Robinson was active in politics throughout his post-baseball life. He called himself a political independent. But he held conservative thoughts on several issues, including the Vietnam War (he once wrote Martin Luther King, Jr. to defend the Johnson Administration's military policy). After supporting Richard Nixon in his 1960 presidential race against John F. Kennedy, Robinson later praised Kennedy for his views on civil rights. He then supported Hubert Humphrey against Nixon in 1968. In 1964, Robinson became one of six national directors for Nelson Rockefeller's Republican presidential campaign. He later became special assistant for community affairs when Rockefeller was re-elected governor of New York in 1966.