Michael Clark Rockefeller was born on May 18, 1938, and disappeared on November 19, 1961. He was an American anthropologist, art collector, and member of the Rockefeller family. He was the son of Nelson Rockefeller, who later became New York Governor and U.S. Vice President. He was also the grandson of John D. Rockefeller Jr., an American financier, and the great-grandson of John D. Rockefeller Sr., a co-founder of Standard Oil.
In 1961, Rockefeller disappeared during an expedition in the Asmat region of southwestern Dutch New Guinea, which is now part of the Indonesian province of South Papua. There are differing accounts about what happened to him. In 2012, his twin sister, Mary Rockefeller Morgan, wrote in a memoir that she believes her brother drowned. In 2014, a book by Carl Hoffman included details from an official investigation, which reported that villagers and tribal elders claimed Rockefeller had been killed and eaten after swimming to shore in 1961. No remains of Rockefeller or physical evidence of his death have been found.
Early life
Michael Rockefeller was born on May 18, 1938, as the fifth and final child of Nelson and Mary Todhunter Rockefeller. He was the third son among seven children born to Nelson and had a twin sister named Mary. Rockefeller attended the Buckley School in New York City and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. At Phillips Exeter, he served as a student senator and was a successful varsity wrestler. He later graduated with honors from Harvard University, earning a degree in history and economics. In 1960, he spent six months as a private in the United States Army.
After his military service, Rockefeller joined an expedition organized by Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology to study the Dani tribe in western Dutch New Guinea. During this trip, he helped record the sounds for Dead Birds, an ethnographic film made by Robert Gardner.
Rockefeller and a friend briefly left the Peabody expedition to study the Asmat tribe in southern Dutch New Guinea. After the expedition ended, he returned to New Guinea to continue studying the Asmat and collect their unique woodcarving art.
“It’s the desire to do something adventurous,” he said, “at a time when real frontiers are disappearing.”
During his time in New Guinea, Rockefeller worked closely with the local culture and recorded detailed information about their traditions. In a letter home, he wrote:
“I am having a very tiring but exciting time here… The Asmat is like a large puzzle, with differences in ceremonies and art styles forming the pieces. My trips are helping me understand, even in a basic way, how this puzzle fits together.”
Disappearance
On November 17, 1961, Rockefeller and Dutch anthropologist René Wassing were in a 40-foot (12 m) dugout canoe about 5–10 nautical miles (9.3–18.5 km; 5.8–11.5 mi) from shore when their double pontoon boat capsized. Their two local guides, Simon and Leo, swam for help, but it took a long time for assistance to arrive. After drifting for some time, early on November 19, Rockefeller told Wassing, "I think I can make it." According to Wassing, Rockefeller made a float using a jerry can and the boat's gas tank. He took a compass and knife, and began swimming toward shore between 7 and 8 a.m. on November 19. Wassing’s last view of him was about 30 minutes later: "I saw him moving straight toward shore until I could only see three dots: the two cans and his head."
Wassing was rescued the next day by Sagala and Yatich, but Rockefeller was never found, despite a large and long search. According to Rockefeller’s surviving twin, Mary Rockefeller Morgan, who joined her father in South Papua to help look for her brother, "Dutch and Australian naval and air units sent helicopters and boats to search, along with local Dutch officers. Many Asmat villagers also searched the rivers in their canoes for any sign of Michael." At the time, his disappearance was widely reported in international news. His body was never found, and he was officially declared dead in 1964.
Speculation
It was first reported that Michael Rockefeller either drowned or was attacked by an animal, such as a shark or saltwater crocodile. The boat he was on was about 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers or 14 miles) from the shore when he tried to swim to safety. This supports the idea that he may have died from cold, tiredness, or drowning.
However, because headhunting and cannibalism were still practiced in some parts of Asmat in 1961 and are still practiced today, some people believe Rockefeller was killed and eaten by members of the Asmat village of Otsjanep.
Two Dutch missionaries, who knew the local languages and had lived in the area for many years, gathered many witness accounts. Several villagers said Rockefeller was pulled from the water wearing only underwear. After a disagreement about whether he should be killed, he was stabbed in the stomach but not killed. He later died somewhere along the Jawor River.
