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Nelson Rockefeller

Nelson really wanted to be President. He ran for the nomination three times during the 1960s, but the closest he ever got to the Oval Office was when Jerry Ford made him Vice President in 1974.

But that lasted only a couple of years. Jerry lost to Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election. Even if he had won, it wouldn't have helped Nelson because Jerry dumped him and made Bob Dole his running mate instead.

However, this grandson of millionaire industrialist John D. Rockefeller did get elected Governor of New York four times -- which was no small potatoes.

But it wasn't enough. He wanted to be President, damn it. But Nelson was from his party's liberal wing, which made it a lot harder to get nominated. Yes, kids, there really was such a thing as a liberal Republican. I'm not making this up.

In 1962, Nelson hurt his political career when he divorced his first wife to marry Happy, a young woman who had deserted her husband and children just to be with him. Folks were shocked. Many say this is what killed his nomination chances at the 1964 Republican National Convention.

Years later, he raised eyebrows again when he died in 1979 of a heart attack. It seems the old guy, still married to Happy, was at the apartment of Megan Marshack, his attractive 25-year-old assistant. She lived in a Manhattan townhouse that he helped her buy. Thus, folks naturally assumed that Nelson had died in the throes of passion.

Like I always say, leave this world with a smile on your face. Way to go, Nelson.