Governor Bruce Sundlun has a long and successful career in business, politics, and the practice of law. A native Rhode Islander, Sundlun was born in Providence on January 19, 1920. His father Walter was a lawyer and active in state and local politics. The family lived on the east side of the city and the young Sundlun attended local public schools, including Classical High School.
After graduation from high school, Sundlun entered Williams College in Massachusetts. His college years were interrupted, however, by the beginning of World War II. Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Sundlun enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Since he already had a private pilot's license, Sundlun was trained to fly the B-17 bomber. He was assigned to the 384th Bomb Group in England in early 1943 after a year's training in the United States.
On his thirteenth mission, Sundlun's aircraft was shot down over Belgium. Sundlun bailed out and spent six harrowing months in occupied Belgium and France before making his way to neutral Switzerland. After a stint with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), Sundlun was returned to his unit and then transferred to the Pacific theater. At war's end he left the active military service, having been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with Cluster, and a Purple Heart.
Sundlun returned to college after the war, receiving a B.A. from Williams College in 1946 and a law degree from Harvard University in 1949. Upon graduation from Harvard, Sundlun began a lengthy business and legal career spanning more than thirty years. His legal career included stints as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and Special Assistant to the Attorney General (1949-54), and partnerships in two law firms (1954-76). In the business world, he served as the President of Executive Jet Aviation (1970-76) and President, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Outlet Communications (1976-88). He continues to serve on the boards of directors of a number of companies from California to Jamaica.
Prior to his involvement in elective politics, Sundlun served on a number of civic boards and commissions in Rhode Island including the Capitol Center Commission, the Legislative Pay Commission, the Providence Review Commission, the Providence Housing Authority, and the Providence School Board.
In 1986, Sundlun sought and won the Democratic Party nomination for governor of Rhode Island. He was defeated in the general election by the incumbent Republican governor, Edward DiPrete. The two met in a rematch in 1988 with DiPrete winning again, though by a much narrower margin.
The DiPrete administration was rocked by a series of scandals between 1988 and 1990 and DiPrete was, as a result, a much weakened candidate in 1990. Sensing the opportunity to win the governor's office for the first time in six years, the Democratic Party leadership endorsed a more "traditional" politician for governor, Providence Mayor Joseph Paolino. Sundlun and Warwick Mayor Francis Flaherty challenged Paolino in a primary. Sundlun emerged victorious after a hard-fought primary campaign and earned the right to meet DiPrete for a third consecutive time in the general election of 1990.
Sundlun won an overwhelming victory at the Credit Union and polls in 1990. He was handily re-elected in 1992 after skillfully handling a potentially disastrous credit union and banking crisis in his first term. After initially promising not to seek a third term, Sundlun changed his mind and announced that he would be a candidate for re-election in the spring of 1994. Due to a change in the Rhode Island constitution, the 1994 election marked the first time that Rhode Island general officers, including the governor, would be elected to four year terms. Sundlun was challenged in the Democratic Party primary by state senator Myrth York. York defeated Sundlun in the primary and was herself defeated in the general election by Republican Party candidate Lincoln Almond.
In 1995 Sundlun became the University of Rhode Island's first Governor-in-Residence. He continues to teach two courses in Political Science Department and is engaged in fund-raising on behalf of the university. He also continues to have an active interest in politics as a frequent contributor to the op-ed page of the Providence Journal and as a guest political commentator on local television stations.
Any qualified person doing scholarly research is permitted to use material housed in the Special Collections Unit.
Terms governing use and reproduction: Photocopying and scanning of materials is a fee based service available in the repository and is allowed at the discretion of the Archivist when in compliance to the Unit's policy on copyright and publication.
Governor Bruce Sundlun Papers, Mss. Gr. 120, University of Rhode Island.
Bruce Sundlun served as Governor of Rhode Island from January 1, 1991 to December 31,1994. The records, videotapes, and audiotapes described herein document Sundlun's service as Governor of the state. They were transferred from the Capital Records Management Center in Providence to the Special Collections Unit of the University Library in May 1995. Though physically located in the Special Collections Unit, the records remain under the jurisdiction of the Rhode Island State Archives for which the Special Collections Unit is acting as the official repository. The records are in good condition and were in no particular order when received.
