Jay Rockefeller Manhattan, New York City, to John Davison Rockefeller III (1906–1978) and Blanchette Ferry Hooker (1909–1992), 26 days after the death of his patrilineal great-grandfather, John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (1839–1937). He is the grandson of John Davison Rockefeller Jr. Jay graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1955. After his junior year at Harvard College, he spent three years studying Japanese at the International Christian University in Tokyo. He graduated from Harvard in 1961 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Far Eastern Languages and History. He attended Yale University and did graduate work in Oriental studies and studied the Chinese language.
Rockefeller Republican "A lot of people considered Rockefeller very liberal and very dovish on foreign policy, but he was not. He was harder than Nixon, and a lot more hawkish about the mission of America in the world." The term largely fell out of use by the end of the twentieth century and has been replaced by the term "moderate Republican". Rockefeller Republicans were typically moderate to center-right economically, vehemently rejected conservatives like Barry Goldwater, and had social policies that were often culturally liberal. They espoused government and private investments in environmentalism, healthcare and higher education as necessities for a better society