire from politics altogether and lived out the last years of her life at a private residence at Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, where she eventually died at the age of eighty-one. She was subsequently buried alongside her family at the Rockefeller Family Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York.
In 1956, she married American lawyer Cassius Curtis, with who she had one son George C. Rockefeller, a successful actor and businessman. However, amidst rumours of incompatibility, the couple later divorced in 1961, after which Rockefeller remained unmarried for the rest of her life. In the meantime, outside of politics, Rockefeller acquired a considerable reputation for her "impeccable" fashion sense, thereby making her a well-regarded fashion icon, with Rockefeller herself having been considered one of the best-dressed women in the world on many occasions.