Nelson Rockefeller in the context of Richard Nixon

The Rockefeller Republicans were members of the United States Republican Party (GOP) in the mid–20th century who held moderate to liberal views on domestic issues, similar to those of Nelson Rockefeller, the governor of New York from 1959 to 1973 and Vice President of the U.S. from 1974 to 1977. Rockefeller Republicans were most common in the Northeast and the industrial Midwestern states (with their larger moderate-to-liberal constituencies), while they were rare in the South and the West.

The term refers to "[a] member of the Republican Party holding views likened to those of Nelson Rockefeller; a moderate or liberal Republican". Geoffrey Kabaservice states that they were part of a separate political ideology, aligning on certain issues and policies with liberals, while on others with conservatives and on many with neither. Luke Phillips has also stated that the Rockefeller Republicans represent the continuation of the Whig tradition of American politics.

The original World Trade Center (WTC) was a complex of seven buildings in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Built primarily between 1966 and 1975, it was dedicated on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed on September 11, 2001. The complex included the 110-story-tall Twin Towers, at the time of their completion the tallest buildings in the world, with the original 1 World Trade Center (the North Tower) at 1,368 feet (417 m), and 2 World Trade Center (the South Tower) at 1,362 feet (415.1 m); they were also the tallest twin skyscrapers in the world until 1996, when the Petronas Towers opened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The other buildings in the complex were the Marriott World Trade Center (3 WTC), 4 WTC, 5 WTC, 6 WTC, and 7 WTC. The complex contained 13,400,000 square feet (1,240,000 m) of office space and, prior to its completion, was projected to accommodate an estimated 130,000 people.

The core complex cost about $400 million (equivalent to $2.37 billion in 2024). David Rockefeller suggested the construction of a large office building complex to help stimulate urban renewal in Lower Manhattan, and his brother Nelson, then New York's 49th governor, signed the legislation to build it. The buildings at the complex were designed by Minoru Yamasaki. In 1998, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey decided to privatize it by leasing the buildings to a private company to manage. It awarded the lease to Silverstein Properties in July 2001. During its existence, the World Trade Center symbolized globalization and the economic power and prosperity of the United States. Although its design was initially criticized by New Yorkers and architectural critics, the Twin Towers became an icon of New York City. It had a major role in popular culture, and according to one estimate was depicted in 472 films. The Twin Towers were also used in Philippe Petit's tightrope-walking performance on August 7, 1974. Following the September 11 attacks, mentions of the complex in various media were altered or deleted, and several dozen "memorial films" were created.

Wallace Kirkman Harrison (September 28, 1895 – December 2, 1981) was an American architect. Harrison started his professional career with the firm of Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray, participating in the construction of Rockefeller Center. He is best known for executing large public projects in New York City and upstate, many of them the fruit of his long friendship with governor Nelson Rockefeller.

Abigail Greene Aldrich Rockefeller (October 26, 1874 – April 5, 1948) was an American socialite and philanthropist. She was a prominent member of the Rockefeller family through her marriage to financier and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr., the son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller Sr. Her father was Nelson W. Aldrich, who served as a Senator from Rhode Island. Rockefeller was known for being the driving force behind the establishment of the Museum of Modern Art. She was the mother of Nelson Rockefeller, who served from 1974 to 1977 as the 41st vice president of the United States.

John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist. Rockefeller was the fifth child and only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in Midtown Manhattan known as Rockefeller Center, making him one of the largest real estate holders in the city at that time. Towards the end of his life, he was famous for his philanthropy, donating over $500 million to a wide variety of different causes, including educational establishments. Among his projects was the reconstruction of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. He was widely blamed for having orchestrated the Ludlow Massacre and other offenses during the Colorado Coalfield War. Rockefeller was the father of six children: Abby, John III, Nelson, Laurance, Winthrop, and David.

Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th national security advisor from 1969 to 1975, serving under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

Born in Germany, Kissinger emigrated to the United States in 1938 as a Jewish refugee fleeing Nazi persecution. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II. After the war, he attended Harvard University, where he excelled academically. He later became a professor of government at the university and earned an international reputation as an expert on nuclear weapons and foreign policy. He acted as a consultant to government agencies, think tanks, and the presidential campaigns of Nelson Rockefeller and Nixon before being appointed as national security advisor and later secretary of state by President Nixon.

The first inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt as the 32nd president of the United States was held on Saturday, March 4, 1933, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 37th inauguration, and marked the commencement of the first term of Franklin D. Roosevelt as president and John Nance Garner as vice president.

It was also the most recent inauguration to be held on the constitutionally prescribed date of March 4, as the 20th Amendment, ratified earlier that year, moved Inauguration Day to January 20. As a result, the first term of Roosevelt and Garner in office was shorter than a normal term by 43 days. This was also the last time the vice president took the oath of office in the Senate chamber, until the swearing-in of Nelson Rockefeller on December 19, 1974.

