Winthrop Rockefeller was a
politicianA politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and
philanthropistA philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
who served as the first Republican Governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction. He was a third-generation member of the
Rockefeller familyThe Rockefeller family , the Cleveland family of John D. Rockefeller and his brother William Rockefeller , is an American industrial, banking, and political family of German origin that made one of the world's largest private fortunes in the oil business during the late 19th and early 20th...
.
Early life
Winthrop Rockefeller was born in New York to
John D. Rockefeller, Jr.John Davison Rockefeller, Jr. was a major philanthropist and a pivotal member of the prominent Rockefeller family. He was the sole son among the five children of businessman and Standard Oil industrialist John D. Rockefeller and the father of the five famous Rockefeller brothers...
, and the former Abby Greene Aldrich. His four famous brothers were:
NelsonNelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
,
DavidDavid Rockefeller, Sr. is the current patriarch of the Rockefeller family. He is the youngest and only surviving child of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and the only surviving grandchild of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil. His five siblings were...
,
LauranceLaurance Spelman Rockefeller was a venture capitalist, financier, philanthropist, a major conservationist and a prominent third-generation member of the Rockefeller family. He was the fourth child of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and brother to John D...
, and John D. III. Nelson served as
Governor of New YorkThe Governor of the State of New York is the chief executive of the State of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military and naval forces. The officeholder is afforded the courtesy title of His/Her...
and
Vice President of the United StatesThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
.
Winthrop attended
Yale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
(1931-34) but was ejected as a result of misbehavior before earning his degree. Prior to attending Yale, he graduated from the Loomis Chaffee School in
Windsor, ConnecticutWindsor is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, and was the first English settlement in the state. It lies on the northern border of Connecticut's capital, Hartford. The population was estimated at 28,778 in 2005....
.
In early 1941, he enlisted in the
ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. As a soldier of the 77th Infantry Division, he fought in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, advancing from
PrivateA Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank .In modern military parlance, 'Private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries and to 'Pvt.' in the United States.Notably both Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Enoch Powell are examples of, rare, rapid career...
to
ColonelColonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
. He earned a
Bronze StarThe Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. As a medal it is awarded for merit, and with the "V" for valor device it is awarded for heroism. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the...
with
Oak Leaf ClusterAn oak leaf cluster is a common device which is placed on U.S. Army and Air Force awards and decorations to denote those who have received more than one bestowal of a particular decoration. The number of oak leaf clusters typically indicates the number of subsequent awards of the decoration...
s and a
Purple HeartThe Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
for his actions aboard the
troopshipA troopship is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime...
USS HenricoUSS Henrico was a that served with the United States Navy in World War II, and subsequently in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.The ship was laid down as SS Sea Darter, a Type C3-S-A2 hull, under a Maritime Commission contract by Ingalls Shipbuilding Co., Pascagoula, Mississippi...
, after a
kamikazeThe were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
attack during the invasion of Okinawa. His image appears in the Infantry Officer Hall of Fame at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Personal life
On 14 February 1948, he married Jievute Paulekiute, an actress and model known professionally as
Barbara Paul, and the former wife of
Boston BrahminBoston Brahmins are wealthy Yankee families characterized by a highly discreet and inconspicuous life style. Based in and around Boston, they form an integral part of the historic core of the East Coast establishment...
figure Richard Sears, Jr. The wedding took place in Florida, and at the reception, a choir sang Negro spirituals. Seven months later, Jievute gave birth to Rockefeller's only child,
Winthrop PaulWinthrop Paul Rockefeller was a Republican politician who served as the 13th Lieutenant Governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas from 1996 until his death.-Early life and parents:...
.
The couple separated in 1950 and divorced in 1954. The dissolution of the marriage was acrimonious, with suggestions that Rockefeller owned an extensive collection of pornography. Jievute claimed that the $1 million trust fund set up for Winthrop was unworthy of a Rockefeller heir. She eventually received a $5.5 million settlement composed of $2 million in cash and a $3.5 million trust fund for herself and Winthrop. She was later engaged to
Charles W. Mapes, Jr.The Mapes Hotel was a hotel/casino located in Reno, Nevada, next to the Truckee River on Virginia Street. It was built in 1947, and opened on December 17 of that year. It was the first skyscraper built in the Western United States since the start of World War II...