In December 1961, four locals told minister Hubertus von Peij that Rockefeller’s remains and personal items, including his head, long bones, ribs, shorts, and glasses, were divided among 15 Asmats. Von Peij and missionary Cornelius van Kessel both wrote to a regional supervisor, sharing nearly identical accounts with details from four separate villages. Both men were very certain that Rockefeller was killed by local warriors. The reason for killing him was revenge for the deaths of five Otsjanep residents—Faratsjam, Osom, Akon, Samut, and Ipi—by Dutch colonial soldiers under administrator Max Lapré, who shot at villagers in January 1958.
The first public report that Rockefeller was killed, dismembered, and his long bones used to make weapons and fishing tools was published by the Associated Press in March 1962. Later that year, a patrolman named Wim van de Waal investigated for the Dutch colonial government and reached the same conclusion. Van de Waal found a "skull without a lower jaw and a hole in the right temple"—signs that the remains had been taken as trophies and used for headhunting. He gave the remains to Dutch authorities, who did not ask him to write a report or explain his findings. The information was likely considered politically sensitive due to the fragile state of the Dutch empire in Indonesia and because Nelson Rockefeller was a well-known figure in the United States. The findings of van de Waal’s investigation were later described in the memoir of Anton van de Wouw, a missionary who followed van Kessel.
In 1969, journalist Milt Machlin visited the island to investigate Rockefeller’s disappearance. He dismissed stories that Rockefeller was captured or lived like a figure in a famous story in the jungle but concluded that evidence suggested he was killed. Under Asmat beliefs, some killers, including Fin, Ajim, Pep, Jane, and Samut, would have had a "sacred duty" to avenge the deaths of the men killed by Lapré.
In the 2000 documentary Keep the River on Your Right, Tobias Schneebaum said he spoke with Asmat villagers in Otsjanep, who described finding Rockefeller on the riverside and eating him.
In 2012, Michael’s surviving twin sister, Mary, published a memoir titled Beginning with the End: A Memoir of Twin Loss and Healing, about coping with her grief after Michael’s death. The book was released in paperback in 2014 as When Grief Calls Forth the Healing.
In 2014, Mary Rockefeller Morgan wrote about her brother’s disappearance:
"Rumors and stories that Michael reached the shore, was found, captured, and killed by Asmat villagers have lasted for more than 40 years. These stories continue to inspire imagination and support the work of storytellers, playwrights, filmmakers, and adventure tourism. However, none have been proven with clear evidence. Since 1954, the Dutch government banned tribal warfare and the headhunting that followed the death of important figures. In 1961, it was said that such practices had not been completely stopped but were rare. Evidence, including strong ocean currents, high tides, and the distance Michael swam (about 10 miles from shore), supports the theory that he drowned before reaching land."
— When Grief Calls Forth the Healing: A Memoir of Losing a Twin by Mary Rockefeller Morgan
In 2014, Carl Hoffman published the book Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art, in which he discussed researching Rockefeller’s disappearance and presumed death. During visits to the villages, Hoffman heard stories from Otsjanep residents about men killing Rockefeller after he swam to shore. These stories, similar to those from the 1960s, centered on a few men arguing and deciding to kill Rockefeller in revenge for the 1958 incident. Soon after, the villages faced a cholera outbreak, which villagers believed was punishment for Rockefeller’s death. As Hoffman left one village, he saw a man act out a scene of someone being killed and recorded it. When translated, the man said:
"Don’t tell this story to anyone else or to another village. This story is only for us. Don’t speak. Don’t tell it. I hope you remember it and keep it for us. I hope. I hope. This is only for you and you only. Don’t talk to anyone, forever, or to other people or villages. If you tell this story, you will die. I am afraid you will die. You’ll be dead; your people will be dead, if you tell this story. Keep this story in your house, for yourself, I hope, forever. Forever."
Asmat artifacts and photographs
Many of the Asmat artifacts that Rockefeller collected are displayed in the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Peabody Museum has published a catalog that includes photos taken by Rockefeller during their New Guinea expedition.
Memorial
A memorial stained glass window honoring Michael Rockefeller was created by artist Marc Chagall and is located at Union Church of Pocantico Hills. Michael's twin sister, Mary, became a therapist later in life. After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., she led a support group for people who had lost their twin siblings in the attacks.