By Scott Mackay

John O. Pastore was a legendary Rhode Island political figure, the son of immigrants and the first Italian-American elected as a governor and a U.S. Senator.

A dominant figure in state politics, Pastore had a distinguished 26-year tenure in the Senate and never lost an election in a long career that began in the doldrums of the Great Depression in the General Assembly and ended with his decision in 1976 to retire rather than run again for a seat he would have easily kept.

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Source: http://ripr.org