Chapter
4 When I was invited for breakfast, and greatly honored by the invitation, I did not expect to be sitting alone with the President. Thus, I knew that something special was up and it connected with my "vivid imagination" talk with the President, and the report from Christine. In November 1972, Nixon and Agnew won re-election. Within months, an investigation commenced against Spiro Agnew, a sitting Vice-President of the United States. Usually any criminal action against such a high official would be reluctantly pursued. This one was dominant in the news each day, and nearly immediately Agnew was subject to intense pressure to resign from office. "Noah, I asked you to the White House, because I want to ask you a question." "Mr. President, what can I say but that I am greatly honored, and I hope I can give you an answer which will prove helpful." "Everyone here in the White House and in Washington have their own agendas. I get so many different type of opinions, that I really don’t get any advice I feel I can rely on. I needed to hear something different and from someone different from the rest of the people I know here." I guess I knew what the President was saying. "Spiro Agnew will soon resign as Vice-President of the United States. You may have heard the rumors about my intent to appoint Nelson Rockefeller in his place. Using that vivid imagination of yours, would you tell me whether you think this could be an error on my part." I knew exactly what the President was worried about, and I agreed with his concerns, and I simply told him so. "Mr. President, Nelson Rockefeller has attempted to get the Republican Presidential nomination three times. All without success. The reasons are known: people in general are put off by the wealth, stealth, power and ambition of the Rockefeller family." "The very fact that you called me to the White House to ask me this question shows me you have grave concerns about putting Nelson Rockefeller in as Vice-President. And since you called me, it is obvious that what you fear is that the Rockefellers may not wait until 1976 to get the Republican nomination. You are worried that they are thinking like Lyndon Johnson in 1963." "Are my fears so apparent to you, Noah?" I knew what the President wanted to hear. "With good reason Mr. President. My father taught me that it is good policy not to pursue a course you carry concerns about, especially when you have numerous alternatives. By appointing Nelson Rockefeller, you are just going to give yourself headache and heartache for three years. It’s not healthy or pleasant to always look behind your back." I was thinking about the guard dog, when I said that to him. Contrary to his restraint at the townhouse, the President opened up to me. "The problem is that I made a deal with the Rockefellers. After the Watergate break in, the situation was one which could have compromised the November elections.... Nelson Rockefeller told me that the entire episode would be a non-event for the elections. He said he could control the media. He would appreciate it, however, if I could, after the elections, get rid of Agnew and appoint him Vice-President." This time I sat there in silence hoping that he would say something more. Since I didn’t, he did. "But you’re right. I’m never going to sleep if I appoint him Vice-President. He’s too ambitious. He can’t wait like Johnson and like Johnson he doesn’t believe he will ever win unless he’s in by default first." I was getting nervous because Richard Nixon was saying a lot more than I should have ever heard. He honored me further by asking: "How would you advise me if I wanted to break the deal? The Rockefellers will not be happy." "Thanks for telling me that, Mr. President," I thought to myself. "If you don’t appoint Nelson Rockefeller, Mr. President whom will you appoint?" "Gerald Ford." "Does he want to run for President in 1976?" "Who doesn’t," President Nixon said sarcastically. "But Gerald Ford is a good man. He will cooperate." "Well then, Mr. President. Why don’t you name Gerald Ford Vice-President and then convince the Rockefellers that he won’t run in 1976, and that you will support Nelson Rockefeller for the nomination and guarantee them you will get the Republicans to buy it." President Nixon didn’t look too happy with my suggestion. And after I left the White House, this feeling also left with me. The Watergate break-in occurred June 17, 1972. Nixon and Agnew, five months later, won re-election in November, 1972. The Watergate break in, true to Rockefeller’s word, was not an issue. After the elections, criminal investigations commenced against Spiro Agnew, a sitting Vice-President of the United States. In August, 1973, Spiro Agnew became the first Vice-President of the United States to resign from office. President Nixon appointed Gerald Ford, not Nelson Rockefeller, Vice-President of the United States. The Rockefellers justly acted as though they were stabbed in the back by Nixon. Watergate became the dominant daily news story of the land, and Nixon himself was now facing criminal indictment and impeachment. The Rockefellers controlled the next deal. They told Nixon he would resign (in disgrace), and that Ford, who would move to President, would appoint Nelson Rockefeller Vice-President. The kicker was that Ford would pardon Nixon within thirty days; which the Rockefellers interpreted would preclude Ford from the Presidential nomination in 1976, since the country would refuse to vote for him. That would pave the way for Nelson. In this fashion, Nixon paid, and the Rockefellers would save face. Nixon got immediately pardoned by Ford, to the anger of the Nation. To Nixon’s credit, with nothing to personally gain, he did what he could to stop Rockefeller from finalizing his goal. He encouraged his fellow Republicans to give the 1976 nomination to Ford, even though Rockefeller was accurate that Ford would wind up losing the election, which he did in November, 1976 to Jimmy Carter. When Ford ran for the Presidency in 1976, Nelson Rockefeller did not want to run on the ticket as Vice-President, upset that his fellow Republicans would not listen to him that he, not Ford, could win in 76. Gerald Ford ran with Robert J. Dole. Nelson Rockefeller left politics in disgust and very angry. Consistent with Rockefeller integrity, however, Jimmy Carter won the Presidency in November, 1976. While I always wondered how history would have been different had President Nixon in 1973 appointed Nelson Rockefeller rather than Gerald Ford Vice-President, what has greatly disturbed me was Nixon’s fear that he might befall the same fate as Kennedy. The American public needs to know the truth of the Kennedy assassination because without the truth, it leaves the door continually open for forces and powers to exist in diametric opposition to the principles of our democratic constitutional government. On January 26, 1979, Nelson Rockefeller
died of a massive heart attack, in highly embarrassing
circumstances, the least of it, being in the arms of his
personal secretary, with whom he carried on an affair for
many years. The stewardship of the Rockefeller family
went to Nelson’s youngest brother, David Rockefeller. Regrettably for the country, David
didn’t need to win the Presidency in order to run it.
David Rockefeller would now pay back America for so
malevolently treating his revered brother, Nelson. |
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