John O. Pastore

John Orlando Pastore was an attorney and politician who rose through the ranks to become Governor of Rhode Island in 1945. Five years later, he was elected to the United States Senate, for which he served for over a quarter of a century. The son of Italian immigrants, Pastore has the distinction of being the first person of Italian descent to be elected governor of a state and the first Italian-American elected to the United States Senate. Highlights of his political career include his keynote address at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, which renominated Lyndon B. Johnson for the Presidency. In 1969, as the chairman of the United States Senate Subcommittee on Communications, he overheard testimony regarding the future funding of public broadcasting. Johnson had proposed a budget of $20 million, but newly elected President Richard Nixon wanted to cut the budget in half to help fund the Vietnam War. Pastore, who was becoming increasingly impatient at the hearing, appeared not convinced that the funding should be restored until Fred Rogers, host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968), gave compelling testimony about the importance of public television for the social and emotional development of children. "I think it's wonderful. I think it's wonderful," Pastore declared after Rogers spoke. "Looks like you just earned the $20 million." In his final race for the United States Senate in 1970, Pastore soundly defeated John McLaughlin, a Catholic priest, receiving over 2/3rd of the votes cast. McLaughlin would later serve as host for the long-running public affairs program, The McLaughlin Group (1982) on PBS. In 1976, Pastore retired from politics. He died from kidney failure in 2000.