, but never married him.
On 11 June 1956, he married Seattle-born socialite Jeanette Edris; Rockefeller was her fourth husband. She left her first husband,
Nate BarragarNathan Robert Barragar was an American collegiate and professional football player.-Biography:Barragar was the only son of Nathaniel Hawthorne Barragar , a clergyman, and Olive Jan Barragar . The family moved to Yakima, Washington, then eventually settled in Los Angeles...
, less than three months after they were married. The couple had no children, and divorced in 1971.
Move to Arkansas
Rockefeller moved to central
ArkansasArkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
in 1953 and established
Winrock Enterprises and
Winrock Farms atop Petit Jean Mountain near
MorriltonMorrilton is a city in Conway County, Arkansas, United States, northwest of Little Rock. The town was home to Harding College, now Harding University of Searcy, Arkansas, for about a decade in the 1920s and 1930s. The population was 6,550 at the 2000 census...
.
In 1954, Republican
Pratt C. RemmelPratt Cates Remmel, Sr. , was the only 20th century Republican elected on a partisan ballot to have served as mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas. He was elected to the first of two two-year terms in 1951, was reelected in 1953, and then defeated in 1955 by the Democrat Woodrow Wilson Mann, who like...
polled 37 percent of the vote in the gubernatorial
general electionIn a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
against Democrat
Orval Eugene FaubusOrval Eugene Faubus was the 36th Governor of Arkansas, serving from 1955 to 1967. He is best known for his 1957 stand against the desegregation of Little Rock public schools during the Little Rock Crisis, in which he defied a unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court by ordering the...
. It was a strong showing for a Republican candidate in Arkansas. Twelve years later, Rockefeller would build on Remmel's race and win the governorship for the Republican Party.
In 1955, Faubus named Rockefeller chairman of the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission (AIDC).
In 1956, Rockefeller married his second wife, Jeanette Edris Barrager Bartley McDonnell (1918-1997), a native of
SeattleSeattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, Washington State. She had previously been married to a professional
American footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player, a
lawyerA lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, and a stockbroker. By her, WR acquired two stepchildren, Bruce Bartley and Ann Bartley, later Ann McNeil of
San FranciscoSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
.
Rockefeller initiated a number of philanthropies and projects for the benefit of the people of the state. He financed the building of a model school at
MorriltonMorrilton is a city in Conway County, Arkansas, United States, northwest of Little Rock. The town was home to Harding College, now Harding University of Searcy, Arkansas, for about a decade in the 1920s and 1930s. The population was 6,550 at the 2000 census...
, and led efforts to establish a Fine Arts Center in
Little RockLittle Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
. He also financed the construction of medical clinics in some of the state's poorest counties, in addition to making annual gifts to the state's colleges and universities. These philanthropic activities continue to this day through the
Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.
First political campaigns
In 1960, Rockefeller did not seek the governorship but instead raised funds for the Republican nominee,
Henry M. BrittHenry Middleton Britt, III , was a Hot Springs lawyer who was a pioneer in the revitalization of the Republican Party in the heavily Democratic state of Arkansas, primarily during the 1960s and 1970s. He was the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1960, having been decisively defeated by Orval...
, a conservative
lawyerA lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
from
Hot SpringsHot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...
, the seat of
Garland County. Britt barely polled 30 percent of the vote in his loss to Faubus. In 1962, he similarly supported Willis Ricketts, another in a long line of failed Republican candidates who sought to topple Faubus.
Rockefeller resigned his position with the AIDC and conducted his first campaign for governor in 1964. His campaign was ultimately unsuccessful against the powerful Faubus, but Rockefeller had energized and reformed the tiny Republican Party and had set the stage for the future.
