Rockefeller, the name of song and tall buildings, conjures up bold images of gas , oil, and money, mostly money. And, indeed, it should.
But to West Virginians, the name Rockefeller has a different face, one in which a tall, lanky descendant of John D.'s clan, nicknamed Jay, came to rural, mostly poor West Virginia as a poverty worker, and ended up governor.
It was that climb from working the poorhouse to running the statehouse that captured the fancy of author Richard Grimes...the media orchestration (some say manipulation), the promises, the failures, the expenditures of great personal wealth, the vacillations, all have been captured by Grimes' journalistic pen.
Grimes offers a penetrating look at this man of gentility and wealth who chose West Virginia as his stepping-stone home, and who in doing so, discovered that a famous name was no guarantee of political success. Hill folk, he learned, don't always "take kindly to a stranger," but they will give a man a chance to prove his worth.
Read, if you will, Jay Rockefeller, Old Money, New Politics, and decide for yourself if the "tall fella" from New York measured up to hill folk expectations.
For 30 years Richard Grimes covered West Virginia politics as statehouse reporter and Political Editor for the Charleston Daily Mail. In addition to his newspaper work, Grimes also has been featured as a regular commentator on West Virginia Public Radio, the weekly host of Under Fire, and has freelanced for a number of national publications.