John O. Pastore

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John O. Pastore

John Orlando Pastore (born March  17, 1907 in Providence , Rhode Island , †  July 15, 2000 in Cranston , Rhode Island) was an American politician ( Democratic Party) who served as governor of Rhode Island and this state in the US Senate represented.

Life

After attending high school in his hometown of Providence graduated Pastore 1931 at the Law School of Northeastern University in Boston . He then returned to Providence, where he practiced as a lawyer.

politics

In 1935 he was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives for the Democratic Party , of which he was a member until 1937. Pastore was Deputy Attorney General of Rhode Island from 1937 to 1938 and 1940 to 1944 . In 1944 he was made lieutenant governor of the state; two years later he succeeded J. Howard McGrath , who took over the post of United States Solicitor General , to governor. Pastore was the first Italian-American to hold this office; In 1946 and 1948 it was confirmed by the electorate with a certain majority.

When the Democratic Party was looking for a successor to J. Howard McGrath, who had meanwhile moved to the US Senate and now resigned, the choice fell on John Pastore. The designated interim successor Edward L. Leahy was not considered. Pastore won the by-election and defended his Senate seat four times through 1970. On this last confirmation in office, he prevailed with 68:32 percent of the vote against the later TV presenter John McLaughlin , who ran for the Republicans . In 1976, Pastore, who gave the opening speech at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City , no longer ran.

John Pastore is remembered, among other things, for an episode in his time as chairman of the Senate subcommittee on communications. When US President Richard Nixon planned to cut support for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and all non-commercial broadcasting in the US from $ 20 million a year to $ 10 million annually, Pastore invited PBS host Fred Rogers to join a hearing before the committee. Rogers, with whom Pastore was unfamiliar with primarily educational activities, spoke in his approximately five-minute statement about the need for social and emotional education that public television provides. Pastore, sometimes described by contemporaries as rude and impatient, replied that Rogers' testimony gave him goose bumps and concluded with the words: “Looks like you just earned the $ 20 million.” ( “ Looks like you've just turned 20 Earned millions of dollars. " )

John O. Pastore died of kidney failure in 2000.

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personal data
SURNAME Pastore, John O.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pastore, John Orlando (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH March 17, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Providence , Rhode Island
DATE OF DEATH July 15, 2000
Place of death Cranston , Rhode Island