Nelson Rockefeller, racial politics, and the undoing of moderate Republicanism

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“Nelson Rockefeller, Racial Politics, and the Undoing of Moderate Republicanism” examines shifts in the political terrain of the 1960s as related to social issues such as civil rights, crime, and welfare. The political career of Nelson Rockefeller, four-term Governor of New York (1958-1973), three-time candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and iconic twentieth century moderate Republican, serves as a lens for understanding many moderate and liberal politicians’ struggle to navigate racial politics before and after the passage of the Civil and Voting Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965. Rockefeller’s transition from racially liberal advocate for the end of Jim Crow to early adopter of punitive drug laws that disproportionately affected racial minorities provides insight into the difficulty faced by liberals, both Republican and Democratic, when race became central to the political debates of the 1960s. This work reveals that liberal support for racial parity fractured and furth

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