Nelson Rockefeller Sworn in as 41st Vice-President -- December 19, 1974

Before a certain orange failed businessman/reality show buffoon became President of these United States on January 20, 2017 (mercifully evicted from office on January 20, 2021), the last New Yorker to serve in high office was Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller -- or Rocky.

Scion of one of the richest and most famous families on Earth, Nelson Rockefeller was a four-term Governor of New York State, first elected in 1958 before resigning in late 1973. A year later, however, Rocky was "called to serve" as Vice-President by President Gerald Ford.

Rockefeller's journey to the Vice-Presidency remains the most dramatic in history. In the 1960s, while Governor, he ran for the Republican presidential nomination multiple-times -- and lost. His presidential dreams were squashed, in large part, by his divorce and subsequent re-marriage to "Happy", this at a time when divorce was more a political liability than it is now. Bored as Governor, his presidential dreams dashed, Rockefeller finally quit as Governor to return to a private and luxurious life.

But history wasn't done with him yet. The Watergate scandal subsumed the country and the presidency of Richard Nixon. In 1973, just a couple of months before Rockefeller quit as New York Governor, Nixon's Vice-President Spiro Agnew resigned in a bribery scandal. Agnew was replaced as VP by Gerald Ford, a genial Congressman from Michigan. And then, even more dramatically, in August 1974, Nixon quit as president under threat of impeachment and removal from office. Ford became president and, just like Nixon before, he needed a VP -- and so he called Rocky.

This special report of his swearing-in late 1974 is amazing, a glimpse at an extraordinary moment in time as the last New Yorker to become Vice-President takes office. Rocky's time at the top would be brief -- in 1976, Ford would dump him from the presidential ticket and Rocky would retire from politics completely. He returned to NYC, lived in his Upper East Side townhouse, and died in 1979 while banging his secretary -- oh, no, sorry, "working on his memoirs."

Enjoy.  

The Scandalous Death of a NYC Vice-President

On this date 47 years ago, the 41st Vice-President of the United States, Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller, died of a heart attack. He was 70.

"Rocky", as he was known, was the scion of one of the richest families on Earth, and had been the governor of New York State from 1959 to 1973. His legacy in this city and state was significant, as I blogged about many years ago. In 1974 he became Vice-President after President Nixon had resigned and Gerald Ford became president. Rockefeller left office in 1977 and returned to NYC.

Two years later he was dead.

On the night of January 26, 1979, it was announced, as you'll see below, that he had died in his office at Rockefeller Center while working on a book in the presence of his bodyguard.

Ehhh ... not really.

Actually Rocky was in an East Side townhouse that he owned with his secretary Megan Marshack. This townhouse appears to have been a very classy love nest. Rocky and Megan were banging on the floor -- apparently she was riding him cowgirl when the old man had a heart attack. Now she obviously should have called 911 right away as that might have saved his life. But no. Instead she made a series of phone calls to her psychiatrist and her friend who rushed over to the townhouse. Together, apparently, they got Rocky dressed and then the friend called 911. But it was too late. The mighty Rocky -- billionaire, governor, Vice-President, titan of his times -- had died in the most tawdry way possible.

For days and weeks afterwards the scandal fascinated the NYC tabloids. But then ... it just kind of petered out. 

The Rockefeller's used their wealth and power to cover it up quite effectively. Rocky was creamated the very next day so no autopsy was performed. Megan Marshak, and presumably her friend, signed NDAs and were probably paid off. Also, it helped that at the same time this scandal was unfolding there was a revolution going on in Iran and that grabbed the headlines. And, of course, Rocky was out of office so this incident had no real political implications.

There were no criminal charges. No arrests. No lawsuits. No legal actions of any kind. No tell-all books or teary interviews or multi-part true crime documentaries. 

Amazingly, Megan Marshak remained quiet until her death in October 2024. She lived a relatively productive, and regular life. She worked at CBS News in NYC for almost 20 years before moving to Calfornia and living there until her death. She married later in life, had no children, and died in relative obscurity. Interestingly she was also 70 years old when she died, the same age as the great man she shtupped to death.

Half a century later, most New Yorkers probably haven't heard of Nelson Rockefeller much less the scandalous way that he left this mortal coil.

