"A Propaganda Effort"

"Critics will quibble that these documents don't prove the actual specifics of the long-alleged 'October Surprise.' This is true. According to the Times, they don't show Reagan striking a deal with the Iranians to delay the release of the American hostages until after the election, but simply working behind the scenes to thwart negotiations to free them. Perhaps someone out there exists who thinks this is better."

Branko Marcetic in a 2020 Jacobin article writes about revelations about the 1980 presidential election from the papers of David Rockefeller.

"What in God's Name Has Happened to the Republican Party?"

"Rockefeller's speech on extremism was intended to take full advantage of the television spotlight. Its official purpose was to plead for an amendment to the platform, proposed by Pennsylvania Sen. Hugh Scott, denouncing 'extremist' groups. But the Goldwater forces knew it was a veiled attack on their candidate. The third-term senator had the support of the virulent anticommunist John Birch Society, which he refused to distance himself from, even though its leader had accused Eisenhower of treason and being a communist agent.
"Melvin Laird, a congressman from Wisconsin and future secretary of defense who was running the show for Goldwater, thwarted Rockefeller by asking that the platform be read into the record before the governor spoke. The platform was 8,500 words. It took 90 minutes. Rockefeller was pushed out of primetime."

In a 2016 article, John Dickerson at Slate tells the story of the failed Republican "Stop Goldwater" efforts in 1964.

"The Shift in Attitude Regarding College Has Also Become Commonly Accepted"

"In 1927, John D. Rockefeller began campaigning for charging students the full cost it took to educate them. Further, he suggested that students could shoulder such costs through student loans. Rockefeller and like-minded donors (in particular, William E. Harmon, the wealthy real estate magnate) were quite successful in their campaign. They convinced donors, educators and college administrators that students should pay for their own education because going to college was considered a deeply personal affair. Tuition–and student loans–thus became commonly accepted aspects of the economics of higher education."

At The Conversation, Thomas Adam argues that "tuition-free education can only be realized if college education is again reframed as a public good."

"No Governor Who Came to Albany After Him Was Half So Consequential"

"In retrospect, it seems obvious that a candidate The Progressive thought might be 'a Republican F.D.R.' and Adlai Stevenson considered 'a thoughtful and sincere liberal' never stood the slightest chance of winning the Republican nomination for president. Rockefeller, who served in the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations, worshiped Roosevelt and thought Ike lacked sufficient boldness. How could a candidate to the left of Eisenhower hope to win Republican votes nationwide?

"It didn't seem so obvious then."

Timothy Noah in The New York Times reviews Richard Norton Smith's On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller.