Happy Rockefeller

Happy Rockefeller


Second Lady of the United States
In role December 19, 1974 – January 20, 1977
President	Gerald Ford
Preceded by	Betty Ford (Aug. 1974)
Succeeded by	Joan Mondale
First Lady of New York
In role May 4, 1963 – December 18, 1973
Governor	Nelson Rockefeller
Preceded by	Mary Rockefeller
Succeeded by	Katherine Wilson
Personal details
Born	Margaretta Large Fitler (1926-06-09)June 9, 1926 Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	May 19, 2015(2015-05-19) (aged 88) Pocantico Hills, New York, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	James Murphy (1945–1963) Nelson Rockefeller (1963–1979)
Children	James (with Murphy) Margretta (with Murphy) Carol (with Murphy) Malinda (with Murphy) Mark (with Rockefeller) Nelson (with Rockefeller)

Margaretta Large Fitler Murphy "Happy" Rockefeller (June 9, 1926 – May 19, 2015) was a philanthropist and the second wife of the 49th Governor of New York and 41st Vice President of the United States, Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (1908–1979). She was First Lady of New York from her marriage to then-Governor Rockefeller in 1963 until he left office in 1973, and Second Lady of the United States from her husband's swearing in as Vice President on December 19, 1974 until his term ended on January 20, 1977.

Childhood and family

Margaretta Large Fitler was born at Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, in 1926.^[1]^[2] Her parents were Margaretta Large Harrison and William Wonderly Fitler Jr., an heir to a cordage fortune. (Later her mother would marry again.) The younger Margaretta was known by her nickname, "Happy", given to her for her childhood disposition. She was a great-great-granddaughter of Union general George Gordon Meade, the commander at the Battle of Gettysburg, and his wife Margaretta Sergeant, daughter of politician John Sergeant.

Marriages

On December 11, 1949, she married James Slater Murphy, a virologist associated with the Rockefeller Institute and a close friend of Nelson Rockefeller's. They had four children: James B. Murphy, II, Margaretta Harrison Murphy, Carol Slater Murphy, and Malinda Fitler Murphy (1960-2005). Malinda married Francis Menotti, the adopted son of composer Gian Carlo Menotti.

Happy and her husband divorced on April 1, 1963, for reasons The New York Times called "grievous mental anguish" and her former husband's lawyer classified as "irreconcilable differences". One month later – on May 4, 1963 – at the home of Laurance S. Rockefeller in Pocantico Hills, New York, Happy married Governor Nelson Rockefeller, who had taken office in 1959 and was eighteen years her senior. She had worked as a member of his office staff until her resignation in 1961. Nelson divorced his first wife, Mary Todhunter Clark, on March 16, 1962. Happy and Nelson Rockefeller had two sons together: Nelson Rockefeller, Jr. (born 1964), and Mark Rockefeller (born 1967).

Happy Murphy's relationship with Gov. Rockefeller was controversial at the time. As the British journalist Lady Jeanne Campbell wrote in the London Evening Standard, when the Murphy-Rockefeller involvement became a subject of media scrutiny after the announcement of Rockefeller's filing for divorce from his first wife and Happy Murphy's resignation from his staff, "Already people are comparing Happy Murphy to the Duchess of Windsor when she was plain Mrs. Simpson."^[3] More damaging still was the political fallout for Rockefeller. Echoing the party-wide concerns, an official of the Michigan Republican Party told The New York Times that the couple's potential marriage likely would cost Rockefeller the 1964 presidential nomination. "The rapidity of it all—he gets a divorce, she gets a divorce—and the indication of the break-up of two homes. Our country doesn't like broken homes."^[4]

Despite some people's disapproval, Rockefeller was re-elected as governor twice more and served until 1973, when he resigned. He was appointed Vice President of the United States by President Gerald Ford, after Richard Nixon resigned, and served from 1974 to 1977.

Philanthropy and political life

Happy Rockefeller served as the chairman of the board for the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in 1971. She was appointed as a public delegate to the United Nations by President George H. W. Bush in 1991.

