Rockefeller, Winthrop

Rockefeller, Winthrop

(1912–73) governor; born in New York (grandson of John D. Rockefeller). A Yale dropout, he worked for Socony Vacuum Oil (1939–41, 1946–51), with time out to serve in World War II and then resigning to head the IBEC Housing Corporation, a Rockefeller philanthropy providing low-cost housing. Moving to Arkansas in 1953, he started a 3,500-acre cattle ranch, also chairing the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission. As Republican governor (1967–71), he advanced school desegregation and promoted penal reform.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.