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 1964, less than a year following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, who won the previous presidential election. The Democratic ticket of incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson and Senator Hubert Humphrey defeated the Republican ticket of Senator Barry Goldwater and Congressman William E. Miller in a landslide victory. Johnson won 61.1% of the popular vote which, to date, remains the highest popular vote percentage of any candidate since the advent of widespread popular elections in 1824.

Johnson took office on November 22, 1963, following Kennedy's assassination, and generally continued his policies, except with greater emphasis on civil rights. He easily defeated a primary challenge from segregationist Alabama Governor George Wallace to win the nomination. At the 1964 Democratic National Convention, Johnson selected liberal Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey as his running mate. In the narrow Republican contest, conservative Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater defeated liberal New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton.

The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced /ˈkjuː.ni/, KYOO-nee) is the public university system of New York City, United States. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 26 campuses: eleven senior colleges, seven community colleges, and eight professional institutions. The university enrolls more than 275,000 students. CUNY alumni include thirteen Nobel Prize winners and twenty-four MacArthur Fellows.

The oldest constituent college of CUNY, City College of New York, was originally founded in 1847 and became the first free public institution of higher learning in the United States. In 1960, John R. Everett became the first chancellor of the Municipal College System of New York City, later known as the City University of New York (CUNY). CUNY, established by New York state legislation in 1961 and signed into law by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, was an amalgamation of existing institutions and a new graduate school.

Winthrop Rockefeller (May 1, 1912 – February 22, 1973) was an American politician and philanthropist. Rockefeller was the fourth son and fifth child of American financier John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. He was one of the grandchildren of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. As an entrepreneur in Arkansas, he financed many local projects, including a number of new medical clinics in poorer areas, before being elected state governor in 1966, as the first Republican governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction. Despite accusations of lacking insight into the concerns of low-income voters, Rockefeller was re-elected in 1968, and went on to complete the integration of Arkansas schools.

In 1968, he was the favorite son of the Arkansas delegation to the 1968 Republican National Convention. It was widely expected that the Arkansas delegates would switch to his brother, New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, on a second ballot. However, Richard Nixon secured the nomination on the first ballot, and the Arkansas delegates switched to Nixon instead.

The Treaty of Fifth Avenue refers to the agreement reached between two Republicans, U.S. vice president Richard Nixon and New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, in July 1960.

Although Rockefeller had little influence over the Republican Party's conservative wing, he was the de facto leader of the liberal Republicans. Nixon felt he needed the support of Rockefeller to secure the Republican Party nomination. Nixon feared that Rockefeller, who had recently written an indictment of the Republican Party, would refuse to support him unless the party platform was changed. Nixon and Rockefeller met at Rockefeller's Fifth Avenue apartment in New York City where, over the course of four hours, and with other participants joining by phone, they agreed to this fourteen-point compact of security and economic issues. The compact called for increased defense spending on U.S. nuclear capability as well as the establishment of a flexible response force to deal with armed conflicts. In addition, the document supports planks to the party platform that stimulate economic growth, "remove the last vestiges of segregation or discrimination", and provide government funding for education. While the compromise might not have profoundly changed the party's platform, it strained Nixon's relations with the party's conservative members who disagreed with Rockefeller's more liberal views.

On October 10, 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew (a Republican) was forced to resign following a controversy over his personal taxes. Under the terms of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, a vice presidential vacancy is filled when the president nominates a candidate who is confirmed by both houses of Congress. President Richard Nixon (a Republican) thus had the task of selecting a vice president who could receive the majority support of both houses of Congress, which were then controlled by the Democrats.

President Nixon considered selecting former Texas Governor and Treasury Secretary John Connally, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and California Governor Ronald Reagan. However, Nixon settled on House Minority Leader Gerald Ford of Michigan, a moderate Republican who was popular among the members of Congress (in both parties) and who was good friends with Nixon. Ford won the approval of both houses by huge margins, and was sworn in as the 40th vice president of the United States on December 6, 1973.

In the context of the Watergate scandal, Operation Gemstone was a proposed series of clandestine or illegal acts, first outlined by G. Gordon Liddy in two separate meetings with three other individuals: then-Attorney General of the United States, John N. Mitchell, then-White House Counsel John Dean, and Jeb Magruder, an ally and former aide to H.R. Haldeman, as well as the temporary head of the Committee to Re-elect the President, pending Mitchell's resignation as Attorney General.

Operation Gemstone proposed a series of plans with each having their own code name. Operation Diamond involved kidnapping and drugging protestors who would be held in Mexico. Liddy described this operation as Nacht und Nebel, a reference to the Nazi operation. Another, Operation Turqoise, was a plan to sabotage the air conditioning at the Democratic National Convention. Operation Ruby involved planting spies in the campaigns of the Democratic primary contenders and then the eventual winner's, while Operation Coal was the clandestine funding of the candidacy of black woman Shirley Chisholm, which would help her campaign and in turn force the other candidates to pay more attention to Chisholm and criticize her. This, it was hoped, would disillusion the black community and make them less likely to vote for the eventual Democratic candidate. When Operation Coal was proposed, according to Liddy, Mitchell replied "You can forget about that. Nelson Rockefeller is already taking care of that nicely".