Parting Thoughts from the Old Hands
THE ADMINISTRATION Parting Thoughts from the Old Hands
No Rocky in the political arena? Hard to imagine. Yet the passing of the Ford Administration on Jan. 20 will also mark the close of Nelson Rockefeller's remarkable public career. It spans not only four terms as Governor of New York but also jobs with six Administrations in Washington, starting in 1940 as Frank lin Roosevelt's Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. In the interview below, the Vice President discusses his career, including his never-achieved Oval Office ambitions, with TIME'S Washington Bureau Chief Hugh Sidey. Some parting thoughts by other Ford Administration figures appear on the next two pages.
Q. What went wrong in your quest for the presidency?
A. Very simple. I didn't spend the time on national politics. My interest is people and problems. Always has been. I had a very interesting misconception, which was if you did a good job, really had strength and compassion and people felt it, that was what it took. But there is a little thing called a nomination. I spent my time preparing for the presidency and not for the nomination. The people who have been nominated most recently spent years going around the country cultivating the forces that would get them the delegations. I never really paid too much attention to that. It was, you could say, naive. I went around, but I have got to tell you that being Governor of New York is no bonanza for sitting down with a Southern Republican committee. They are suspicious of where you come from.
Q. Is there a fault in the system that kept you from the nomination?
A. If the Republican [delegates were apportioned] on the basis of the Republican strength in each area--that is, one man, one vote--then there would have been a totally different picture. But with the weighted voting system that the Republican Party has, where it takes six Republicans [elsewhere] for every Republican in Georgia to get you one [convention] vote, you are starting from way behind the eightball. But I don't blame anybody. It is my own fault. I did the things I was interested in.
Q. Was there a moment when suddenly the door shut to the presidency?
A. Well, in 1968, if John Mitchell hadn't made that deal with Strom Thurmond for the Southern delegates that he took away from Ronnie Reagan, and if Ronnie had held them on the first ballot, I had a very good chance.
Q. Are you going to be involved in the Republican Party's rebirth?
A. You mean for the next round? I don't think you are going to see a rebirth of the party; I think it is going to be an evolution.
Q. Why weren't many of the problems Carter faces solved in the past eight years?
A. Well, the reason is historic. First, to solve a problem, somebody has to understand it. Second, they have to be able to conceptualize the solution. Third, they have got to know what steps are necessary to accomplish it. One thing I am worried about is the growing adversary [relationship] between Government and the private sector. This is for the birds. This country owes much of its greatness to the combination of efforts by private citizens, private institutions and the Government. The Government creates the framework, the private sector operates within it. We are a pragmatic people. We built the railroads because the Government saw the desirability of linking the East and West coasts. We have got the greatest automobile industry because the Government built the roads. We have got airlines because the Government did the research on military planes.
Q. But now you see an adversary relationship?
A. I do, and I think this OPEC situation brought it into its most virulent form. The public was upset about the increase in oil prices, and the politicians had to put the blame on somebody. So, not understanding the business, they put it on the oil companies. The Government has no reason to be an adversary against individuals or private corporations, or vice versa.
Q. How can we solve today's problems?
A. I would like to see environmental research done together with energy research, for instance. Take atomic power.
If [ecologists] and nuclear engineers] did the research together, you could come up with a solution so that the problem is solved before it becomes an issue. You need people with conceptual vision, and this is why I admire Henry Kissinger so much. He has that unique capacity to view the world in a conceptual way where he sees the interrelationships of problems and nations--that if you do this thing here, it has that effect over there.
Q. What about the threat from the Soviet Union?
A. I think the Soviets are mostly a threat where we leave a vacuum. This is a very rapidly evolving scene. We have got to shape these forces to serve our ends so they don't overwhelm us. Science and technology, I think, are the most important things of all.
Q. Has the quality of public servants changed?
A. My brother [Laurance]has a very interesting concept of democracy. It is that democracy reaches down, figuratively speaking, and picks up a handful of common clay and puts it in the White House, and it takes on special qualities and characteristics that grow out of a democratic society.
Q. How could Republicans soft-pedal their criticism of Richard Nixon right up to the end?
A. Because our business is different from your business. You live by words, and I live by action. It is a beautiful thing to make a statement, if you are a writer. But if you are a politician, to make a statement may get you a headline, but it may accomplish nothing. I remember [being asked] why didn't I head up a committee, go to the President and ask him to resign. That is a beautiful idea, and would make a nice headline. But as far as having any effect, forget it. I am not one for empty gestures.
Q. How do you rate Watergate in historical terms?
A. I rate it as evidence that the Constitution is a brilliant document that had the flexibility and strength to cope with a situation that the founding fathers anticipated, which was weakness of human nature. If we'd just go back to that and not think we could legislate morality and not keep thinking about this business of everybody being superhuman. The country stood strong, the people stood calm, and he is out. We are now back to normal. This is the thing my brother talks about--this mystical thing that is democracy.
Q. Do you go out of here feeling ill-used at all?
A. No sir. I feel I had far more opportunity than I expected, a far closer relationship with the President than I could have hoped for. I viewed it as a staff job. I had studied the [Vice President's] responsibilities for President Eisenhower and recommended there wasn't anything [more that he could give Nixon], that if he did, he gave up [some of] his own power, and he would be creating a competitive unit within the Government. So I was fascinated when [Gerald Ford] asked me to take on the CIA investigation. I said, "Well, I am interested in life. I can do big things or little things. It makes no difference, if it involves people and problems."
Q. Have your name and your wealth been a hindrance in politics?
A. No problem. One, the public feels safer with somebody who isn't getting money with strings on it. Two, somebody who has fought their way up from the bottom the "hard way" is bound to have prejudices. This is what the public feels, particularly the minority groups.
Q. Do you have any doubts that great concentrations of wealth should be allowed to continue?
A. I don't have any doubt at all if [wealth] is used intelligently.
Q. We seem to be in a time now when we don't want to build cathedrals; for example, you have been criticized for spending $1 billion on the Albany Mall, New York State's huge government complex. Why are you a believer in strong statements, whether architecture or other projects?
A. People need it. The people are going to love [the Mall]. It is going to give them a lift, and they are going to be proud of it. That is what this country needs and the world needs--people and symbols they can look up to.
Q. Whom, in your long career, have you admired most?
A. Well, I think Roosevelt and Churchill were extraordinary for that period, and I think President Ford is going down in history as having done a fantastic job. He restored public faith and trust in the White House. He is open, he is decent, he is kind, and also, he did a job in the international field and on the economy. Just the right man at the right time.
Q. What villains have you encountered?
A. I have a happy faculty of dropping them out. I just forget them. Really, as soon as I move from one thing to another, which I have done a great deal, I just pull the curtain down, and it is gone. I never waste time looking back.
Q. Any interest in coming back to Washington, perhaps as a Senator?
A. I am not a legislator. I am a doer, an activist.
Q. Is this going to be the end of politics for you?
A. Well, full time, yes. I am a fundamentally deep believer in the American enterprise system. Partly out of a sense of responsibility and appreciation for what the country did for my family, I have tried to devote myself to public life. Having given everything I could--and time having run out on me--I am now, with the greatest possible enthusiasm, going back to the American enterprise system.
This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.