Topic: John D. Rockefeller IV

John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV (born June 18, 1937) is the senior United States Senator from West Virginia; he was first elected in 1984. He was the 29th Governor of West Virginia, from 1977 to 1985. As a great-grandson of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, he is the only current politician of the prominent six-generation Rockefeller family and the only Democrat in what has been a traditionally progressive Republican dynasty.

John Davison Rockefeller IV was born at New York Hospital in New York City to John D. Rockefeller III and Blanchette Ferry Hooker just 26 days after the death of his great-grandfather John D. Rockefeller. Jay Rockefeller graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy (1955) and from Harvard University (1961) with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Far Eastern Languages and History, after having spent three years studying Japanese at the International Christian University in Tokyo.

After college, Rockefeller worked for the Peace Corps in Washington, D.C., under President John F. Kennedy, where he developed a friendship with Attorney General Robert Kennedy and worked as an assistant to Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver. He served as the Operations Director for the Corps' largest overseas program, in the Philippines. He continued his public service in the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) (1964-65), under President Lyndon B. Johnson, during which time he moved to Emmons, West Virginia.