When Rockefeller made his second run in 1966 only 11 percent of Arkansans considered themselves Republicans. But Arkansans had tired of Faubus after six terms as Governor and as head of the Democratic "machine." Democrats themselves seemed to be more interested in the reforms that Rockefeller offered in his campaign than "winning another one for the party." An odd coalition of Republicans and Democratic reform voters catapulted Rockefeller into the Governor's office. He defeated a segregationist Democratic
Arkansas Supreme CourtThe Arkansas Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Arkansas. Since 1925, it has consisted of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices, and at times Special Justices are called upon in the absence of a regular justice...
justice,
James D. JohnsonJames Douglas Johnson, known as Justice Jim Johnson , was a former associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, a two-time candidate for governor of Arkansas in 1956 and 1966, and in 1968 an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S...
of
ConwayConway is the county seat of Faulkner County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 58,908 at the 2010 census, making Conway the seventh most populous city in Arkansas. It is a principal city of the Little Rock–North Little Rock–Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area which had...
, who preferred the appellation "Justice Jim". Ironically, years later, Johnson would switch to the Republican Party.
In a surprise, Rockefeller's running-mate for
lieutenant governorThe Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas presides over the Arkansas Senate with a tie-breaking vote, serves as governor when the governor is out of state, and serves as governor if the governor is impeached, removed from office, dies or is otherwise unable to discharge the office's duties.The position...
, Maurice L. Britt, a decorated World War II veteran and a former professional football player, was narrowly elected to the second-ranking post over the Democrat James Pilkington.
Other Rockefeller running-mates, such as former Democratic State Representative
Jerry ThomassonJerry Kreth Thomasson was a Democratic member of the Arkansas House of Representatives. He switched to the Republican Party in 1966, and unsuccessfully sought election as Arkansas attorney general in 1966 and 1968....
of
ArkadelphiaArkadelphia is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 10,548. The city is the county seat of Clark County. The city is situated at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. Two universities, Henderson State...
, who sought the office of
attorney generalIn most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
in 1966 and 1968, and Mrs.
Leona TroxellLeona Anderson Troxell Dodd, known politically as Leona Troxell , was a native New Yorker who was a pioneer in the development of the Republican Party in her adopted state of Arkansas...
of
Rose BudRose Bud is a town in White County, Arkansas, in the United States. Tammy Tipton Bomar is the current mayor. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 429...
in
White CountyWhite County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2010, the population was 77,076. The county seat is Searcy. White County is Arkansas's 31st county, formed on October 23, 1835, from portions of Independence, Jackson, and Pulaski counties and named for Hugh Lawson White, a...
, who ran for state treasurer in 1968, were defeated.
Only three Republicans won election to the 100-member
Arkansas House of RepresentativesThe Arkansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The House is composed of 100 members elected from an equal amount of constituencies across the state. Each district has an average population of 26,734...
at the time of Rockefeller's first victory: George E. Nowotny, Jr., of
Fort SmithFort Smith is the second-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. With a population of 86,209 in 2010, it is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 298,592 residents which encompasses the Arkansas...
, Danny L. Patrick (1941-2009) of
Madison CountyMadison County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2010, the population was 15,717. The county seat is Huntsville. The county was formed on September 30, 1836, and named for James Madison, President of the United States...
, and James "Jim" Sheets of
Siloam SpringsSiloam Springs is a city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 13,990...
in
Benton CountyBenton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2000 census, the population was 153,406. The U.S. Census Bureau 2010 population is 221,339. The county seat is Bentonville. Benton County was formed on 30 September 1836 and was named after Thomas Hart Benton, a U.S...
. Two Republicans sought U.S. House seats on the Rockefeller ticket in 1966,
John Paul HammerschmidtJohn Paul Hammerschmidt is an American politician from the U.S. state of Arkansas. A Republican, Hammerschmidt served for thirteen terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from the northwestern Arkansas district before he retired in 1993...
, the outgoing party chairman won in the northwestern Third District, and
A. Lynn LoweAylmer Lynn Lowe, known as A. Lynn Lowe , was a farmer and politician from Garland in Miller County in southwestern Arkansas, who was a major figure in the Arkansas Republican Party...