Remembering the 1964 World's Fair

Some years are transformative -- and 1964 was one of them.

Like 1994, it was a "hinge-of-history" year, a year when everything changed, a year when events that happened in it had long-term repercussions. The previous year, 1963, ended on the tragic note of President Kennedy's assassination. For many American it felt like the end of innocence. In many ways, it was: in the near future were Vietnam, Watergate, race riots, stagflation, and rising crime rates. But despite the horror of November 22, 1963, 1964 was an exciting year. We got, amongst other things:

1. The British Invasion of Beatlemania that would transform rock music and American culture.

2. The 1964 Civil Rights Act that ended legal discrimination across the country and would one day lead to the first black president.

3. The historic landslide election of President Lyndon Johnson that (Vietnam not withstanding) lead to the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, the Voting Rights Act, and even the creation of public television (amongst other things).

4. The 1964 World's Fair in Flushing, Queens.

This last event, obviously, was a big deal in NYC. The world came to New York to see the future. Designed and overseen by legendary master building Robert Moses (it was his last big career triumph), the Fair stretched from April, 1964 until 1965 and featured thousands of exhibits by companies like Ford and GM, Pepsi, IBM, and Westinghouse all displaying their wares. Governments from the around the world came and had big displays and shows to "advertise" themselves to an international audience. And, of course, artists came to sell their work. Plus, this was the beginning of the Space Age, and there were lots of exhibits featuring rockets, some of which are visible in Flushing Meadows Park today. 

In 1964, America realized that the 20th century wouldn't last forever and the World Fair gave us a glimpse of things to come.

The actual Fair has taken on legendary status. It was the last of its kind in New York City and is considered the gold standard for all World's Fair since then. But it was not without its controversies.

First, there was financial mismanagement. Even though the Fair brought in tons of money, it cost more to run. Blame for this can be laid at the feet of Mr. Moses, as Robert Caro writes about extensively in The Power Broker. Its money-losing legacy is one of the reasons there hasn't been another World's Fair in NYC since then.

Second, a lot of stuff was built for it that has since fallen into disuse. There's a sphere in Flushing Meadows Park that, despite looking cool, had cost a fortune to maintain. And then there's the Pavilion, which has been called New York's most beautiful ruin. 

Third, there's the politics. In the 1960s, New York State was ruled by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His money and political power made him invincible. The World's Fair was his baby, the crown jewel of his legacy that he hoped would propel him into the Presidency. Obviously, it didn't, but his political goals led to decisions in planning and management that led to the cost overruns. Most appallingly, however, is that it led to an unconscionable act of censorship by the then governor. The great artist Andy Warhol created his only work of public art for the Fair called "13 Most Wanted Men" (it was, bizarrely, a mural of the 13 most wanted criminals in America). Some people found it offensive, and Rockefeller pressured Warhol to paint it over. He did, and the public was denied seeing this amazing piece of art.  

Since 1964, Warhol has, like the World's Fair and unlike Nelson Rockefeller, become iconic. And, in fact, 1964, was truly an iconic year. It felt like, and was, a time when possibilities were limitless. We were going into space. We were ending discrimination. The culture was changing, become more radical, more weird. The middle class was exploding. It was a good time in America and NYC -- and the World's Fair encapsulated it.

Of course, it would all come crashing down very soon thereafter. The Kennedy assassination late the previous year seemed to be a dark foreshadowing of the many crises that would shake America and the world after that. NYC would go through turbulent times too (think the fiscal crises of the 1970s, booming crime, the destruction of the middle class). But the World's Fair showed then that the future should be something to be embraced and not feared -- and maybe one day, hopefully, it will be so again.

