John Jay Rockefeller, heir to famed dynasty and healthcare advocate in US Senate, dead at 89
WASHINGTON — John D.“Jay” Rockefeller IV, the progeny of one of America’s most famous and wealthiest families who, during three decades in the US Senate, sought expanded healthcare for the poor and excoriated President George W.
Bush’s handling of the Iraq War, died on Friday at his home in Washington, the Washington Post reported.He was 89.His family did not provide a cause, the newspaper added.Rockefeller, a tall, soft-spoken Democrat with liberal views, was elected in 1984 to the first of his five six-year terms representing West Virginia in the Senate after two terms as governor of the poor coal-mining state.Rockefeller voted in 2002 in favor of the Republican Bush’s measure authorizing the Iraq war, which began with a US-led invasion in 2003.
He later expressed regret over that vote and, as head of the Senate intelligence committee, accused Bush of taking the nation to war on “false premises.”He was a great-grandson of oil tycoon John D.Rockefeller and the scion of a family that formed a political dynasty that included his uncle, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller.New York-born Jay Rockefeller’s life changed direction after he graduated from Harvard and served in a national service program in impoverished rural West Virginia from 1964 to 1966.When he was put in public office, he worked to increase healthcare access, fight poverty, provide health benefits to coal miners, and assist military veterans.
As a senator, he had a role in shaping the program created in 1997 under which the US government helps states provide medical coverage for millions of uninsured children.Rockefeller backed Democratic President Bill Clinton’s failed proposal for near-universal health insurance coverage in the 1990s and then fought for Democratic President Barack Obama’s successful quest for a healthcare overhaul law, signed in 2010.In the debate over Obama’s measure, Rockefeller unsuccessfully sought to have the federal government offer a medical insuranc...