Thom Hartmann: Gianno Caldwell- ‘Where Are The Nelson Rockefeller Republicans?’

Source:Thom Hartmann– Governor Nelson Rockefeller (R, New York) running for President, perhaps in 1960.

Source: Thom Hartmann 

“Thom Hartmann talks with Gianno Caldwell, Republican Strategist-Caldwell Strategic Consulting, Website:Gianno Caldwell.”

From Thom Hartmann

The first few minutes of this interview is about Donald Trump and takes place in 2015. I’m not interested in Donald Trump for this piece, but if you are then you’re welcome to watch the video.

But I am interested in Nelson Rockefeller and what was the progressive wing of the Republican Party at least from the 1950s through the 1970s and perhaps even 1980s.

Nelson was a Progressive Republican along with Governor George Romney and a few Congressional Republicans like Senator Jacob Javits, Senator Charles Matthias, even President Richard Nixon and perhaps even Dwight Eisenhower when it came to economic policy and civil rights.

The Republican Party use to represent the Northeast and Midwest and had a conservative-libertarian wing in the West like Senator Barry Goldwater and others. Thanks to the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the 1960s in general , you saw Southerners who were anti-civil rights and anti-desegregation Democrats, move to the Republican Party. With Northern Republicans moving to the Democratic Party.

I wouldn’t say the Rockefeller Progressive wing of the Republican Party is dead, but certainly on political life support. Senator Susan Collins., Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland, Representative Charlie Dent and perhaps 30-40 House Republicans. But the Republican Party today is essentially Southern Bible Belt Christian-Conservative party, with conservative-libertarian wing in the west led by Senator Jeff Flake and others.

With a pro-business Northeastern wing of the Republican Party that is progressive if not liberal on social issues or at least neutral, but pro-business and wanting to see taxes and regulations down on business other than the environment and when it comes to safety.

Dartmouth College: Michael A. Cohen- Nelson Rockefeller: ‘The 1968 Election & The Disappearance of Moderate Republicans’

Source:Dartmouth College– Professor Michael Cohen, giving a lecture about 1968 and the Republican Party.

“Michael A. Cohen, Columnist, The Boston Globe, “Nelson Rockefeller …

… the 1968 Election & the Disappearance of Republican Moderates.” Book signing following talk: American Maelstrom: The Election of 1968 and the Politics of Division.”

Source: Dartmouth College

I disagree with Michael Cohen right off the bat in his lecture about Nelson Rockefeller. Nelson wasn’t a Moderate, but was a Progressive and a Progressive Republican. Progressives in the real sense might look like Moderates compared with Socialists on the Far-Left who expect the national government to do practically everything for people. And in the case of Communists, want the national government to literally do everything for everybody. Perhaps even check people’s shoes to make sure they are tied correctly before the central government allows for people to leave their homes.

And Libertarians on the Right and if you’re talking about Anarchists on the Left, who don’t want government to do anything for everybody. That government in any form is corrupt and incompetent, and a form of enslavement.

Michael Cohen made my point that Nelson was a Progressive in his own lecture when he said that Rockefeller was a doer. He believed in government and that government can create positive change and do positive things for people. What do Progressives believe? They believe that progress can be made through government action. Limited government action since Progressives aren’t Socialists or Communists, and they are not even Liberals. Less ideological than Liberals and really everyone who is not a Moderate or Centrist and stress individual rights and individualism less than Liberals.

By the time 1968 comes around Richard Nixon essentially takes over the Republican Party in order to not just win the presidential election, but to serve him politically. By campaigning strongly for Congressional Republicans in 1966 and contributing to their comeback both in the House and Senate and making the GOP players in Congress again.

But also with Richard Nixon campaigned in the South that was traditionally Democrat, but Dixiecrat and even Confederate, and even religious as far as how they looked at their politics. What we today call the Christian-Right comes to the Republican Party by the late 1960s thanks to Richard Nixon and others. With Northeastern Republicans leaving the GOP except for Nelson and a few others and become Democrats. Which left Nelson Rockefeller without a major political party to run for president for.

CBS News: Face The Nation- Flashback: U.S. Senator Frank Cannon- ‘Governor Nelson Rockefeller & Conflicts of Interest- In 1974’

Source:CBS News– U.S. Senator Howard Cannon (Democrat, Nevada) on CBS’s Face The Nation, in 1974.

“Then-Sen. Howard Cannon tells “Face the Nation” in 1974 how lawmakers were approaching concerns about Nelson Rockefeller’s business empire and the conflicts of interest it might pose if he became vice president.”

