Known and Unknown_ A Memoir - Donald Rumsfeld [91]
Rockefeller had broader name recognition as a two-time presidential contender and a scion of one of the most prominent and wealthiest families in America. His celebrity offered a sizable advantage, but he had his problems as well. There would be an exhaustive examination of his personal finances were he to be nominated for the vice presidency, and no one was quite sure what members of Congress might find.9 Rockefeller also had to deal with a news story claiming he had an illegal slush fund for dirty tricks against the Democrats.10 Far more problematic for Rockefeller was the strongly negative feelings he engendered among conservatives in the Republican Party who viewed him with suspicion and dislike.
It was an honor to be considered, but I did not take the suggestion that I was a vice presidential contender all that seriously. Given that Ford was from Michigan and I was from neighboring Illinois, selecting me didn’t make much sense politically, and I was less well-known than Bush or Rockefeller. I had already informed Ford that I was eager to return to Brussels.
The President told me that he was determined to announce the selection in his own way.11 He felt rather embarrassed about the way the Nixon team had handled his nomination, with a big production in the East Room and widespread speculation about who might emerge from behind the curtain with Nixon—speculation that the Nixon staff seemed to encourage. Ford did not indulge in such high drama.
Eleven days after taking office, President Ford announced his selection of Rockefeller at a small gathering in the Oval Office.12 He had gone with a well-known figure, again seeking to offer reassurance to the American people. Rockefeller “showed his usual self-assurance,” as one reporter put it, and his remarks suggested that he expected to undertake more duties than other vice presidents had in the past.13
That same morning Ford explained his selection of Rockefeller to me.14 At the time I thought Rockefeller was probably a reasonable choice. I expected Rocky to be an energetic and helpful addition to the administration. “[T]here was general agreement,” one newspaper noted, “that the conservative new President from the Middle West had broadened his base of support and increased his chances for being elected in his own right in 1976, if he runs, by choosing a moderate Easterner with considerable influence and resources.”15 The nomination of Rockefeller, another paper remarked, made for a ticket “that only an economic disaster can defeat in 1976.”16
Just before announcing his selection, Ford placed a call to San Clemente, California. He wanted to give Nixon the courtesy of hearing the news first.17 Reaching out to the former President was a typically gracious thing for Ford to do. But if I had known Ford was planning to call Nixon, for whom Ford repeatedly expressed sympathy and admiration, I would have advised against it.18 I didn’t think it was in Ford’s interest to put himself in the position of seeming to need Nixon’s blessing on his choice. Though Ford’s overture to Nixon did not get much attention, in retrospect it might have served as an early sign of the difficulties Ford was about to create in regard to his fallen predecessor.
As I prepared to return to my NATO post in Brussels, I was worried about the new administration. I was so concerned that I hand carried a memo the transition team prepared on the topic of personnel to the President. We urged Ford to build visibly what would be seen as his own team. Noting that the failure to do so was the very mistake that Lady Bird Johnson believed LBJ made after succeeding John F. Kennedy, we warned, “Without