Health and death

She was a breast cancer survivor, having undergone a double mastectomy in 1974, two weeks after Betty Ford, then First Lady of the United States, underwent the same surgery.^[5] Happy Rockefeller died following a short illness on May 19, 2015, at the age of 88.^[2]

References

↑ The Lewiston Daily Sun - Google News Archive Search
1 2 Happy Rockefeller, Whose Marriage to Governor Scandalized Voters, Dies at 88
↑ Nan C. Robertson, "Nickname 'Happy' Well-Fitted to Cheerful Mrs. Rockefeller", The New York Times, 5 May 1963, p. 72
↑ "Many in G.O.P. Say Marriage Will Hurt Rockefeller in 1964", The New York Times, 3 May 1963, p. 17.
↑ "Breast Cancer: Fears and Facts", Time magazine, 4 November 1974

Honorary titles
Preceded by Mary Rockefeller	First Lady of New York 1963–1973	Succeeded by Katherine Wilson
Vacant Title last held by Betty Ford	Second Lady of the United States 1974–1977	Succeeded by Joan Mondale

Second Ladies of the United States

Abigail Adams Ann Gerry Hannah Minthorne Tompkins Floride Calhoun Letitia Tyler Sophia Dallas Abigail Fillmore Mary Cyrene Burch Breckinridge Ellen Vesta Emery Hamlin Eliza Johnson Ellen Maria Colfax Eliza Hendricks Anna Morton Letitia Stevenson Jennie Tuttle Hobart Edith Roosevelt Cornelia Cole Fairbanks Carrie Babcock Sherman Lois Irene Marshall Grace Coolidge Caro Dawes Mariette Rheiner Garner Ilo Wallace Bess Truman Jane Hadley Barkley Pat Nixon Lady Bird Johnson Muriel Humphrey Judy Agnew Betty Ford Happy Rockefeller Joan Mondale Barbara Bush Marilyn Quayle Tipper Gore Lynne Cheney Jill Biden

Rockefeller family

children of William Avery Rockefeller (1810–1906)	John Davison Rockefeller (m.) Laura Celestia Spelman William Avery Rockefeller Jr. Franklin Rockefeller

children of John Davison Rockefeller (1839–1937) children of William Avery Rockefeller Jr. (1841–1922)	Elizabeth Rockefeller (m.) Charles Augustus Strong Alta Rockefeller Edith Rockefeller (m.) Harold Fowler McCormick John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (m.) Abigail Greene Aldrich William Goodsell Rockefeller Percy Avery Rockefeller Ethel Geraldine Rockefeller (m.) Marcellus Hartley Dodge Sr.

children of Elizabeth Rockefeller (1866–1906) children of Alta Rockefeller (1871–1962) children of John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (1874–1960)	Margaret Rockefeller Strong John Rockefeller Prentice Abigail Aldrich Rockefeller (m.) Jean Mauzé John Davison Rockefeller III (m.) Blanchette Ferry Hooker Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (m. 1st) Mary Todhunter Clark (m. 2nd) Margaretta Large Fitler Laurance Spelman Rockefeller (m.) Mary French Winthrop Aldrich Rockefeller David Rockefeller

children of William Goodsell Rockefeller (1870–1922) children of Percy Avery Rockefeller (1878–1934) children of Ethel Geraldine Rockefeller (1882–1973)	Godfrey Stillman Rockefeller James Stillman Rockefeller Isabel Stillman Rockefeller (m.) Frederic Walker Lincoln IV Avery Rockefeller Marcellus Hartley Dodge Jr.

children of John Rockefeller Prentice (1902–1972)	Abra Prentice

children of John Davison Rockefeller III (1906–1978) children of Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (1908–1979) children of Laurance Spelman Rockefeller (1910–2004) children of Winthrop Aldrich Rockefeller (1912–1973) children of David Rockefeller (1915) children of Godfrey Stillman Rockefeller (1899–1983)	John Davison Rockefeller IV Hope Aldrich Rockefeller Alida Ferry Rockefeller Rodman Clark Rockefeller Steven Clark Rockefeller Michael Clark Rockefeller Mark Fitler Rockefeller Laura Spelman Rockefeller Marion French Rockefeller Lucy Aldrich Rockefeller Laurance Spelman Rockefeller Jr. Winthrop Paul Rockefeller David Rockefeller Jr. Abigail Aldrich Rockefeller Margaret Dulany Rockefeller Richard Gilder Rockefeller Eileen Rockefeller Godfrey Anderson Rockefeller

children of John Davison Rockefeller IV (1937)	Justin Aldrich Rockefeller

children of Rodman Clark Rockefeller (1932–2000)	Meile Louise Rockefeller

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