Just a Republican

Republican Nelson Rockefeller was running hard, and not just for re-election this year as Governor of New York. In a round of Detroit and Washington appearances last week, Rocky hammered away at a thesis even more meaningful to the national election in 1964 than to his state's 1962 contest. He was, he insisted, neither a liberal nor a conservative--and Republicans ought to quit thinking about one another in such terms.

In Detroit, Rockefeller spoke to the Economic Club and posed smilingly with Michigan Gubernatorial Candidate George Romney (some Rockefeller followers were already talking hopefully about a Rocky-Romney ticket in '64). Proudly, he told his Detroit audience how he will have reduced New York's debt by $85 million in four years, and how he has brought new industry and greater economic growth to his home state. "Economic growth cannot be achieved by Government spending alone," said he. "This panacea has failed every time it has been tried throughout our history. The basic problem is the trend of declining business profits, and the lag in business capital investment due to inadequate incentives." The Kennedy Administration, he charged, has failed to encourage business investment in new plants and equipment--and the New Frontier's spending policies are more likely to result in a $5 billion budget deficit than in Kennedy's predicted $500 million surplus next year.

"Don't Confuse Me." In Washington, about 1,000 members of the Republican Women's Conference eagerly lined up to shake Rockefeller's hand--and if the ladies had any hard feelings about Rocky's recent divorce, they certainly didn't show it in their reception. One by one, Rockefeller ticked off his major accomplishments as Governor--expanded educational, welfare and housing programs with pay-as-you-go fiscal management. And in each instance he repeated his theme: "Was this liberal or conservative? It was neither ... I think we have lost a lot of time and a lot of energy over the debate of what is liberal and what is conservative. I think if anyone goes into a meeting to analyze a problem, to find the answers with an armband on that says 'I am looking for a liberal solution' or 'I am looking for a conservative solution' -- all they are doing is blinding themselves to the reali ties of the situation. It is a little like the man who said, 'Don't confuse me with the facts ; my mind is made up.' " At a breakfast for about 100 Republican Congressmen, and at a dinner held in the stone mansion he maintains on Foxhall Road in northwest Washington, Rocky continued his arguments against liberal-conservative Republican factionalism.

And he made some progress. Said Minne sota's Representative Clark MacGregor: "For a lot of members, particularly from the Midwest and West, this was the first really good look at Rockefeller. They were impressed." Said a top official of the Republican National Committee: "When he was finished, they had a photographer there, and you could have your picture taken with him. My God, I'll bet there were 40 Midwesterners lined up to be in a picture who wouldn't have been seen dead with him a year ago." Baffling Fact. Flying back to Albany in his private, twin-engined Beechcraft, Rockefeller still seemed baffled by the fact that he should be considered a lib eral, as opposed to a conservative, Republican. "I," said Millionaire Rockefeller, "have as much to conserve as any one." But he had had a good week, and he knew it.

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