Remembering Rocky

Wacky governors and Vice-Presidents have been in the news a lot lately -- including one particularly bizarre Governor who might have been Vice-President. We've heard all about the various financial, ethical, and zipper problems that Blagojevich, Palin, Sanford, and Spitzer have suffered in the last year. And whether its the sinister, creepy Dick Cheney or the gaffe-a-minute Joe Biden, our Vice-Presidents have been providing lots of comedic fodder to keep the American people amused. All this talk of Governors/Vice-Presidents got me thinking about the last New Yorker who ever served in high office. That would be Nelson Rockefeller, "Rocky" as he was known popularly known, who was Governor of New York from 1959 to 1973 and then Vice-President under Gerald Ford from 1974 to 1977. His last name tells you everything you need to know about his background. Born to amazing wealth and privilege, Rocky was at the very top of the very top of the ruling class. Elected New York State Governor four times, he tightened drugs laws, created the SUNY system, conserved huge amounts of land, built massive construction projects, and took Robert Moses out of power in 1968. He ran for the Republican nomination for president three times but lost in 1960 and 1968 to Richard Nixon and in 1964 to Barry Goldwater. Just goes to show you that money can't quite buy everything. Rocky's private was also a bit ... rocky. While he was still governor in 1962, he divorced his first wife and then married his mistress Margaret "Happy" Murphy the next year. As you might imagine, this was a considered a huge scandal at the time. In an era when America was still very much in a conservative 1950s frame of mind, venerated politicians -- and a Rockefeller no less! -- simply did not dump their wives and marry younger women. It was considered quite gauche and had a lot to do with Rocky not getting the GOP nod in 1964 (which many people at the time felt he was owed since he didn't get it in 1960 and Nixon had then subsequently lost the general election to JFK). Rocky quit the Governorship in 1973, returning to his life of privilege and considering another run for president in 1976. But history came knocking on his mansion door. After Gerald Ford became president in 1974 when Nixon resigned because of Watergate, Ford tapped Rocky to be his Vice-President. Rocky was confirmed by the Congress in December 1974 and served until Ford left office in 1977. Sadly for Rocky, Ford dumped him from the GOP ticket in 1976, replacing him with Bob Dole and thus ending Rocky's political career. Rocky returned to NYC and lived here for the last two years of his life. The circumstances of his death have became somewhat legendary. The official version is that he was found dead in his office on January 24, 1979 slumped over his desk while working on a book. In reality, he died on that day in his townhouse while engaging in an ... amorous embrace ... with his 25 year old secretary. So here's to good ol' Rocky, the last New Yorker who served in national office. He political career was impressive, his service to our state and nation admirable, and his private life worthy of the tabloids. And compared to our modern day politicians, he was unquestionably a giant.

Oh Those New York Politicians ...

Wow! What a lousy year to be a New York politician!

2008 will go down in history as the year New York's political leadership officially became a big joke. And it ain't even half over yet! First Rudy's presidential campaign went to Florida to die. Then Eliot Spitzer got down with a hooker and his governorship went down with her.

As soon as Eliot left, our new governor admitted to running around on his wife ad nausem.

That should have been enough -- more than enough. But wait! There's more!

Now, within the last two days, Hillary Clinton's campaign is over and everyone wants her to quit and she should quit but she won't quite and now a Staten Island congressman has been busted for drunk driving and fathering an illegitimate kid!!!

Oy vey. Madone. When will it end? All this nonsense and failure is enough to make this New Yorker nostalgic for Mario Cuomo and Ed Koch -- heck even Al D'Amato and George Pataki will do.

Al Smith, FDR, Daniel Patrick Moynahan, and Nelson Rockefeller must be spinning in their graves (and even though Nelson died in 1979 while shtupping his secretary, at least he had the decency to wait until he was out of office).

Let's just hope that Chuck Schumer and Mike Bloomberg aren't being naughty. We can't take much more of this.

What a Week in NYC!

This past week in New York will certainly reverberate for a while and if you had to try to describe it in one word, I think only one pronoun would suffice -- stormy.

As the saying goes, things come in twos. In this case, there were two big storms in New York last week.

Storm #1: the victory of Carl Paladino in the New York State Republican primary for governor. This man, a hardcore right-wing reactionary, is a real estate developer from upstate who shocked the GOP establishment by knocking Rick Lazio out of the race and winning the chance to face Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in this fall's governor's race. Paladino fancies himself an outsider, just an ordinary (multi-millionaire) citizen who's "mad as hell" with the dysfunction in Albany and is "not going to take it anymore." He vows to cut state spending by 20% and taxes by 10% in his first year as governor, all part of his plan to take a "baseball bat" to state government.