The records documenting Sundlun's five campaigns for governor were accessioned at a later date and organized as a separate record group entitled Sundlun Campaign Files, Manuscript Group 120A (MSG#120A)
The records were organized into eleven series as follows:
Series I, Subject Files, (1990 - 1995), documents the broad range of activities undertaken by the Sundlun administration. Topics include the state budget, constituent affairs, ethics in government, bond issues, the Central Falls federal detention facility, executive orders, legislation, the judiciary, the Narragansett Indians' proposed casino, New England Patriots' stadium proposal, the Providence Place Mall, and the Rhode Island Convention Center . Included are correspondence, memos, reports, copies of legislation, legislative briefing books, executive orders, legal briefs, and legal memoranda.
Series II, Correspondence, (1991 - 1995), has been divided into two sub-series: Constituent Correspondence and Government Official Correspondence. Constituent correspondence consists of Sundlun's correspondence with the general public and with such well-known public figures as political activist John Hazen White, controversial minister Wade Demers, and Providence Journal government affairs editor M. Charles Bakst. Government Official Correspondence consists of Sundlun's correspondence with the governors of other states, as well as a variety of federal, state, and local officials regarding issues of concern to Rhode Island.
Series III, Executive Office Staff, (1991 - 1994), contains correspondence with and reports from the governor's executive office staff. Among those represented are the chief of staff, press secretary, legal counsel, and policy director. Topics of discussion include ethics in government, pending and proposed legislation, constituent concerns, and legal matters affecting the state and the governor's office.
Series IV, Departments, (1990 - 1994), documents the interaction between the governor's office and the cabinet level departments of state government and includes correspondence, memos, reports, transcripts, legal documents, and copies of state contracts.
Series V, Banking Crisis, (1990 - 1994), documents the Sundlun administration's reaction to the failure of the Rhode Island Share and Deposit Indemnity Corporation (RISDIC) on Sundlun's first day in office in 1991. The failure of RISDIC, a private insurer of financial institutions, resulted in the immediate closure of more than thirty banks, savings and loans, credit unions, and other financial institutions in the state. Included are correspondence, memos, reports, minutes of meetings, financial statements, audit reports, copies of legislation, and legal briefs and memoranda.
Series VI, Reports, (1991 - 1994), consists of reports on a variety of subjects produced by the Sundlun administration. Topics of these reports include the state's tax structure, ethics in government, prison overcrowding, education, health care, pension benefits, and the transition from the Sundlun to the Almond administration.
Series VII, Press Releases, (1991 - 1994), contains copies of press releases from the governor's press office publicizing the activities of the administration.
Series VIII, Chronological Files, (1991 - 1995), contains copies of Sundlun's outgoing letters in chronological order.
Series IX, News Clippings, (1991 - 1994), consists of photocopies of newspaper articles on topics of interest to the Sundlun administration. the overwhelming majority appear to come from the Providence Journal, although other local and regional newspapers are also represented.
Series X, Videotapes, (1986 - 1994), consists of VHS and 3/4" videotapes documenting the activities of the Sundlun administration. Included are press conferences, campaign appearances, inaugural addresses, state-of-the-state addresses, speeches, and other public appearances.
Series XI, Audiotapes, (1990 - 1994), contains audio cassettes of Sundlun's public appearances, including radio interviews, press conferences, speeches, and campaign appearances.
The collection is arranged in eleven series as follows:
They were transferred from the Capital Records Management Center in Providence to the Special Collections Unit of the University Library in May 1995. Though physically located in the Special Collections Unit, the records remain under the jurisdiction of the Rhode Island State Archives for which the Special Collections Unit is acting as the official repository.
The Subject Files consist of the administrative files of Governor Sundlun's office and contain records relating to the significant issues, events, and policies of the day which concerned him as governor of Rhode Island. Among those issues and events are bonds and bond issues, the state budget, controversial appointments to administration positions, the Ethics Commission and ethics in government, Executive Orders, the judiciary and judicial appointments, the Lottery Commission, the proposed Narragansett Indian casino, the Providence Place Mall, and the Rhode Island Convention Center.
Many of these issues generated considerable controversy at the time. The Narragansett Indian proposal and the compact Sundlun negotiated with the tribe, a financial scandal in the Rhode Island Supreme Court resulting in the resignations of the Court Administrator and the Chief Justice, the appointments of Kathleen Connell to direct the Office of Substance Abuse and John Hawkins to direct the Lottery Commission all resulted in controversy to which the Sundlun administration had to respond in some fashion. The nature of the responses and, in many instances, the internal discussions which preceded them are documented in the records labeled found in this series.
The types of records include correspondence, memos, reports, copies of legislation, legislative briefing books, copies of the state budget, bond issues, Executive Orders, legal briefs, transcripts, and court decisions.
The records are arranged alphabetically by subject or type of record and chronologically within folders.
The Correspondence Series consists of the letters and correspondence between Governor Sundlun and the general public and government officials at the local, state, and national levels. The series has been divided into two sub-series: Constituent Correspondence and Government Officials Correspondence.
The Constituent Correspondence sub-series consists of correspondence between Sundlun and the general public. The most frequent topic of this correspondence is the state's banking crisis. Other frequent topics are the judiciary, ethics in government, appointments to positions in the Sundlun administration, and the so-called "revolving door legislation" which limited the ability of elected officials to accept employment with the state after leaving office. Among the more notable correspondents in this sub-series are M. Charles Bakst, the government affairs editor of the Providence Journal, controversial minister Wade Demers, and good government activist John Hazen White. This sub-series is arranged alphabetically by the name of the correspondent.
The Government Officials sub-series contains correspondence between Sundlun and a variety of local, state, federal, and national (other states) officials. Local officials with whom Sundlun corresponded included the mayors/town administrators of nearly all the towns and cities in Rhode Island. That correspondence is filed together under the general heading of "Mayors/Town Administrators" and arranged alphabetically by the name of the town or city. The one exception to this arrangement is the city of Providence whose mayor, Vincent A. Cianci, was a frequent correspondent of Sundlun. The Cianci - Sundlun correspondence is filed under the name of the mayor.
Among the state officials with whom Sundlun corresponded were his successor, Lincoln Almond, Lieutenant Governors Roger Begin and Robert Weygand, Attorneys General James O'Neill and Jeffrey Pine, and General Treasurers Anthony Solomon and Nancy Mayer.
Correspondences with these general officers are filed under the name of the officeholder. Correspondence with state legislators can be found under the headings of "Rhode Island State Representatives" and "Rhode Island State Senators" and alphabetically there under by the name of the legislator.
Federal officials with whom Sundlun corresponded include Presidents Jimmy Carter, George Bush, and Bill Clinton, Vice-President Albert Gore, Senators Claiborne Pell and John Chafee, and Representatives Ronald Machtley and Jack Reed. Other federal government correspondents are grouped together under the headings of "Federal Officials" or "White House" if they were members of the White House staff.
Sundlun also corresponded with the governors of other states, exchanging ideas on governance and/or discussing issues and problems of mutual interest and concern.
This correspondence is grouped together under the general heading of "Governors" and arranged alphabetically thereunder by the name of the state.
This series documents the activities of the governor's immediate staff. The people in these positions were appointed by the governor and answerable to him. Among those represented are Chiefs of Staff Joseph Agostinelli, David Cruise, and Edward Wood, Legal Counsels Sheldon Whitehouse, Judith Savage, and Elizabeth Myers, Constituent Affairs Director Katherine O'Hare, and Press Secretary Barbara Cottam.
Topics include ethics in government, legislation, legal issues affecting the state and the governor's office, constituent affairs, appointments to positions in state government, and the political process. The types of records include correspondence, memos, reports from the various units of the Executive Office, copies of legislation, legal opinions, and legal briefs.
The records in this series are significant in that they offer a glimpse into the inner workings of the governor's office and Sundlun's management style that is unavailable from any other source. They also provide insights into the kind of advice Sundlun sought and accepted, the people on whom he most heavily relied in his office, and the ways in which decisions affecting public policy were reached.
The records are arranged alphabetically by the name of the staff member creating them or to whom they were directed, and chronologically within folders. Each member of the Executive Office staff is also identified by the position/title which he or she held.
The records in this series document the interaction between the governor's office and the cabinet id="c565" level departments of state government. The following departments and offices are represented:
Topics covered are related to the responsibilities of the department. The Transportation Department files, for example, contains records relating to road and bridge construction, principally the Jamestown-Verrazano Bridge project and the Route 95 repaving project. State Police files contain records relating to law enforcement and State Police policy issues. The types of records include correspondence, memos, annual reports, issue report, legal briefs, transcripts, and copies of contracts.
They are arranged alphabetically by the name of the department and chronologically within folders.