, a
TexarkanaAs of the census of 2000, there were 26,448 people, 10,384 households, and 7,040 families residing in the city. The population density was 830.5 people per square mile . There were 11,721 housing units at an average density of 368.1 per square mile...
farmer who would serve as party chairman from 1974–1980, lost in the southern Fourth District race to the Democrat
David PryorDavid Hampton Pryor is a former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senator from the State of Arkansas. Pryor also served as 39th Governor of Arkansas from 1975 to 1979 and was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1960 to 1966...
.
At the time Winthrop became Governor of Arkansas, his brother
NelsonNelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
was already
Governor of New YorkThe Governor of the State of New York is the chief executive of the State of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military and naval forces. The officeholder is afforded the courtesy title of His/Her...
, and remained so throughout Winthrop's four years in office. They are often erroneously cited as the first two brothers to be
governorsIn the United States, the title governor refers to the chief executive of each state or insular territory, not directly subordinate to the federal authorities, but the political and ceremonial head of the state.-Role and powers:...
at the same time, but they were actually the third case of this; the previous instances were
LeviLevi Lincoln, Jr. was an American lawyer and politician from Worcester, Massachusetts. He was the 13th Governor of Massachusetts and represented the state in the U.S. Congress...
and
Enoch LincolnEnoch Lincoln was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts and from Maine, son of Levi Lincoln and brother of Levi Lincoln . Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Lincoln graduated from Harvard University in 1807.He studied law, was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of his profession in...
from 1827 to 1829, and
JohnJohn Bigler was an American lawyer, politician and diplomat. A Democrat, he served as the third Governor of California from 1852 to 1856 and was the first California governor to complete an entire term in office successfully, as well as the first to win re-election...
and
William BiglerWilliam Bigler was the 12th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1852 to 1855, and later a U.S. Senator for the Democratic Party....
from 1852 to 1855. More recently,
George W.George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and
Jeb BushJohn Ellis "Jeb" Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is a prominent member of the Bush family: the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush; the younger brother of former President George W...
were both governors from 1999 to 2000.
Governor of Arkansas
The Rockefeller administration enthusiastically embarked on a series of reforms but faced a hostile Democratic legislature. Rockefeller endured a number of personal attacks and a concerted whispering campaign regarding his personal life.
Rockefeller had a particular interest in the reform of the Arkansas prison system. Soon after his election he had received a shocking State Police report on the brutal conditions within the prison system. He decried the "lack of righteous indignation" about the situation and created the new Department of Corrections. He named a new warden, academic
Tom MurtonThomas O. Murton , generally known as Tom Murton, was a penologist best known for his wardenship of the prison farms of Arkansas...
, the first professional penologist Arkansas had ever had in that role. However, he fired Murton less than a year later, when Murton's aggressive attempts to expose decades of corruption in the system subjected Arkansas to nationwide contempt.
Rockefeller also focused on the State's lackluster educational system, providing funding for new buildings and increases in teacher salaries when the legislature allowed.
In 1967, Rockefeller named an
FBIThe Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
agent,
Lynn A. DavisLynn Arthur Davis is a retired attorney in Little Rock, Arkansas, who lectures and writes nonfiction crime thrillers based on his past law enforcement experiences. He is a former agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, short-term director of the Arkansas State Police, and U.S. marshal for...
, to head the state police with orders to halt illegal
gamblingGambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
in
Hot SpringsHot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...
. After sensational raids against the mobsters, Davis was forced out as police director 128 days later when the
Arkansas Supreme CourtThe Arkansas Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Arkansas. Since 1925, it has consisted of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices, and at times Special Justices are called upon in the absence of a regular justice...
ruled that he did not meet the strict 10-year residency requirement for the appointment. Democratic lawmakers refused to change the rule to allow Davis to serve. The Hot Springs raids were the No. 1 news story in Arkansas in 1967 as determined by the
Associated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
.
At the 1968
Republican National ConventionThe Republican National Convention is the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States. Convened by the Republican National Committee, the stated purpose of the convocation is to nominate an official candidate in an upcoming U.S...
, Winthrop Rockefeller received backing from members of the Arkansas
delegationA delegate is a person who speaks or acts on behalf of an organization at a meeting or conference between organizations of the same level A delegate is a person who speaks or acts on behalf of an organization (e.g., a government, a charity, an NGO, or a trade union) at a meeting or conference...
as a "
favorite sonA favorite son is a political term.*At the quadrennial American national political party conventions, a state delegation sometimes nominates and votes for a candidate from the state, or less often from the state's region, who is not a viable candidate...
