Rockefeller Republican

The Rockefeller Republicans were members of the United States Republican Party (GOP) in the 1930s–1970s who held moderate-to-liberal views on domestic issues, similar to those of Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of New York (1959–1973) and Vice President of the U.S. (1974–1977). 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.^[4]

The term refers to "[a] member of the Republican Party holding views likened to those of Nelson Rockefeller; a moderate or liberal Republican".^[5] —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.^{[nb 1]} Luke Phillips has also stated that the Rockefeller Republicans represent the continuation of the Whig tradition of American politics.^[2]

Rockefeller Republicanism has been described as the last phase of the "Eastern Establishment" of the GOP that had been led by New York governor Thomas E. Dewey. The group's powerful role in the GOP came under heavy attack during the 1964 primary campaign between Rockefeller and Barry Goldwater. At a point before the California primary, political operative Stuart Spencer called on Rockefeller to "summon that fabled nexus of money, influence, and condescension known as the Eastern Establishment". Rockefeller replied, "You are looking at it, buddy, I am all that is left".^[7]

Michael Lind contends that the ascendancy of the more conservative fusionist wing of the Republican Party,^[8] beginning in the 1960s with Goldwater and culminating in the Reagan Revolution in 1980, prevented the establishment of a Disraelian one-nation conservatism in the United States.^[9][10] The phrase "Rockefeller Republican" has come to be used in a pejorative sense by modern conservatives, who use it to deride those in the Republican Party that are perceived to have views which are too liberal, especially on major social issues.^[11] The term was adopted mostly because of Nelson Rockefeller's vocal support of civil rights and lavish spending policies.^[11] Historian Justin P. Coffey has stated that Rockefeller's liberalism is a myth,^[12] with former Vice President Spiro Agnew pointing out that the reality was quite different, stating: "A lot of people considered Rockefeller very liberal and very dovish on foreign policy, but he was not. He was harder than Nixon, and a lot more hawkish about the mission of America in the world."^[12]

On a national level, the last significant candidate for president from the liberal wing of the party was John B. Anderson, who ran as an independent in 1980 and garnered 6.6% of the popular vote. Despite their national decline, liberal Republican officeholders continue to win local elections, particularly in the Northeast, into the 21st century; examples include governors Bill Weld and Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, Phil Scott of Vermont, and Larry Hogan of Maryland.

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