ROCKEFELLER
Campaigning For The New World Order
Gary Allen,
a graduate of Stanford Uni-versity, is the author of several best-sellingbooks, including
Communist Revolution InThe Streets; Nixon's Palace Guard; NoneDare Call It Conspiracy;
and,
RichardNixon: The Man Behind The Mask,
thedefinitive study of the ambition and conspiratorial activities of our current President. Mr. Allen, a former instructor of history and English, is active in numeroushumanitarian, anti-Communist, and business enterprises. A film writer, author,and journalist, he is a Contributing Editor to
A
MERICAN
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PINION
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down the safety valves, wire theaccelerator to the floor, break out theHadacol and drink a toast to P.T. Bar-num.This is it, folks. It is time for NelsonRockefeller's last stand. (And maybeAmerica's.) You see, Nelson Rockefeller of New York is sixty-six years old, and eventhough he looks a decade younger, theelection of 1976 will be his last chance tobecome President. By 1980, the former boywonder of the "Liberal" Republicans will beseventy-two years old — an age almostuniversally considered too advanced for thePresidency.
Time passes even more effectively than
Bob Griese. It seems like only yesterdaythat Nelson Rockefeller was the odds-onfavorite for capturing the 1964 G.O.P.Presidential nomination. Then he divorcedhis wife for a married woman and theensuing scandal knocked his Presidentialaspirations into a cocked top hat. But, it's along, long time from May (1964) toDecember (1976), and the days grow short
(for seeking political office) when youreach sixty-six. It's now or
never, and the deluge of propaganda hasbegun.
In order to free himself for an all-outcampaign for the Presidency, Nelson
Rockefeller resigned his post as governor of New York on December 12, 1973. Imagine
resigning as chief executive of the nation'seconomically most powerful state — a jobfor which he had arduously campaignedfour times, spending tens of millions of dollars! No Rockefeller would take such astep frivolously.
The former New York governor says heresigned in order to head up a factfindingcommission. Does anybody believe him?
Only those who believe the moon is made of refried beans. Not that the commissioninvolved is small potatoes. It originallycarried the grandiloquent title NationalCommission On The Future of America InIts Third Century, later modified to NationalCommission On Critical Choices. This"bipartisan" palanquin is supposed to bearacademic and political gurus to the heightsof Mt. Olympus, there in the clean, pure airof selfless idealism to arrive at "a clearersense of national purpose."
Conservatives were quick to point outthat the very idea of a
national purpose
is acollectivist concept. A national purposerequires national planning, which by defi-nition supersedes individual planning. But
in a free country the purposes of individualscome first, and it is the role of thegovernment to protect the right of indi-viduals to pursue their
own
goals. As usual,nonetheless, such objections byConservatives were scarcely heard amongthe hurrahs emanating from the collect-ivists of the mass media.
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The
New York Times
of December 12,1973, provides us with some backgroundon the origins of the new RockefellerCommission:
The Commission for CriticalChoices, formed last month by theGovernor at the request of President Nixon, is the outgrowth of a studycommission first proposed by Mr. Rockefeller last December. At that time,the Governor announced that he would "undertake a major inquiry into the roleof the modem state in our changingFederal system. "
In other words, Nelson Rockefeller re-signed as governor of New York to head aCommission, to set collectivist goals, that
was created by Richard Nixon at Mr.Rockefeller's own suggestion.
The Commission is actually two studygroups; one on critical choices and theother on water quality. According to thesame issue of the
Times:
"The two nationalcommissions for which GovernorRockefeller is resigning to devote his fullenergies are composed of leaders of gov-ernment, education and industry, each witha projected budget of $20 million and each
expected to complete its work within twoyears."
Yes, that's forty million dollars.
The forty-member Commission OnCritical Choices (a million dollars a mem-ber?) includes a mixture of Establishmentwheelhorses and flunkies, including VicePresident Jerry Ford, Secretary of StateHenry Kissinger, Secretary of the TreasuryGeorge Shultz, Senate Majority LeaderMike Mansfield, Senate Minority LeaderHugh Scott, and House Majority LeaderThomas O'Neill. Others on the panel areDaniel Moynihan, chief pitchman forPresident Nixon's Family Assistance Plan;
Joseph Kirkland, secretary-treasurer of theA.F.L.-C.I.O.; John Knowles, president of the Rockefeller Foundation; SolLinowitz, the manic
"Liberal" and former head of Xerox; and,William S. Paley, chairman of the board of C.B.S.*
The staff of the Committee is even moreloaded with "Liberals" than is theCommittee itself. And as is usually the casewith operations of this sort, the report willbe written by the staff. Henry Diamond, aRipon Republican, has taken over as theCommission's executive director at fiftythousand dollars per year.** Equallyindicative of the panel's prejudice is the fact
that its study director is Stephen Berger,who will select those in charge of preparingthe various studies to be released by theCommission. Berger is a "Liberal"Democrat and was a campaign manager in1970 for the radical Richard Ottinger wholost to James Buckley in the 1970 Senaterace in New York.