He's insane. And a total fraud. First of all, this supposed "outsider" actually made his fortune by getting lots of contracts with the state -- so it was government "spending" that's responsible for his current candidacy. And he's a racist and bizarre pervert, a man with a well-known habit of getting and forwarding racist and obscene emails (apparently he has the kinds of friends that like sending him jokes comparing President Obama to a monkey and of broads banging horses; and the would be governor apparently has even more friends who he believes would enjoy seeing this junk; "With friends like these ..."). And he believes that welfare recipients should be put in camps and taught hygiene. And he wants to use the power of eminent domain to stop the Islamic Cultural Center in lower Manhattan. And he fathered a love child.

This guy is certifiable, totally insane, and he's unfit to be the governor. Want proof? Former Senator Al D'amato, the old boss of the New York State GOP who engineered the victory of Governor George Pataki in 1994, has said Paladino shouldn't be governor. And the Republican candidates for State Comptroller and Attorney General are refusing to endorse him. He's that bad. Andrew Cuomo should win in a walk -- but not be afraid to fight back hard against this guy.

Think how far the New York GOP has fallen. It used to produce great senators and governors like Theodore Roosevelt, Tom Dewey, Jacob Javits, Nelson Rockefeller -- even Al D'amato and Pataki were giants of the GOP. And now what do they offer this state? Carl Paladino. How sad.

Storm #2: this time it was a literal one -- specifically a TORNADO that ripped across Brooklyn and Queens. It happened on Thursday evening, around 5:30 PM, and tore up streets and felled trees that smashed into car and houses. It was quick and scary and has caused millions of dollars in damage. Fortunately the Parks Department, the police and firefighters, and the office of Emergency Management are on the case and working methodically to assess the damage and clean it up. Yes, that's right -- those same government employees that so many like to complain about are actually out there fixing the city after an unnaturally natural event hit the city so viciously. And they're working hard without complaint and without much glory (this isn't like cleaning up Ground Zero after all -- just an act of God). One person was killed which is tragic but fortunately there weren't a lot of injuries. Let's just hope this is the last tornado NYC will see in a while.

So that's the week that was, a stormy one in the literal and political environments of New York. And let's hope the damage they inflicted won't be too long lasting.

Dick Gottfried Says Goodbye

Assemblyman Dick Gottfried, who has represented the West Side of Manhattan in Albany for 52 years, will retire at the end of 2022. He's the longest-serving legislator in New York State history, a link to this city's and state's past. 

When he entered the Assembly as a twenty-something, Richard Nixon was President, Nelson Rockefeller was Governor, and John Lindsay was Mayor. The Watergate scandal was two years in the future, the NYC fiscal crises was 5 years in the future (as was Saturday Night Live), Son of Sam was 6 six years in the future, and 9/11 and COVID-19 were 30 and 50 years in the future. His long career was a part of and an undercurrent of this history, a source of stability in tumultuous times.

Politicians like Dick Gottfried are increasingly rare these days in that he was a public servant as much as a politician. He didn't want glory, fame, or money, and he didn't get into nasty scandals or say bombastic things -- he just served his constituents, faithfully and honestly and thoughtfully, for more than half-a-century. This city and state were lucky to have him and we can only hope that we'll get more public servants like him in elected office in the future. 

Where is Hugh Carey when we need him?

Politicians in general, and New York politicians in particular, are not a well-respected bunch. Even in the best of times they are viewed with disdain; during the worst of times they are downright hated. But it is a truism of American politics that most politicians and their legacies are viewed more favorably long after they've left office.

Take, for example, President Gerald Ford. His pardon of Richard Nixon in 1974 was met with universal condemnation and lead to his defeat in 1976. Yet more than thirty years later most Americans agree that it was the right thing to do -- he removed Watergate from the national agenda and put the business of governing the country first. Probably the most famous example post-presidential rehabilitation is Harry Truman. When he left the presidency in 1953, he had the lowest approval ratings ever recorded. He was despised. And yet today he is widely regarded as one of our greatest presidents: the Marshall Plan, the Berlin airlift, the doctrine of containment, the desegregation of the military, the ending of the rail strike -- he put America and the world back on track after the Depression and World War II and set for the stage for the eventual peaceful end of the Cold War. (No wonder Republican George W. Bush always compares himself to Democrat Harry Truman.)

