Word: nelsoned
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...described as charisma, he downgrades it. "We're getting away from charismatic politicians, which is a good thing, because they don't perform." When pressed, he refers to himself as a "pragmatist," but that is a bland description for the multitude of political drives that make up Nelson Rockefeller. He is the political equivalent of a natural force...
Quite in keeping with his character -and some would say his politics-he is somewhat ambidextrous, using his right hand to write, playing tennis with his left. He was lefthanded as a boy, but his father tied a string to his left wrist at the dinner table. When Nelson tried to eat southpaw, his father gave a yank. Rockefeller does not smoke and only occasionally has a Dubonnet on the rocks or some wine. There is no way of telling that he is a Rockefeller from his dress. His nondescript suits are invariably rumpled, his ties unmemorable...
From an early age, Nelson was a different kind of Rockefeller, more outgoing, less cost-conscious than his four brothers. While they tended to reflect their father John D. Jr., a shy philanthropist and devout Baptist, Nelson was closer to his mother Abby, the daughter of the powerful Rhode Island Senator Nelson Aldrich. It was Abby who imbued her son with a tender social conscience and a lifelong love...
Reading Backward. Nelson's health as a boy in a way condemned him to be an extravert. He suffered from dyslexia, which caused him to read letters and numbers backward much of the time. During his political career, he has been forced to memorize his speeches so that he would not stumble over the words. With a scholarly life pretty much closed to him, he had trouble getting good grades at the progressive Lincoln School in Manhattan. But he worked hard enough at Dartmouth to graduate Phi Beta Kappa...
...Nelson's honeymoon convinced him that he was not cut out for a business career. He had written his father from Sumatra: "It [business] seems to squeeze all other interests out of the men's lives that are in it." Nevertheless, for want of a better idea, he went to work for a family project, Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan. It was the depth of the Depression, and Nelson was put in charge of finding tenants. He won the support of his employees by recognizing the American Federation of Labor as their bargaining agent. In the early 1930s...