Nelson Rockefeller - Wikipedia

Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979) was an American businessman and politician. He served as the 41st Vice President of the United States from 1974 to 1977, and previously as the 49th Governor of New York (1959–1973). He also served as Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs for Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman as well as Under Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under Dwight D. Eisenhower. A member of the wealthy Rockefeller family, he was also a noted art collector, as well as administrator of Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York.

Rockefeller was a Republican who was often politically considered to be liberal and progressive,[1] or in other cases moderate. He successfully altered the political platform of the Republican Party just before the 1960 Republican Convention in what is termed the Treaty of Fifth Avenue. In his time, liberals in the Republican Party were called "Rockefeller Republicans". As governor of New York from 1959 to 1973 his achievements included the expansion of the State University of New York, efforts to protect the environment, the building of the Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza in Albany, increased facilities and personnel for medical care, and creation of the New York State Council on the Arts.

After unsuccessfully seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 1960, 1964, and 1968, he served as Vice President under President Gerald R. Ford. Ford had been the first vice president to be appointed under the provisions of the 25th Amendment, and ascended to the presidency following the August 1974 resignation of Richard Nixon over the Watergate Scandal. Rockefeller accepted Ford's invitation to be his replacement. Rockefeller retired from politics in 1977 and therefore decided not to join the 1976 Republican national ticket with Ford. Ford later selected then-Senator Bob Dole from Kansas for his new running mate but ultimately lost the election to Democrat Jimmy Carter and his running mate, Walter Mondale. As of 2018, Rockefeller remains the last Vice President who declined to seek re-election.

As a businessman, he was president and later chairman 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.