REPUBLICANS: The Big Decision

• Share

The words sizzled over the press wires like electric shock impulses, and the reaction to them was as startled as if the word had come from Mars, not Albany, N.Y. Said the statement of Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller: "I am not, and shall not be, a candidate for nomination for the Presidency." Through the Statehouse in Albany, through the lower levels of the elaborate Rockefeller political headquarters on Manhattan's West 55th Street, in G.O.P. headquarters in Washington, and on out along the political circuit, the first reaction was one of disbelief.

True, the ebullient, fast-moving Governor of New York had reserved the hopeful's right to insist that he had not made up his mind. True, he had said that he would announce his intentions by the first week in January. But for six months Nelson Rockefeller had effectively convinced friends and rivals that he was in the race for the Republican nomination for keeps, and would not be out until, and unless, he was counted out—by the public, in this spring's state primaries or by the delegates to the G.O.P. convention next July 25.

Also, he had traveled thousands of miles from coast to coast, promoting his candidacy for all it was worth. Rockefeller-for-President Clubs had bloomed, with Rocky's beaming blessing, in a dozen states. And only a fortnight before he had swung through the Midwest, Texas, Oklahoma and Florida trying to convince likely Republicans that they should risk their political necks by backing him.

Careful Sidestepping. Yet it was all true. Rocky had decided to call it quits in time to keep his name from being entered in the March New Hampshire primary. And the tone of his statement was as eyebrow raising as his decision to back down. He skirted any pledge of support for his only rival, Vice President Richard Nixon, insisted broadly that the G.O.P. is headed for a closed convention. His campaign trips, said Rockefeller, "have made it clear to me . . . that the great majority of those who will control the Republican convention stand opposed to any contest for the nomination. Therefore any quest of the nomination on my part would entail a massive struggle—in primary elections throughout the nation demanding so greatly of my time and energy that it would make impossible the fulfillment of my obligations as Governor of New York."

At the same time Rockefeller squelched any lingering hopes of a Republican "dream ticket"—Nixon and himself: "Quite obviously. I shall not at any time entertain any thought of accepting nomination to the Vice Presidency, even if the honor were offered . . ." Although sources close to Rockefeller swore that he was friendly to Nixon, Rocky's statement indicated that he was ready to serve as a witness for the prosecution of the Eisenhower Administration. "I am a Republican—seriously concerned about the future vigor and purpose of my party . . . Neither of our great parties can hope to meet the issues and opportunities of the future merely with the devices and programs of the past ... I shall speak with full freedom and vigor on these issues that confront our nation and the world."