Jay Rockefeller

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John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV (born June 18, 1937) is an American politician who served as a West Virginia Senator from 1985 to 2015.

He was first elected to the Senate in 1984, while in office as Governor of West Virginia (1977-85).

In 1964, Rockefeller came to Emmons, West Virginia, to serve as a VISTA employee, and he was first elected to public office as a representative of the West Virginia House of Delegates (1966).

Rockefeller was later elected West Virginia Secretary of State (1968) and president of West Virginia Wesleyan College (1973–75).

He was the state's top civil servant. Senator as a long-serving Senator.

Robert Byrd died in June 2010. Although he was originally a Republican until he ran for office in what was then strictly Democratic territory, he was the only serving politician of the prominent six-generation Rockefeller family during his tenure in the United States Senate and the only one to have served as a Democrat in what has traditionally Republican dynasty.

Rockefeller did not seek reelection in 2014, and Republican U.S. Representative Shelley Moore Capito replaced her.

Early life and education

John Davison Rockefeller IV was born at New York Hospital in Manhattan to John D. Rockefeller III (1906-1978), and Blanchette Hooker (1909–1992), 26 days after his patrilineal great-grandfather, John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937), a man who died in Manhattan. He is the grandson of John D. Rockefeller Jr., who graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1955. He spent three years at the International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan, after his junior year at Harvard College. He graduated from Harvard in 1961 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Far Eastern languages and history. He attended Yale University and did graduate studies in Oriental studies and Chinese languages.

Rockefeller served with the Peace Corps in Washington, D.C., under President John F. Kennedy, where he formed a friendship with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and served as an assistant to Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver. He served as the operations manager for the Corps' biggest overseas program in the Philippines. He worked in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs for a short time. He continued his public service in 1964-1965 in the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), under President Lyndon B. Johnson, during which time he moved to Emmons, West Virginia.

Personal life

Rockefeller has been married to former WETA-TV, the leading PBS station in Washington, D.C., which airs such programs as PBS NewsHour and Washington Week, since 1967. She is the twin daughter of Senator Charles Harting Percy (1919—2011) and Jeanne Valerie Dickerson.

Jay and Sharon have four children:

John Davison "Jamie" Rockefeller V is married to Emily Rockefeller. She is the niece of former National Football League (NFL) Commissioner Paul Tagliabue's daughter. Laura Chandler Rockefeller (born c. 2000) and Sophia Percy Rockefeller (born c. 2002), as well as John Davison Rockefeller VI (born c. 2007).

The Rockefellers live in Northwest Washington, D.C., and have a permanent residence in Charleston, West Virginia. In Jackson Hole, Wyoming, they have a ranch. President Bill Clinton, a friend of Rockefeller's, and the Clinton family enjoyed a vacation at the ranch in August 1995.

Rockefeller's paternal grandmother, Abigail Greene "Abby" Aldrich (1874-1948), is a descendant of Rhode Island Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich (1841-1915), is related to several Republican Party supporters and former officeholders; his paternal grandmother, Abigail Greene "Abby" Aldrich (1874-1948), was related to many Republican Party supporters and former officeholders: his paternal grandmother, Abby Aldrich (1841- 1931 Davison Rockefeller Jr. (1874-1960) and Abby's youngest son, David Rockefeller (1915–2017), was a banker from 1874-1960s. Winthrop Rockefeller (1912-1933), David's brother (1912-1973), served as Governor of Arkansas (1967-1973). Ben Aldrich Rockefeller (1908–1979) served as Governor of New York (1959–73) and Vice President of the United States (1974–77) under President Gerald Ford. Jay is also a first cousin of Arkansas Lt. Winthrop Paul Rockefeller (1948–2006).

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Career

Rockefeller was first elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1966 and then to the office of West Virginia Secretary of State in 1968. In 1972, he received the Democratic nomination for governor, but was defeated in the general election by Republican incumbent Governor Arch A. Moore Jr., who served as president of West Virginia Wesleyan College from 1973 to 1975.

