50 Facts About Jay Rockefeller

Jay Rockefeller was first elected to the Senate in 1984, while in office as governor of West Virginia.

Jay Rockefeller was later elected secretary of state of West Virginia and was president of West Virginia Wesleyan College.

Jay Rockefeller became the state's senior US senator when the long-serving Senator Robert Byrd died in June 2010.

Jay Rockefeller was the only serving politician of the Rockefeller family during his tenure in the United States Senate, and the only one to have held office as a Democrat, in what has been a traditionally Republican family.

Jay Rockefeller did not seek reelection in 2014 and was succeeded by Republican US Representative Shelley Moore Capito.

John Davison Rockefeller IV was born at New York Hospital in Manhattan to John D Rockefeller III and Blanchette Ferry Hooker, 26 days after the death of his patrilineal great-grandfather, John D Rockefeller.

Jay Rockefeller is a grandson of John D Rockefeller Jr.

Jay Rockefeller graduated from Harvard in 1961 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Far Eastern languages and history.

Jay Rockefeller attended Yale University and did graduate work in Oriental studies and studied the Chinese language.

Jay Rockefeller served as the operations director for the Corps' largest overseas program, in the Philippines.

Jay Rockefeller worked for a brief time in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Jay Rockefeller was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1966, and to the office of West Virginia Secretary of State in 1968.

Jay Rockefeller won the Democratic nomination for governor in 1972, but was defeated in the general election by the Republican incumbent Governor Arch A Moore Jr.

Jay Rockefeller was elected governor of West Virginia in 1976 and re-elected in 1980.

Jay Rockefeller served as governor when manufacturing plants and coal mines were closing as the national recession of the early 1980s hit West Virginia particularly hard.

Jay Rockefeller was re-elected in 1990,1996,2002 and 2008 by substantial margins.

Jay Rockefeller was chair of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Jay Rockefeller was the chair of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Jay Rockefeller went on to strongly endorse Clinton as the Democratic candidate.

Jay Rockefeller was the Chairman of the prominent Senate Intelligence Committee, from which he commented frequently on the war in Iraq.

In 1993, Jay Rockefeller became the principal Senate supporter, with Ted Kennedy, behind Bill and Hillary Clinton's sweeping health care reform package, liaising closely with the First Lady, opening up his mansion next to Rock Creek Park for its first strategy meeting.

In 2002, Jay Rockefeller made an official visit to several Middle Eastern countries, during which he discussed his personal views regarding United States military intentions with the leaders of those countries.

Jay Rockefeller noted that the comment expresses his personal opinion, and that he was not privy to any confidential information that such action was planned.

Jay Rockefeller says 'I'm for clean coal,' and then he says it in his speeches, but he doesn't say it in here.

Jay Rockefeller faced criticism from West Virginia coal companies, which claimed that he was out of touch.

Jay Rockefeller became the senior US senator from West Virginia when Robert Byrd died in June 2010, after serving in the senate with Jay Rockefeller for 25 years.

In July 2011 Jay Rockefeller was prominent in calling for US agencies to investigate whether alleged phone hacking at News Corporation's newspapers in the United Kingdom had targeted American victims of the September 11 attacks.

Jay Rockefeller announced on January 11,2013, that he would not run for a sixth term.

On March 25,2013, Jay Rockefeller announced his support for gay marriage.

Jay Rockefeller, along with his son Charles, is a trustee of New York's Asia Society, which was established by his father in 1956.

Jay Rockefeller is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit think tank previously chaired by his uncle, David Rockefeller.

Jay Rockefeller served on the following committees in the 112th Congress:.

Jay Rockefeller initially supported the use of force based upon the evidence presented by the intelligence community that linked Iraq to nuclear ambitions.

In July 2007, Jay Rockefeller announced that he planned to introduce legislation before the August Congressional recess that would give the FCC the power to regulate TV violence.

In 2007, Jay Rockefeller began steering the Senate Intelligence Committee to grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies who were accused of unlawfully assisting the National Security Agency in monitoring the communications of American citizens.

On September 28,2006, Jay Rockefeller voted with a largely Republican majority to suspend habeas corpus provisions for anyone deemed by the Executive Branch an "unlawful combatant," barring them from challenging their detentions in court.

Jay Rockefeller's vote gave a retroactive, nine-year immunity to US officials who authorized, ordered, or committed acts of torture and abuse, permitting the use of statements obtained through torture to be used in military tribunals so long as the abuse took place by December 30,2005.

Jay Rockefeller's vote authorized the President to establish permissible interrogation techniques and to "interpret the meaning and application" of international Geneva Convention standards, so long as the coercion fell short of "serious" bodily or psychological injury.

Jay Rockefeller later apologized for the comment and the Obama campaign issued a statement expressing Obama's disagreement with the comment.

On June 1,2011, Jay Rockefeller sponsored the fourth West Virginia Homeland Security Summit and Expo.

Jay Rockefeller is a strong supporter of the fight against Alzheimer's and neurological disease.

On Healthcare Reform, Jay Rockefeller has been a proponent of a public option, fighting with some Democrats on the finance committee, in particular Max Baucus, the chairman of the committee, who contended that there was not enough support for a public option to gather the 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster.

Baucus asked repeatedly for Jay Rockefeller to stop speaking on the issue.

On September 29,2009 Jay Rockefeller offered an amendment to the Baucus Health Bill in the Senate Finance Committee to add a public option.

Jay Rockefeller supported President Barack Obama's health reform legislation; he voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in December 2009, and he voted for the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

Since 1967, Jay Rockefeller has been married to the former Sharon Lee Percy, the chief executive officer of WETA-TV, the leading PBS station in the Washington, DC, area, which broadcasts such programs as PBS NewsHour and Washington Week.

Jay Rockefeller is a twin daughter of Senator Charles Harting Percy and Jeanne Valerie Dickerson.

Jay Rockefeller is related to several Republican Party supporters and former officeholders: his paternal grandmother Abigail Greene "Abby" Aldrich was a daughter of Rhode Island Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich.

David's brother Winthrop Jay Rockefeller served as Governor of Arkansas.

Winthrop and David's brother Nelson Aldrich Jay Rockefeller served as Governor of New York and as Vice President of the United States under President Gerald Ford.