Making the Best Use of Rockefeller

Only rarely since the days of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson has a man with the stature of Nelson Rockefeller risen to the U.S. vice presidency. Indeed, Rockefeller brings to his new job an unprecedented portfolio of assets: more than a third of a century's experience in state and Federal Government; countless personal contacts among politicians, academicians and businessmen in the U.S. and abroad; legendary wealth; a lustrous name; an extroverted personality. How can President Ford make the best use of the enormously capable, ambitious, idealistic--and also arrogant--man whom he has nominated to be his No. 2? The answer, as Rockefeller well knows, is in Ford's hands alone. As Rockefeller said last week: "The role of a Vice President totally depends on the President. If the President wants to use him, wonderful. If he doesn't, fine."

Out of jealousy or pure inattention, U.S. Presidents have seldom used or even properly broken in their Vice Presidents. John Nance Garner, who served from 1933 to 1941 under Franklin Roosevelt, described the job as "a spare tire on the automobile of Government." Almost every modern President promised that he would upgrade the vice presidency and exploit fully the talents of the man who occupied the post. None succeeded.

Richard Nixon served as Dwight Eisenhower's "goodwill ambassador," visiting 54 countries, and was the Administration's partisan gut fighter, traveling the "low road" during campaigns. (Nixon, as President, assigned that job to Spiro Agnew.) But when Ike was asked in 1960, "What major decisions has your Vice President participated in?" he replied: "If you give me a week, I might think of one." John Kennedy tried, at least initially, to employ Lyndon Johnson effectively. Kennedy saw to it that Johnson presided over National Security Council meetings, appointed him to head the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and the National Aeronautics and Space Council, and sent him off to squeeze palms and slap backs in 33 countries. Yet Johnson began to feel overlooked and underused. Toward the end of the Kennedy years he asked old friends, "Why does the White House have it in for me?"

The Constitution specifies no duties for the Vice President other than that he be available to replace the President in the event of death or incapacity and that he preside over the Senate. The former is hardly a full-time job, and the latter is a ridiculous chore, increasingly honored by neglect. Any additional duties are given to a Vice President at the discretion and whim of the President and, as Hubert Humphrey knowingly reminded Gerald Ford earlier this year, "he who giveth can taketh away--and often does."

Ford vows that he will give important responsibilities to his Vice President. In fact, there are at least five areas in which Ford could profitably mine Rockefeller's talents:

> As a coordinator of domestic policy--including economic policy--for the new Administration. There were indications last week that Rockefeller might head the Domestic Council, an advisory board of Cabinet officers and other Government officials that makes policy recommendations to the President. This would be a logical starting role for a man who served 15 years as Governor of New York. As Washington Post Columnist George Will put it last week in a somewhat backhanded compliment, Rockefeller's governorship was "a protracted seminar on the ability of problems to resist solutions, and the ability of solutions to aggravate problems ... The knowledge of what doesn't work is invaluable in Government, and Rockefeller has it."

> As a coordinator of long-range planning. Celebrated as a patron of ideas, Rockefeller subsidized a series of studies of public issues in the 1960s and more recently organized the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans; its purpose is to examine U.S. and global problems and propose policies for dealing with them. As Yale Law Professor Guido Calabresi says, Rockefeller "has a history of enjoying both academic speculation and immediate solutions to immediate problems."

> As a recruiter of top talent. With his extensive contacts in corporations, law firms, universities and foundations, not to mention the financial community, he could help restore to the Government the quality and diversity of leadership that it so embarrassingly lacked during the last years of the Nixon Administration. Observes Joseph Swidler, former chairman of both the Federal Power Commission and the New York State Power Commission: "Rockefeller is a man who has always attracted talent and been attracted by talented people. He has good relations with minority groups, poverty groups and labor. Through him the President can have access to information and ideas that would supplement his own."

> As a specialist in foreign policy. Rockefeller first came to national prominence during the Roosevelt Administration as F.D.R.'s Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, and has since acquired considerable savvy in international investment and foreign aid. Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott, an old friend, suggested last week that Rockefeller might take over some of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's heavy travel duties. The Vice President could do so without ruffling Kissinger because the two are old and warm friends. Rockefeller could be particularly useful in negotiating with the Latin Americans and handling international trade and economic problems.

> As an assistant President. He could, for example, mediate disputes among members of the Cabinet. Under Nixon, such conflicts were handled by White House aides, and Cabinet members often bristled at being ordered around by H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman. If Ford really aims to restore the power and prestige of Cabinet officers, it would help to have his No. 2 adjudicating Cabinet differences and assisting in making interdepartmental policy. Rockefeller, moreover, is uniquely equipped by his experience in state government to serve as the Administration's primary contact with state and local officials. If Ford can manage to make use of Rockefeller in this way, it could well establish an entirely different standard for choosing future Vice Presidents.

Rockefeller's effectiveness will hinge on many factors, two in particular: the degree of trust that exists between President and Vice President and Rocky's ability to subordinate himself to Gerald Ford. Beyond question he has the potential to be the most important Vice President in modern times. "How does it feel?" a well-wisher at Bar Harbor, Me., asked him last week. "Like Alice in Wonderland," replied Rockefeller. That described, perhaps more accurately than he intended, the wondrously ambiguous potential of his new job.

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