The day before Bruce Sundlun was to take office as governor he learned that the Rhode Island Share and Depositors Insurance Corporation (RISDIC) was going into receivership. RISDIC provided depositor insurance for more than thirty banks, savings and loan institutions, and credit unions in the state. The failure of RISDIC meant that the funds deposited in those institutions were no longer insured. By state law the institutions could not continue to operate without insurance.
As a result, among Sundlun's first official acts as Governor on January 1, 1991, he ordered the immediate closing of the banking institutions insured by RISDIC. They were to remain closed until such time as they could obtain federal insurance from the Federal Depositors Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or the National Credit Union Association (NCUA). Until they could obtain federal insurance, the funds of depositors in those institutions were frozen and unavailable to the depositors. Many of the RISDIC insured institutions were able to obtain federal insurance very quickly and reopen in a matter of days. Others, including many of the largest institutions, were unable to do so.
This series documents the response of the Sundlun administration to the banking crisis resulting from the collapse of RISDIC. The principal response of the Sundlun Administration was the development, introduction, and passage of legislation entitled the depositors economic protection act. The legislation created a government corporation, the Depositors Economic Protection Corporation (DEPCO), to restore funds to depositors as quickly as possible. DEPCO worked with officials and depositors of closed institutions to assist them in obtaining federal insurance if possible or to assist them in finding other banking institutions willing to purchase and reopen the closed institutions. For those institutions for which neither options proved feasible, DEPCO was empowered to assume their assets and sell them in order to get funds to depositors as quickly as possible.
As governor, Sundlun served as the Chair of the DEPCO Board of Directors and assumed an active role in the management of the Corporation. The records in this series document that role and include correspondence, memos,reports,agenda and minutes of meetings, lists of outstanding loans from closed institutions, bank examination reports, case status reports, and property lists.
The records in this series are arranged alphabetically by subject or type of record and chronologically within folders.
This series contains copies of reports done by various agencies of state government during Sundlun's tenure. Some were completed at the behest of the governor, some are special reports designed to meet a specific need or respond to specific problem, and others are routine departmental reports completed in the normal course of business.
Among the most interesting of these reports is the multi-volume Transition Report to the Governor-elect done by department heads at Sundlun's direction to ease the transition for his successor, Lincoln Almond.
The report is a department-by-department analysis of accomplishments during the Sundlun administration, problems that remained to be addressed, and the goals and objectives of the departments for the future. The report provides a snapshot view of the status of the departments at the end of the Sundlun administration.
Other reports in this series analyze the state tax structure, provide a blueprint for education in the twenty-first century, assess the quality of health care in the state, address the issue of ethics in government, and report on the rate of motor vehicle theft in the state.
The reports are arranged alphabetically by the title of the report.
This series contains press releases issued to news outlets in the state by the governor's Press Office. The releases were designed to alert the media to an upcoming gubernatorial speech, visit, event, sponsorship of legislation, or any other activity of the governor deemed newsworthy and to ensure that the governor received press coverage for his activities.
The press releases are arranged chronologically by date.
The Chronological Files consist of copies of Governor Sundlun's outgoing letters arranged by date. Copies of most, if not all, of these letters may also be found in other series of this collection.
Governor's Sundlun's office subscribed to a newspaper clipping service. The service screened, clipped, and photocopied articles from local, state, and regional newspapers concerning politics, events, and significant/notorious people in Rhode Island. This series documents that effort.
The photocopied articles are arranged alphabetically by the subject of the article.
The Videotape Series contains VHS videotapes documenting aspects of the Sundlun administration. Included are press conferences, campaign appearances, "State of the State" addresses, Inaugural addresses, copies of local television newscasts, appearances on television by other state officials and political opponents, and copies of local programming such as public television's "A Lively Experiment," on which Sundlun appeared as a guest.
The tapes are arranged alphabetically by subject or tapes of the program. Twelve additional tapes were received after the initial accession, these tapes are located after the news channel broadcast tapes. Tapes of local news broadcasts of channels 6, 10, and 12 are grouped together by channel at the end of the collection.
The Audiotapes series contains audiotapes of Sundlun's public appearances including speeches, radio interviews, press conferences, campaign appearances, and appearances on radio programs such as "Ask the Governor." Also included are radio interviews with members of his cabinet, legislators, and political opponents.
The audiotapes are arranged alphabetically by the title of the program or by the name of the person being interviewed.