Closer to home, and more recent in history, is the case of Hugh Carey. A two-term Governor from 1975-1983, he lead New York through the fiscal crises of the 1970s and saved the city and state from bankruptcy. It was a brutal time in the city's history. During the 1960s and early 70s, Mayor John Lindsay, Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and Presidents Johnson and Nixon had driven the city, state and country into a godawful fiscal mess -- their out of control budgets and loose fiscal policies had exploded government debt and caused awful inflation, and it was left to the likes of Carey, Ford, and Mayor Abe Beam to clean up the mess.

But it was Carey, most of all, who did it: a master at the art of politics and compromise, he managed to get the federal government to bail out the city by playing the business community against the labor unions and getting them to make concessions that made the bailout possible.

There is a new book out called The Man Who Saved New York: Hugh Carey and the Great Fiscal Crises of 1975 that chronicles how he did it. I haven't read the book yet but in only two reviews I've learned some fascinating tidbits. One is how he managed to compromise when necessary and stand his ground when vital, and how he built up relationships and credibility with both Republicans and Democrats and was able to work with them to solve the problems. Another is how, of all people, Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago and President Ford's then Chief-of-Staff conspired to strangle New York by refusing the bailout in an insane attempt to convince the financial industry to leave NYC and move to Chicago. They did this by putting pressure on the Illinois delegation in Congress to vote against the bailout. Fortunately, through Carey's maneuvering, Mayor Daley and this chief-of-staff were beaten and NYC got bailed out and the city was saved.

Today, when our city and state are staring down the barrel of yet another fiscal crises, we could really use another Hugh Carey. Here's hoping that, if he becomes governor, Andrew Cuomo will do his best. At the very least, he should read this book.

Oh, and what was the name of that Chief-of-Staff who didn't want to bailout NYC and had the crazy idea of relocating the financial industry to Chicago: Donald Rumsfeld! Not the first time he had a spectacularly bad idea (and his deputy chief-of-staff was a man name Dick Cheney who was also strongly against bailing out NYC -- as if we needed any more proof that these guys were just pure evil).

"What Must the Widow Feel?" The Compassion of Al Smith

This past Wednesday we went to the second of Robert Caro's lectures at the New-York Historical Society on "The Shapers of New York." This time the subject was Al Smith, the great New York Governor who served on and off from 1919 to 1928. (I had blogged about Al Smith in October when both McCain and Obama, at the height of the presidential race, appeared at the Al Smith Dinner which is held every year in the old Governor's memory to raise money for Catholic charities). Caro indicated that this was his favorite lecture to give because of his great admiration for Al Smith (1873-1944) .He also sad that, sadly, there are no great books about Smith so learning about him and how important he was is difficult.

In this lecture, Caro talked about Al Smith's incredible rise from being a street kid in the Bowery to New York's first Catholic Governor. Smith worked as a laborer and ran errands for the corrupt Tammany Hall machine. Eventually he worked his way into a seat in the State Legislature where he became one of the hardest working and most capable legislators Albany had ever seen (amongst other things, he actually read the legislation he voted on, something a lot of his colleagues didn't do). During his time in the legislature (he rose to Speaker before becoming Governor), Smith came up with ideas that were revolutionary in early 20th century America but are commonplace today: state farm insurance, worker's compensation and safety laws (following the terrible Triangle Shirt Waist Factory fire of 1911), health insurance for the poor, and higher teacher salaries. His compassion for the working poor and working women in particular was extraordinary. In fact, his ideas were so revolutionary that when FDR implemented the New Deal in the 1930s, he told people that "What we're doing is basically what Al Smith in New York." If FDR was the Father of the New Deal, Al Smith was its Godfather.

Smith's life and career had great highs and crushing lows. Although a very successful governor, he never realized his dream of the Presidency. He was the Democratic nominee in 1928 but was crushed by Herbert Hoover. The reason? He was Catholic, and people outside of New York and the Northeast didn't like Catholics very much back then. (It's amazing to think that 80 years ago a Catholic couldn't elected president but now a black man can.) And when FDR became President, he ignored Smith completely and he was never able to bring his talents to the Federal level. However, in the early thirties, the retired Al Smith helped to build the Empire State Building. But his anger at Roosevelt made him abandon his Democratic party affiliation and become something of an angry reactionary late in life.

