His supporters booed opponent Nelson Rockefeller, a liberal Republican, when he spoke to them.

CNN: Commentary: Sotomayor puts GOP at crossroads

Barry Goldwater won the 1964 Republican nomination probably because he beat Nelson Rockefeller in the California primary.

NPR: The Impact of California's Early Primary

Spitzer becomes the first New York governor to resign from office during his term since Nelson Rockefeller quit in 1973.

FORBES: Sheriff Shot Down

By contrast, Ford's selection of Nelson Rockefeller, a congressional outsider, was held up for months by hearings into Rockefeller's finances.

CNN: Heart Murmurs

Powell, who has served under Republican and Democratic presidents, became a Republican in recent years but longed for the Republican Party of Nelson Rockefeller.

CNN: Commentary: Joe the Plumber vs. Colin Powell

George Romney, the governor of Michigan, a wishy-washy moderate, was obviously unsuitable, to say nothing of the Republican archliberal Nelson Rockefeller, of New York.

NEWYORKER: Confounding Fathers

Nelson Rockefeller did not have much standing at the convention, and was the symbol of the slippage of the control of the Eastern wing of the Republican Party.

NPR: 1964 Convention Established GOP As Conservative

In 1964, Henry Cabot Lodge topped Barry Goldwater and Nelson Rockefeller to win the New Hampshire primary through a write-in campaign fueled by a couple of then-unprecedented statewide mailings.

WSJ: Fergus Cullen: In New Hampshire, Politics on a Human Scale

Nelson Rockefeller was such a creature.

NEWYORKER: Money Pol

Nelson Rockefeller built SUNY Albany.

FORBES: The Spaceship Takes Off From Cupertino