"
presidentialThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
candidate. He received all of the Arkansas's delegation's 18 votes; his brother Nelson, then concluding a major presidential bid, received 277.
Rockefeller won re-election in November 1968, having defeated Marion H. Crank (1915-1994), a state legislator who had won the Democratic nomination in a heated fight with
Virginia Morris JohnsonVirginia Lillian Morris Johnson , was, in 1968, the first woman to seek the office of governor of Arkansas.-Early years:...
, wife of Jim Johnson and the first woman ever to seek the office of governor of Arkansas. Newly reelected, Rockefeller proposed tax increases to fund additional reforms and his second term began on January 14, 1969. Rockefeller and the legislature dueled with competing public-relations campaigns and Rockefeller's plan ultimately collapsed in the face of public indifference. Much of Rockefeller's second term was spent fighting with the opposition legislature.
With Rockefeller's reelection, the Republicans won a rare seat in the Arkansas State Senate with the election of Jim R. Caldwell of
RogersRogers is a suburban city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city has a population of 55,964. The city is located in the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Area, in the northwest corner of the state.-History:...
in northwestern Arkansas.
Throughout the Rockefeller administration, the state Republican Party chairman was the attorney
Odell PollardOdell Pollard is a retired attorney in Searcy, the seat of White County in central Arkansas, who was a pioneer in the revitalization of the Republican Party in his state.-Early years:...
of
SearcySearcy is the largest city and county seat of White County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 20,663. It is the principal city of the Searcy, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of White County...
in
White CountyWhite County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2010, the population was 77,076. The county seat is Searcy. White County is Arkansas's 31st county, formed on October 23, 1835, from portions of Independence, Jackson, and Pulaski counties and named for Hugh Lawson White, a...
, who once said that he and Rockefeller agreed on everything.
Racial politics
During this term Rockefeller quietly and successfully completed the
integrationRacial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation . In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws on diverse traditions, rather than merely...
of Arkansas schools that had been such a political bombshell only a few years before. He established the Council on Human Relations despite opposition from the legislature. Draft boards in the state boasted the highest level of racial integration of any U.S. state by the time that Rockefeller left office. When he entered office, not one African-American had served on a draft board in the state.
In 1970, it was disclosed that Rockefeller had maintained a list of militants for use by law enforcement to prevent potential disorders on Arkansas college and university campuses. The list drew opposition from some of his opponents, including an unsuccessful Democratic primary hopeful, state House
SpeakerThe term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
Hayes McClerkinHayes C. McClerkin is a commercial and environmental law attorney in Texarkana, Arkansas, who served as a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1961–1970 and as Speaker from 1969-1970. He succeeded Speaker Sterling R...
of
TexarkanaAs of the census of 2000, there were 26,448 people, 10,384 households, and 7,040 families residing in the city. The population density was 830.5 people per square mile . There were 11,721 housing units at an average density of 368.1 per square mile...
. McClerkin argued that the list may have contained the names of those who merely disagreed with Rockefeller politically.
End of the Rockefeller era
In the 1970 campaign, Rockefeller expected to face
Orval FaubusOrval Eugene Faubus was the 36th Governor of Arkansas, serving from 1955 to 1967. He is best known for his 1957 stand against the desegregation of Little Rock public schools during the Little Rock Crisis, in which he defied a unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court by ordering the...
, who led the old-guard Democrats, but
Dale Leon BumpersDale Leon Bumpers is an American politician who served as the 38th Governor of Arkansas from 1971 to 1975; and then in the United States Senate from 1975 until his retirement in January 1999. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Senator Bumpers is currently counsel at the Washington, D.C...
of
CharlestonCharleston is a city in Franklin County, Arkansas, United States, and one of the two county seats of Franklin County. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area...
in
Franklin County rose to the top of the Democratic heap by promising reforms. Bumpers' charisma and "fresh face" were too much for an incumbent Republican to overcome. Rockefeller lost his third-term bid, but he caused the Democrats to reform their own party. The Republicans were reduced to a single member of each legislative chamber, as Danny Patrick, elected with Rockefeller, went down to defeat in Madison County.
