The Commission on Critical Choices for Americans was a bipartisan working group proposed by President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

and established at his behest in 1973 by New York Governor

Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...

. Its purpose was to examine the impact of rapid change upon American society and the place of the United States on the world stage. Rockefeller resigned the governorship of New York in order to devote himself full-time to the CCCA in December, 1973. Several very high-profile people were appointed to the CCCA. Besides Governor Rockefeller, it included Vice-President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

, Secretary of State

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...

, Secretary of the Treasury

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, the majority and minority leaders of both the US Senate and the US House of Representatives, numerous high-profile businessmen and educators, as well as

Daniel Patrick Moynihan Daniel Patrick Moynihan (March 16, 1927 – March 26, 2003) was an American politician, diplomat and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented New York in the United States Senate from 1977 until 2001 and served as an ...

and former

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. The original name proposed for the Commission was "America in the Third Century", a reference to the fact that, in 1976, the United States would begin its third century as an independent nation. However, Rockefeller ultimately decided that "Critical Choices for Americans" was a more descriptive moniker. The commissions work was set up in six areas: *Panel I—Energy and Its Relationship to Ecology: Economics and World Stability. *Panel II—Food, Health, World Population and Quality of Life. *Panel III—Raw Materials, Industrial Development, Capital Formation, Employment and World Trade. *Panel IV—International Trade and Monetary Systems, Inflation and the Relationships Among Differing Economics Systems. *Panel V—Change, National Security and Peace, and * Panel VI—Quality of Life of Individuals and Communities in the U.S.A The commission was expected to take two years to complete its work, and indeed, its final report was issued in 1976.

References

United States national commissions {{US-gov-stub