In 1976, Rockefeller was elected governor of West Virginia and re-elected in 1980. When the national depression of the early 1980s hardened West Virginia, he served as governor when manufacturing plants and coal mines were closing. The unemployment rate in West Virginia remained between 15 percent and 20 percent between 1982 and 1984.

He was elected to the United States Senate in 1984, barely defeating businessman John Raese as Ronald Reagan quickly carried the state by the time. Rockefeller, who ran against Arch Moore in 1980, spent more than $100,000 to win a Senate seat. Rockefeller was re-elected in 1990, 1996, 2002, and 2008 by large margins. He was chair of the Veterans' Affairs Committee (1993–1995; January 3 to 20, 2001; and June 6, 2001 – January 3, 2003). Rockefeller was the chair of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (2009–2015).

In April 1992, he was the Democratic Party's finance chairman and considered competing for the presidency, but decided against it after consulting with colleagues and consultants. Clinton went on to endorse Clinton as the Democratic nominee.

He was the Chairman of the influential Senate Intelligence Committee (retired in January 2009), from which he spoke often about Iraq's war.

Rockefeller, the first senator sponsor of Bill and Hillary Clinton's broad health care reform plan in 1993, joined closely with the First Lady in opening his mansion next to Rock Creek Park for its first strategy meeting. The initiative was then shattered by a merger between the Business Roundtable and a small-business coalition.

Rockefeller visited several Middle Eastern countries in 2002, where he shared his personal views about the United States' military interests with the leaders of those countries. When speaking to the Senate in October of this year, Rockefeller voiced concern for Saddam Hussein's alleged mass destruction program.

During a television interview in November 2005, Rockefeller said that he had been in fact singing in a television interview.

Rockefeller said that the remark expressed his personal opinion, and that he was unaware of any confidential information that prompted such behavior. He was one of 77 senators who voted for the Iraq Resolution, which authorizes the invasion of Iraq on October 11, 2002.

Rockefeller said in February 2010 that he disagreed with President Obama.

West Virginia coal companies chastised Rockefeller for being out of touch.

When Robert Byrd died in June 2010, he became the senior U.S. senator from West Virginia after 25 years with Rockefeller.

Rockefeller was leading calls in July 2011 to demand that US authorities look at whether suspected phone hacking at News Corporation's newspapers in the United Kingdom had harmed American victims of the September 11 attacks. Rockefeller and Barbara Boxer pleaded with the Dow Jones & Company (a News Corporation subsidiary) to request an investigation into Les Hinton's recruitment and whether any current or former employees knew of or participated in phone hacking.

He declared on January 11, 2013 that he would not run for a sixth term. Rockefeller declared his support for gay rights on March 25, 2013.

Rockefeller donated his senatorial archives to the West Virginia University Libraries and the West Virginia & Regional History Center in November 2014. His 30-year service in the United States Senate is included in the archival collection.

Rockefeller received 541 of 9,992 roll call votes from January 1985 to July 2014, according to the website GovTrack. This equated to 5.4 percent, which was lower than the median of 2.0 percent among senators serving as of July 2014.

Rockefeller and his son Charles are a trustee of the Asia Society in New York, which was established by his father in 1956. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a non-profit think tank headed by his uncle, David Rockefeller. He voted against the 1993 North American Free Trade Accord, which was heavily backed by David Rockefeller as a senator.

In the 112th Congress, Rockefeller served on the following committees:

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Awards and decorations

• National Intelligence Distinguished Public Service Medal, 2009
•   Grand Cordon Order of the Rising Sun (Japan), 2013.
• National Consumers League first-ever Consumer and Labor Leadership Award (shared with Sen. Tom Harkin), commemorating their service to America's consumers and workers; Rockefeller also received the NCL Trumpeter award in 1992.