As I am sure we can all agree, many current legislators have an endless supply of stubbornness. The problem is that stubbornness can derail negotiation if used improperly and easily lead to a collapse into extremism. What is most unfortunate is that while the extremes lean heavily into these characteristics, those in the center are often far too timid to get into the rough and tumble of political debate.
Moderates were not always this way. The great ‘progressive conservatives’ Dwight Eisenhower and Nelson Rockefeller ’30 — particularly the latter — did not hesitate to step on toes. In a speech delivered in Hanover in 1953, President Eisenhower denounced ‘red scare’ extremists like Senator Joseph McCarthy, asking the students not to “join the book burners.” In a similar vein, Rockefeller trudged through a five minute speech to a hostile 1964 Republican National Convention in which he called out the extremist threat facing the United States. In spite of the jeers of hardline populists, Rockefeller finished the speech and grinned as if the maelstrom of heckling were a thunderous applause. Has anything remotely close to this happened since? Absolutely not.
I believe that Nelson Rockefeller was one of the great statesmen of the 20th century, and I find it deeply unfortunate that he was never quite able to win the presidency. However, this above all speaks volumes about his political character — he was never willing to back down from the centrism he believed strongly in. There was no compromise in his politics, something rare of moderates today. Although compromise is certainly a necessity for stable government, moderates need to understand that their views are, more often than not, held by the majority of the populace. However, the reason moderate ideas are not brought into the mainstream of party politics is a result of the lack of strength by which they are conveyed. Too often, those on the extremities of political discussion shout over the moderate factions.
Here I have conveyed my thoughts on what centrists must learn from Rockefeller’s political style — strength and force. But what about his policies?
Rockefeller represented a form of progressive conservatism that valued fiscal prudence, international hawkishness and social progressivism, particularly on civil rights. His support for government programs came alongside a mantra of ‘pay as you go.’ If a government wishes to pursue a program, they must have or generate the funds to do so. Deficit spending was nowhere near ideal in his mind, and he would do what was necessary to finance his ventures, including increasing taxes if necessary. As governor of New York, he brought in sweeping public works programs, particularly in housing for low-income New Yorkers, and embarked on a large-scale education program that established the State University of New York system. He was a staunch advocate of civil rights, in line with the mid-1960s Democratic platform on civil rights, instead of the Republican view. Indeed, his social liberalism contributed to his defeat to Barry Goldwater in the 1964 Republican presidential primary.
In spite of Rockefeller’s inability to win not just the presidency but the nomination of his party, it must be recognized that his progressive conservatism revolutionized New York, modernizing many of its failing systems and restructuring the fiscal capacity of the state government. On a national level, Rockefeller represented a moderate tradition first brought to fame by Theodore Roosevelt and did what was in his power to ensure it survived. Although progressive conservatism certainly was destroyed as an entity within the Republican Party by the mid- to late-1960s — despite a few exceptions in New England — one must admire Rockefeller’s willingness to stand by his convictions in the face of insurmountable odds.
Young individuals, even those at Dartmouth College, often know very little, if anything, about former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and his tremendous work as a governor and leader of a brand of politics that was rapidly falling out of favor within his own party. His resolve not to compromise on his beliefs and his willingness to espouse them in even the most hostile of environments are characteristics that more centrists and progressive conservatives must adopt. In my view, the rise of extremism has been due in part to the inability of moderates to fight vocally for their beliefs, allowing figures that represent the periphery of the political landscape to occupy the forefront of discourse. Moderates must not be rhetorically complacent but rather more vigorous in their self-advocacy than they have been in the past decade. Rockefeller should be viewed as a figure of great interest to all moderates who fear the monopolization of their parties by extremists.
Opinion articles represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