As a dramatic last act, Governor Rockefeller, a longtime
death penalty opponentThe use of capital punishment, frequently known as the death penalty, is highly controversial.-Retribution:Supporters of the death penalty argued that death penalty is morally justified when applied in murder especially with aggravating elements such as multiple homicide, child murder, torture...
, commuted the sentences of every prisoner on Arkansas's
Death RowDeath row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
and urged the governors of other states to do likewise. Thirty-three years later, in January 2003, Illinois'
lame duckA lame duck is an elected official who is approaching the end of his or her tenure, and especially an official whose successor has already been elected.-Description:The status can be due to*having lost a re-election bid...
governor,
George RyanGeorge Homer Ryan, Sr. was the 39th Governor of the U.S. state of Illinois from 1999 until 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. Ryan became nationally known when in 2000 he imposed a moratorium on executions and "raised the national debate on capital punishment"...
, would do the same, granting blanket commutations to the 167 inmates then sentenced to death in that state.
Before he left office, Rockefeller appointed a young public administrator,
Jerry ClimerJerome Francis Climer, known as Jerry Climer , is the founder of two Washington, D.C.-based "think tanks", the Congressional Institute and the Public Governance Institute, which were established in 1987 and 2001, respectively...
, to the vacant post of Pulaski County clerk. Two years later, Climer ran for secretary of state. He later founded two
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
-based "think tanks." and left office on January 12, 1971.
In 1972, Rockefeller persuaded
Len E. BlaylockLen Everette Blaylock, Sr. , is a retired farmer, educator, small businessman, and Republican politician from tiny Nimrod in Perry County in northwestern Arkansas. He was state welfare commissioner under Governor Winthrop Rockefeller, the GOP gubernatorial nominee , the U.S...
of
Perry County, his former welfare commissioner known for expertise in government administration to be the Republican gubernatorial nominee. Blaylock lost to Bumpers by an even greater margin than had Rockefeller in 1970. Rockefeller that year also supported the unsuccessful candidacy of
Wayne H. BabbittWayne H. Babbitt was a Republican politician in the U.S. state of Arkansas, who in 1972 became the only member of his party ever to oppose the reelection of entrenched Democratic U.S. Senator John L. McClellan.-Family:...
, a
North Little Rockthe city was 62.55% White, 33.98% Black or African American, 0.41% Native American, 0.59% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.18% from other races, and 1.26% from two or more races...
veterinarianA veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
who became the only Republican ever to challenge the reelection of U.S. Senator John L. McClellan.
Rockefeller hired as a $300-a-month secretary
Judy PettyJudy C. Petty, later Judy Petty Wolf , is a retired officer of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and a former Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives...
, who went on to serve two terms in the state legislature and to carry the Republican standard twice in races for Congress.
In September 1972, Rockefeller was diagnosed with inoperable cancer of the pancreas and endured a devastating round of
chemotherapyChemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
. When he returned to Arkansas the populace was shocked at the gaunt and haggard appearance of what had been a giant of a man.
Winthrop Rockefeller died February 22, 1973, in
Palm Springs, CaliforniaPalm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
, at the age of sixty. He is buried at Winrock Farms, his ranch, in
Morrilton, ArkansasMorrilton is a city in Conway County, Arkansas, United States, northwest of Little Rock. The town was home to Harding College, now Harding University of Searcy, Arkansas, for about a decade in the 1920s and 1930s. The population was 6,550 at the 2000 census...
.
Oddly, Jeannette Rockefeller also died in Palm Springs, where she had resided since the divorce. She was seventy-nine.
Legacy
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. The foundation provides funding for projects across Arkansas to encourage economic development, education, and racial and social justice. In 1964, he founded
The Museum of Automobiles on Petit Jean Mountain, which after his death in 1973 was given to the Arkansas State Parks system and a non-profit organization was formed to run it; in March 2007 the Charitable Trust pledged $100,000 for its ongoing operations if the museum raised an equal amount by the end of 2007.
