[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 50 (Monday, December 15, 1997)]
[Page 1998]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Death of Jeanette E. Rockefeller

December 9, 1997

    Hillary joins me in extending our condolences to the family of the 
late Jeanette E. Rockefeller, who died yesterday at the age of 79. As 
the wife of former Governor Winthrop Rockefeller, she was a pioneering 
First Lady of Arkansas, helping her former husband bring the ``New 
South'' to our State and leading women into the mainstream of political 
and public life. She spearheaded education and cultural outreach across 
the State through the Arkansas Arts Center. As a tireless campaigner, 
Mrs. Rockefeller was a strong voice against discrimination, with an 
uncanny ability to relate to the common man and woman. And, at a 
particularly tense time in the wake of Martin Luther King's 
assassination, she organized a memorial service in his honor on the 
steps of the State Capitol.
    The people of Arkansas have lost a true and valued friend.