Source: CBS News

President Richard Nixon resigns the presidency in August of 1974 because of Watergate and his involvement in covering up that scandal coming to light because of his tapes. The House Judiciary Committee votes to impeach President Nixon that month as well with House Democrats clearly having the votes to impeach President Nixon by the full house.

The Senate Republican Leadership led by Minority Leader Hugh Scott, with other GOP Senators like Senator Barry Goldwater, goes to the White House to meet President Nixon and tell him that he’ll be impeached by the House and then convicted in the Senate. There were Senate GOP whip counts back then with only 20 votes or so in the Senate to vote for President Nixon’s acquittal. So this is a little background for why Governor Nelson Rockefeller from New York, was up for appointment by President Gerald Ford to be Vice President in the first place.

After the Congressional elections of 1974 where House Democrats add to the majority and pick up around 40 seats and Senate Democrats add 6 seats to their majority, President Gerald Ford appoints Governor Rockefeller to replace him as Vice President. If you’re familiar with this era or lived through it you know that Gerry Ford was President Nixon’s last Vice President and was appointed to that office in the fall of 1973.

But Nelson Rockefeller wasn’t your ordinary Governor. He’s part of the Rockefeller family dynasty and was worth what would probably be in today’s dollars in the hundreds of millions of dollars. He had a lot of business interests and at least potential conflicts of interest. When a new Vice President is needed and appointed before a presidential election, that person has to be confirmed by the entire Congress, not just the Senate. Which means the House gets to vote on the Vice Presidential nominee as well.

So that is what this Face The Nation interview was about in 1974 and while they were interviewing Senator Howard Cannon who was Chairman of the Rules Committee with his committee having jurisdiction over the Vice Presidency and vice presidential appointment.

And what the reporters on Face The Nation including a very young, beautiful, and adorable, Connie Chung from CBS News ( I must say ) interviewing Senator Cannon about Governor Rockefeller and his potential conflicts of interest because Rockefeller was such a wealthy man and had money and investments all over the country. They were asking Senator Cannon what he believed his committee would do as far as looking into those potential conflicts.

NBC News: Meet The Press- Governor Nelson Rockefeller: June 12th, 1960

Source:NBC News  – Governor Nelson Rocekfeller, perhaps in 1974 after being nominated for Vice President of the United States.

In 1960 then Governor Nelson Rockefeller appearing on NBC News Meet The Press, when running for President. The video for that interview is currently unavailable.

Nelson Rockefeller and Richard Nixon, seemed to have a political rivalry in the Republican Party even though ideologically they were pretty close. They were both basically Progressive Republicans. Certainly Governor Rockefeller was, but Rockefeller and Nixon were very similar on economic policy and probably foreign policy as well.

Nelly and Dick were both cold warrior anti-Communists who believed in a strong national defense and protecting America from Communist Russia with a strong national defense. They both supported the civil rights laws of the 1960s and the environmental protections of the 1970s.

And yet the way that the media back then would talk about Nelson Rockefeller and Richard Nixon, you would think they both came from different ideologically wings of the GOP. As if one was a Conservative and the other was a Moderate or Liberal. When the fact was both were basically Progressive Republicans in the classical and real sense. Not the stereotypical big government socialistic sense that Progressives especially in the Democratic Party today get labeled as.

It was Senator Barry Goldwater who was a Conservative-Libertarian Republican who strongly differed from the Rockefeller’s and Nixon’s in the Republican Party ideologically.

But when Meet The Press interviewed Governor Rockefeller in 1960, they were asking him questions implying that Rockefeller and then Vice President Nixon, were different ideologically. And that Rockefeller wasn’t sold on the candidacy of Vice President Nixon and wasn’t sure if he was going to support Vice President Nixon against Senator John Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election.

But the fact is Rockefeller and Nixon, were both essentially Progressive Republicans at least on economic and foreign policy, as well as social issues, who politically at least could’ve been strong running mates for a presidential election.

Remember This: Cary Reich- ‘Nelson Rockefeller: Biography, Accomplishments, Education & Legacy’

Source:Remember This– Governor Nelson Rockefeller (Republican, New York) one of the last of the Progressive Republicans.

“Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979) was an American businessman, philanthropist, public servant, and politician. He served as the 41st Vice President of the United States (1974–1977) under President Gerald Ford, and as the 49th Governor of New York (1959–1973). He also served in the administrations of Presidents Franklin Roosevelt regarding Latin America and Dwight Eisenhower regarding welfare programs. A member of the wealthy Rockefeller family, he was also a noted art collector, as well as administrator of Rockefeller Center.”

Source: Remember This

To understand Nelson Rockefeller I think you have to understand the Republican Party of the 1950s, 1960s, and even the 1970s. Gerald Ford was a traditional Conservative Republican, but in the real sense and not with the Christian-Right and other Far-Right factions in America. But Richard Nixon I believe you could at least argue was a Progressive Republican and he was President in the 1970s.

After Gerald Ford leaves the presidency in January, 1977 is where the you see the Republican Party really start to change. You have the Conservative-Libertarian faction that Ronald Reagan and Senator Barry Goldwater were part of. But you also have the emergence of the Christian-Right come into the GOP. With the Progressive faction that Nelson Rockefeller was part of start to move out of the party and into the Democratic Party.

Before the Democratic Party and Republican Party, become more ideologically unified in the late 1970s with the GOP now being dominated by Conservative-Libertarians and the Christian-Right, as well as Moderate Conservatives, and the Democratic Party being dominated by Liberals, ( in the classical sense ) Progressives, ( in the classical sense ) and even Socialists in the real sense, as well as Southern moderates, the Republican Party had a real-life Progressive faction in it that Nelson Rockefeller was big part of and perhaps the leader of it.

Progressive Republicans who were anti-Communist cold warriors, who believed in a strong national defense, strong but responsible law enforcement, limiting deficit and debt spending and even balanced budgets in good economic times, free trade. But people who believed in strong but responsible regulation of the economy like environmental, consumer, and worker protections, infrastructure investment, public education, and even raising taxes on people who could afford it to pay for government investments in the economy.

These Republicans weren’t Conservatives, Liberals, or Moderates, but Progressives who believed in progress through government action. And as a Progressive Republican Nelson Rockefeller was Governor of New York from 1959-74 became he became Vice President of the United States. And ran for President three times as well.

PBS: NewsHour- Judy Woodruff- Interviewing Richard N. Smith: ‘Looking Back at The Life and Politics of Nelson Rockefeller’

Source:PBS– interviewing presidential historian Richard N. Smith, about Progressive Republican Nelson Rockefeller.

“The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor.[6] It is a nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational television programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing series such as American Experience, America’s Test Kitchen, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Barney & Friends, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Downton Abbey, Finding Your Roots, Frontline, The Magic School Bus, Masterpiece Theater, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Nature, Nova, the PBS NewsHour, Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Keeping up Appearances and This Old House.”

From Wikipedia

“A politician who self-described as having a “Democrat heart with a Republican head,” Nelson Rockefeller would be something of a political anomaly today. Biographer Richard Norton Smith, author of “On His Own Terms,” joins Judy Woodruff to discuss what distinguished the four-time New York governor and former vice president.”

From the PBS NewsHour

Richard Smith nailed it when he told Judy Woodruff and she asked him about how to describe Nelson Rockefeller’s politics with Smith saying that Nelson was a Progressive-Conservative. Which I know sounds like an Oxymoron like jumbo shrimp or hot ice, the Cleveland Browns NFL franchise. (Not to pick on Cleveland)

And I prefer the term Progressive Republican like a Teddy Roosevelt or a Newt Gingrich. Someone who believes in government action to create progress but who puts limits on government to doing only the things that government should be doing. Like helping people in need help themselves.

Nelson or Nellie wasn’t a hardcore Conservative or Classical Conservative, Conservative Libertarian. As Richard Smith said Nelson disagreed with Barry Goldwater who did almost by himself put conservative libertarianism on the map in American politics, on almost all the issues.

But Nelson was a Conservative similar to Teddy Roosevelt in the sense that he believed in conserving what worked well in America like our Constitution, diversity, and individualism, and yes our environment. But he also believed in using government to again create progress and make things better.

A true Conservative in a political sense believes in conserving. Which has nothing to do with bigotry, national defense, property rights, to use as examples. But someone who believes conserving what works well and what makes society strong.

And yes, Conservatives tend to believe in conserving those things that I just mentioned, but generally conservatism in a political sense is about conserving the U.S. Constitution and our individual rights.

Not using government to force people to live in a certain way because those are the religious and moral values of some faction of believers. Nelson Rockefeller was a Conservative in that sense. But he also believed government could play a limited but constructive role in seeing that progress was achieved and that society could be better.