Rockefeller's political legacy lives on in both the Republican and Democratic parties of Arkansas, both of which were forced to reform due to his presence in Arkansas politics.
Rockefeller was the subject of the December 2, 1966 cover of
TimeTime is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine.
Winthrop Rockefeller's son
Winthrop Paul "Win" RockefellerWinthrop Paul Rockefeller was a Republican politician who served as the 13th Lieutenant Governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas from 1996 until his death.-Early life and parents:...
served as Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas (having been elected in a special election in 1996, he won two full four-year terms in 1998 and 2002). Like his father, Win Rockefeller's political career was cut short by a devastating cancer.
The
Winrock Shopping CenterThe Winrock Shopping Center is a shopping mall located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. The mall is anchored by Dillard's and Bed Bath and Beyond. Currently the mall is vacant except for the anchor tenants who own their own spaces...
in
Albuquerque, New MexicoAlbuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
, is named for Rockefeller, as he developed it in a relationship with the
University of New MexicoThe University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
, the owners of the property on which the shopping center was built.
During his tenure as Chairman of
Colonial WilliamsburgColonial Williamsburg is the private foundation representing the historic district of the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. The district includes buildings dating from 1699 to 1780 which made colonial Virginia's capital. The capital straddled the boundary of the original shires of Virginia —...
, Winthrop was a frequent visitor at the foundation's
Carter's Grove PlantationCarter's Grove, also known as Carter's Grove Plantation, is a 750 acre plantation located on the north shore of the James River in the Grove Community of southeastern James City County in the Virginia Peninsula area of the Hampton Roads region of Virginia in the US.The plantation was built for...
eight miles away in
James City County, VirginiaJames City County is a county located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. Its population was 67,009 , and it is often associated with Williamsburg, an independent city, and Jamestown which is within the...
. He is credited with helping develop a plan with
Gussie BuschAugust "Gussie" Anheuser Busch, Jr. was an American brewing magnate who built the Anheuser-Busch Companies into the largest brewery in the world as company chairman from 1946–75, and became a prominent sportsman as owner of the St...
in the early 1970s to turn portion of the large tract of undeveloped land between the two points into the massive
Anheuser-BuschAnheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. , is an American brewing company. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and 18 in other countries. It was, until December 2009, also one of America's largest theme park operators; operating ten theme parks across the United States through the...
(AB) investment there, which included building a large brewery, the
Busch Gardens EuropeBusch Gardens Williamsburg is a 383 acre theme park located in James City County, Virginia about 3 miles southeast of Williamsburg, originally developed by Anheuser-Busch and currently owned by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, a division of The Blackstone Group...
theme park, the
KingsmillKingsmill is a name which has been used in James City County, Virginia since the mid-18th century. Initially the name of a plantation, in modern times, the name is attached to a geographic area which includes a large planned residential community, a resort complex, a theme park, a brewery, and a...
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.
See also
- Rockefeller family
The Rockefeller family , the Cleveland family of John D. Rockefeller and his brother William Rockefeller , is an American industrial, banking, and political family of German origin that made one of the world's largest private fortunes in the oil business during the late 19th and early 20th...
- Winthrop Paul Rockefeller
Winthrop Paul Rockefeller was a Republican politician who served as the 13th Lieutenant Governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas from 1996 until his death.-Early life and parents:...
- Arkansas Prison scandal
Further reading
- Memoirs, David Rockefeller, New York: Random House, 2002.
- The Life of Nelson A. Rockefeller: Worlds to Conquer, 1908-1958, New York: Doubleday, 1996.
- Winthrop Rockefeller, Philanthropist: A Life of Change, John L. Ward, University of Arkansas Press, 2004.
- Agenda for Reform: Winthrop Rockefeller As Governor of Arkansas, 1967-71, Cathy Kunzinger Urwin, University of Arkansas Press, 1991.
- "Friendly Rivalry: Winthrop Rockefeller Challenges Orval Faubus in 1964", Billy Hathorn, Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 53, No. 4 (Winter 1994), 446-473.
External links