One other interesting thing about Smith. He had a young assistant whose career he nurtured named Robert Moses. When Smith was retired and Moses was at the height of his power, Moses re-built the Central Park Zoo just for him. Smith loved animals and Moses made him an Honorary Zookeeper. He also gave Smith a key to the zoo so that the old governor could leave his apartment across the street on Fifth Avenue any time day or night to go into the zoo and visit with the animals. Moses, who was a legendary egomaniac, loved to demonstrate his power by calling everyone, including the Mayors and Governors he supposedly worked for, by their first names (including even Nelson Rockefeller). But Moses always called Smith "Governor" and his respect for him never waned. And neither should ours.

Big Town, Big Time

While I'm not the biggest fan of tabloids in general, the Daily News does have one big virtue: it is truly NYC-focused. More than that, it still practices hyper-local, on-the-ground, beat reporting, covering on what's happening on the streets as much as the halls of power. 

It understands that events, the daily grind (or the news) shapes our city and our lives.

That's why it's really cool that the Daily News has a continuing feature called Big Town, Big Time: An Amazing History of NYC. It is a comprehensive index of some of the most famous and important events in the history of NYC. It's a collection of pivots points and it goes all the way back to the year 1600 to today.

Some of what's covered: how Brooklyn went from its own city to one of the five boroughs, the ticker tape parade for Charles Lindbergh, the Hoovervilles of Central Park -- and the death of former New York Governor and US Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller in 1979. 

His death was a scandal. The official report is that he had a heart-attack while working quietly on his memoirs. The real reason? He was a dirty-old man who was shagging his very young secretary and, uh ... got overwhelmed. The story of how this titanic figure -- one of the richest men in the world, scion of a legendary family, four-term governor, vice-president, you name it -- died while "doin' the nasty" is just too perfect. It also reveals how, once upon a time, the rich and powerful could keep their scandals, it not out of the press, then at least toned down. 

Today? Not so much.  

The times are always changing. 

Transformation

When 9/11 happened, thousands tragically died and the world changed forever. 

And so, physically, did NYC.

The mighty Twin Towers had commanded the city's skyline for nearly 30 years and now -- suddenly, horribly, unthinkably -- they were completely gone. Yet the story of the Twin Towers is a case study of how NYC transforms itself. Certainly, the way they were extinguished is well-known and tragic but what is much less well-known is the scandalous, corrupt, bizarre way that they were built back in the early 1970s. By 9/11/2001, the Twin Towers were of symbols American financial power and nearly beloved icons of NYC. But when they first emerged from the concrete canyons of Lower Manhattan, they were viewed as egregious interlopers, totally out of character with the neighborhood, and monuments to the egos of the Rockefellers who spearheaded their constructions (Governor Nelson Rockefeller and his brother, the banker David). 

How NYC transforms is forever complex and unending.

And massive projects continue change the face of NYC -- and it's not just big buildings like the new Hudson Yards but there are proposals and projects underway that will literally be built into the East and Hudson Rivers. NYC is expanding! Literally! That's one way to transform NYC -- make more of it!  

But the transformation is not just literal, it's also political. NYC used to be a bastion of Irish-American power in the United States but that's changing rapidly. Last year, three prominent Irish American politicians lost their seats to non-Irish challengers (including Joe Crowley to AOC). The city is becoming less Irish, more diverse, and the political establishment is reflecting that. As the city transforms, so does the power elite.

And one final transformation is the death of NYC street photographer Vivian Cherry at age 98. She took photos of NYC life starting back in the 1940s and through the 1950s. She captured a city coming out of the doldrums of the Great Depression and World War II, transforming into the financial and cultural capital of the world. The NYC she photographer is long gone but remains in our memory. Her work is a reminder of what NYC was and of what it's become -- and the transformation of NYC is never complete.

Madame Governor

For the first time in history, New Yorkers woke up this morning to a woman sitting in the Governor's chair. Kathy Hochul was sworn in at midnight as New York State Governor.

For 244 years, since 1777, there have been 57 Governors in the history of New York -- all men, until now. Some of her predecessors include Presidents Martin Van Buren, Grover Cleveland, and Theodore & Franklin Roosevelt, plus other great historic figures like George & DeWitt Clinton, Charles Evan Hughes, Al Smith, Averill Harriman, and Nelson Rockefeller.  

Good luck Madame Governor!