The final report will be released shortlybefore the Republican National Conventionin 1976. The media will then tell us thatChairman Rockefeller is the onlyPresidential candidate who could carry out
the recommendations of this "prestigiouspanel."
The Commission Strategy
Despite the fact that nobody moresophisticated than Baby Snooks believeshim, Nelson Rockefeller denies that heresigned as governor of New York to headthe Commission as a strategic move in hislatest campaign for the Presidency. "Myonly regret is that my undertaking these
tasks has been interpreted as a political
*Certainly no one was very surprised that C.B.S.carried a two-hour propaganda show on "TheRockefellers" during prime viewing time on Friday,December twenty-eighth. For a political candidate tobuy that kind of time would cost an astronomical sum.But Rocky has friends. It didn't cost him a nickel.**The Ripon (not Ripoff) Society is a small group of young and very "Liberal" intellectuals out of IvyLeague schools who bear no more philosophicalresemblance to traditional Republicans than doesGeorge McGovern. Their every pronouncement isnonetheless given nationwide publicity by the press. Asit happens, the Rockefellers finance the Riponoperation.
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maneuver to seek the Presidency," hedeclares. "I am not a candidate fornomination for the Presidency or for anyother political office. Whether I willbecome a candidate in the future, I do notknow. I should like to keep my optionsopen." But, he adds, "under nocircumstances would I consider such amove before the latter part of 1975, or whileI am chairman of these commissions." Theresigning governor said of the 1976election: "That seems far away."
There are, however, more than a fewpolitical advantages to the move. According
to
U.S. News & World Report,
Rockefeller
"smilingly said that as chairman of thecommission he will be traveling all over thecountry. It was not lost on others that thiswill provide the Governor with manyopportunities to seek widespread support."
The resignation strategy also relievesNelson Rockefeller of the risk of runningfor an unprecedented fifth term as gover-nor. As one of his advisors observed, "If heloses for governor, he's done in '76 in oneday." And winning the governorship would
be anything but a sure thing despite pastsuccesses. Voters might be cynical of a
fifth-term race as a stratagem for anothertry at the Presidency. In the past,Rockefeller has benefitted from very weak opponents in a state with an overwhelmingDemocratic majority. There is no guaranteethat such would be the case this timearound. Also, New York is a fiscal disaster,and voters might take revenge onRockefeller for tax hikes he instituted afterpromising in his last campaign that hewould not do so.
Yet another reason for avoiding thegubernatorial race is Watergate. The public
now thoroughly distrusts professionalpoliticians. As John Goldman wrote of Rockefeller's advisors in the
Los AngelesTimes
for August 17, 1973: "They believethe most effective way to seek thePresidency in the Watergate era might be asa private citizen-campaigner."
Also among the practical reasons Nel-
son Rockefeller must go through thecharade of not being a candidate is money.You see, he expects that the federaltreasury will come up with millions tofinance his campaign-Commission. DaddyOilbucks and the family have already
pumped in a million from the RockefellerBrothers Fund, one of their tax-free piggy
banks, and you are expected to produce the$39 million balance. If NelsonRockefeller were an
Nelson Rockefeller sent Kissinger to Mr. Nixon.
avowed candidate, it would be too trans-parent that you were being asked to financea political campaign. But, a search for a"national purpose," that's a different matter.Barnum would have loved it.
In the meantime, the former governor
can travel the country giving speeches toimportant civic and political gatherings,appearing on television, addressing himself to the issues facing the nation — all the
while insisting that he is not doing it as acandidate, but as the public spiritedchairman of the Rockefeller-sponsoredNational Commission On Critical ChoicesFor Americans.
And, there is yet another angle. TheFederal Election Campaign Act, which took effect in 1972, provides that no candidatefor President or Vice President can usemore than fifty thousand dollars of his own(or his family's) money in his campaign.
This is yet another explanation forRockefeller's insistence that he won't makeup his mind about running for thenomination until late in 1975 - virtually onthe eve of the primaries. This gives him twoyears for heavy spending before
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