The 2016 presidential race demonstrated the activities of a candidate whose entire career in the free enterprise system was conducted mainly from New York City and surrounding areas.
When we look back at recent political history in New York, we see that another rich businessman ran for political office.
That was Nelson Rockefeller. He ran for New York Governor in 1958 on the Republican ticket and won against incumbent Gov. Averell Harriman. Rockefeller came into the political picture in 1958, much in the same way Trump did in 2016.
Rockefeller ran his campaign with charisma and excellent speaking ability as did Trump.
Rockefeller was well known to the press. His family before him was famous for its wealth as far back as 70 years before he ran for governor.
At that time Rockefeller was considered to be advocating a liberal philosophy on both economic and social issues.
He had buildings and areas of land named after him and his family as did Trump.
Rockefeller first gained mutual respect of the electorate when he campaigned for governor.
From 1958 on, he was elected governor three times. He ran for the presidency in 1964 against Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater in the Republican primary.
He lost the California primary to Goldwater, and Goldwater lost the presidential election to President Lyndon Johnson in 1964.
Rockefeller went on to become vice president for a brief period during the Ford administration. That was the end of his political career.
Trump began his political career as a populist conservative. He had hopes of success and the support of middle-class working people.
Both candidates had similar patterns of political development. They both appealed to a wide range of voters, but Trump seemed to have strong arguments based on the issues of his time.
In the case of Trump, he had stronger issues to bring before the people than did Nelson Rockefeller and more contact with voters.
The 2016 period was and is a period of revolt, especially among blue collar workers. The time that Rockefeller ran was in spanned the late 1950s through the 1960s. American people were not in the same state of rebellion.
Although Rockefeller was a good candidate, I believe that Trump was a better candidate and had the stronger message to relate to dealing with current day problems.
Different times in history give us various answers. Rockefeller fought and lost when he ran for president.
Trump took advantage of the circumstances and was successful in his endeavor to become president of the United States.
