Republicans: It's the Right Thing'

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Aware that he must prove himself to Republican regulars if he hopes to get the 1964 nomination, Rocky has also begun talking and acting more like a regular himself. Though he spends most of his time consolidating his position in New York, he has shown a ready willingness to come to the party's aid around the U.S. as speaker and fund raiser. Last month, on a typical tour, covering three days and four nights, he visited Washington, Wyoming and Colorado, met with G.O.P. leaders in each, made eight speeches, appeared at four news conferences and a TV interview, and shook about 5,000 hands. "He showed us," drawled a Wyoming Republican, "that he really doesn't have horns." Semantic Duel. Even more important in the dehorning process is Rockefeller's earnest effort to neutralize the "liberal" label that frightened many Republicans the last time around. Whenever he can, he makes it clear that he feels that he and his program have been miscast in the semantic duel between liberal and conservative. Says he: "I think those words —liberal and conservative—have little meaning in relation to present-day problems. It's like saying 'Don't confuse me with the facts; I don't want to think.' When I make a decision, I think: 'It's human, it's right, it's neither liberal nor conservative, but it's the right thing to do." Adds Millionaire Rocky ironically: "I have as much to 'conserve' as anyone." Basic Creed. This is not mere party-pleasing talk. Rockefeller wants to travel the middle of the road, which he feels was pre-empted by Nixon last time, but he denies that he has consciously moved to the right in order to get there. Nonetheless, his associates admit that the lessons of his office have affected some of his views. Rockefeller now believes that there is a greater role for state and local government than he once envisaged; he would strictly limit the power of the Federal Government. He puts heavy emphasis on re-establishing the strength and vitality of state government, an idea stressed in his Godkin lectures at Harvard on "The Future of Federalism" that he increasingly uses to sum up his political philosophy (see box}.

As for charges that he is only a Democrat in Republican clothing. Rocky is downright indignant. He professes what to him is a basic Republican creed—and challenges anyone to dispute its orthodoxy. "In addition to the fact that I was born a Republican," he says, "I believe in the worth and dignity of the individual —the concept of equal rights. I believe in private initiative and private enterprise: this is the growth factor in a democracy.