Nelson Rockefeller
Below you will find two quotes and one video presenting the Civil Rights movement from Nelson Rockefeller’s perspective. Using the SPACES technique, analyze Nelson Rockefeller's position and consider what his slant and significance might be in the Civil Rights Movement.
‘‘If we had one or two governors in the Deep South like Nelson Rockefeller, many of our problems could be readily solved’’ - Dr. Martin Luther King (October 19, 1962)
"During this year I have crisscrossed this nation, fighting … to keep the Republican party the party of all the people ... and warning of the extremist threat, its danger to the party, and danger to the nation.... These extremists feed on fear, hate and terror, [they have] no program for America and the Republican Party... [they] operate from dark shadows of secrecy. It is essential that this convention repudiate here and now any doctrinaire, militant minority whether Communist, Ku Klux Klan or Birchers." - Nelson Rockefeller at the 1964 Republican National Convention
The 1964 Republican National Convention was a heated political affair with the central issue being civil rights. Some candidates were opposed to integration while others (like Rockefeller) were in support of integration. At about the 1:40 time mark in the video, the broadcaster discusses Rockefeller's position on the civil rights protest going on outside the convention.