John H. Sununu

John H. Sununu
Chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party
In office
January 17, 2009 – January 22, 2011
Preceded by Fergus Cullen
Succeeded by Jack Kimball
14th White House Chief of Staff
In office
January 20, 1989 – December 15, 1991
President George H. W. Bush
Preceded by Ken Duberstein
Succeeded by Samuel K. Skinner
75th Governor of New Hampshire
In office
January 6, 1983 – January 4, 1989
Preceded by Vesta M. Roy (Acting)
Succeeded by Judd Gregg
Chair of the National Governors Association
In office
July 28, 1987 – August 9, 1988
Preceded by Bill Clinton
Succeeded by Gerald Baliles
Personal details
Born John Henry Sununu
(1939-07-02) July 2, 1939
Havana, Cuba
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Nancy Hayes
Children 8, including John and Chris
Education Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS, MS, PhD)

John Henry Sununu (born July 2, 1939) is an American politician who served as the 75th Governor of New Hampshire (1983–89) and later White House Chief of Staff under President George H. W. Bush. He is the father of John E. Sununu, the former United States Senator from New Hampshire, and Christopher Sununu, the governor of New Hampshire. Sununu was the chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party from 2009 to 2011.

Early life

Sununu was born in Havana, Cuba, the son of Victoria (née Dada) and John Saleh Sununu, an international film distributor.[1] His father's family came to the United States from the Middle East at the turn of the twentieth century. His ancestry is Lebanese and Palestinian[2] from the Greek Orthodox Church community in Jerusalem and Beirut. His father, John, was born in Boston. Sununu's mother, Victoria Dada, was born in El Salvador. Her family was Greek Orthodox Christian from Lebanon and settled in Central America at the turn of the twentieth century. Sununu last visited Beirut as a child in the late 1940s.[3]

He earned a bachelor of science degree in 1961, a master of science degree in 1963, and a Ph.D. in 1966 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all in mechanical engineering.[4] He is a member of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity.

From 1966 to 1982, he taught at Tufts University, where he served as an associate professor of mechanical engineering. He was the associate dean of the University's College of Engineering from 1968 to 1973.[4] As of 1988, Sununu retained his title and family tuition benefits from Tufts during an "extremely rare" unpaid six-year leave of absence that coincided with his governorship.[5] He served on the Advisory Board of the Technology and Policy Program at MIT from 1984 until 1989.[4]

A Republican, Sununu served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives from 1973 to 1975.[6]

Governor

Sununu became New Hampshire's 75th Governor on January 6, 1983, and served three consecutive terms. He was the first Arab-American Governor of New Hampshire. Sununu served as chairman of the Coalition of Northeastern Governors, the Republican Governors Association and, in 1987, the National Governors Association.

Sununu angered some when he was the only governor of a U.S. state not to call for repeal of the controversial UN General Assembly Resolution 3379 ("Zionism is racism"). He later reversed his position on this issue and supported the Republicans' pro-Israel 1988 platform.[7]

White House Chief of Staff

Sununu was the first White House Chief of Staff for George H. W. Bush, serving from 1989 to 1991. Time magazine dubbed him "Bush's Bad Cop" on the front cover on May 21, 1990.[8]

Sununu is considered to have engineered Bush's mid-term abandonment of his 1988 campaign promise of "no new taxes".[9] In his report Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change, Nathaniel Rich wrote that in November 1989 Sununu prevented the signing of a 67-nation commitment to freeze carbon dioxide emissions, with a reduction of 20 percent by 2005, and singled him out as a force starting coordinated efforts to bewilder the public on the topic of global warming and changing it from an urgent, nonpartisan and unimpeachable issue to a political one.[10]

Sununu is responsible for recommending David Souter of New Hampshire to President George H. W. Bush for appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States, at the behest of his close friend, then-U.S. Senator and fellow New Hampshirite Warren Rudman. The Wall Street Journal described the events leading up to the appointment of the "liberal jurist" in a 2000 editorial, saying Rudman in his "Yankee Republican liberalism" took "pride in recounting how he sold Mr. Souter to gullible White House chief of staff John Sununu as a confirmable conservative. Then they both sold the judge to President Bush, who wanted above all else to avoid a confirmation battle [after Robert Bork]."[11] Rudman wrote in his memoir that he had "suspected all along" that Souter would not "overturn activist liberal precedents."[12] Sununu later said that he had "a lot of disappointment" about Souter's positions on the Court and would have preferred him to be more similar to Justice Antonin Scalia.[12]

President Bush speaks on the telephone regarding Operation Just Cause with Sununu and Brent Scowcroft, 1989.

At the recommendation of George W. Bush,[13] Sununu resigned his White House post on December 4, 1991.[14][15] He remained at the White House as Counselor to the President until March 1, 1992.[16]

Expenses controversy

As White House Chief of Staff, Sununu reportedly took personal trips, for skiing and other purposes, and classified them as official, for purposes such as conservation or promoting the Thousand Points of Light.[17] The Washington Post wrote that Sununu's jets "took him to fat-cat Republican fund-raisers, ski lodges, golf resorts and even his dentist in Boston."[17] Sununu had paid the government only $892 for his more than $615,000 worth of military jet travel.[18] Sununu said that his use of the jets was necessary because he had to be near a telephone at all times for reasons of national security.[19] Sununu became the subject of much late-night television humor over the incident.[17] Sununu worsened the situation shortly afterwards when, after leaking rumors of financial difficulties in his family, he traveled to a rare stamp auction at Christie's auction house in New York City from Washington in a government limousine, spending $5,000 on rare stamps.[20] Sununu then sent the car and driver back to Washington unoccupied while he returned on a corporate jet.[20] In the course of one week, 45 newspapers ran editorials on Sununu, nearly all of them critical of his actions.[21] Sununu resigned his White House post on December 4, 1991. Sununu repaid over $47,000 to the government for the flights on the orders of White House counsel C. Boyden Gray, with the help of the Republican Party.[22] However, the reimbursements were at commercial rates, which are about one-tenth the cost of the actual flights; one ski trip to Vail, Colorado alone had cost taxpayers $86,330.[23]

Other activities

Sununu co-hosted CNN's nightly Crossfire from March 1992 until February 1998.

From 1963 until 1983, he served as President of JHS Engineering Company and Thermal Research Inc. In addition, he helped establish and served as chief engineer for Astro Dynamics Inc. from 1960 until 1965.

Sununu is President of JHS Associates, Ltd. and is a partner in Trinity International Partners, a private financial firm. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a member of the Board of Trustees for the George (H.W.) Bush Presidential Library Foundation. He is also a member of Honorary Council of Advisors for U.S.-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (USACC).[24]

Personal life

Sununu in 2015

He is married to the former Nancy Hayes, and they have eight children, including former U.S. Senator John E. Sununu and Chris Sununu, formerly a member of the New Hampshire Executive Council and currently the Governor of New Hampshire. In recent years, he moved from Salem, New Hampshire to Hampton Falls, New Hampshire to be closer to relatives. He and his wife were subsequently elected as the town's honorary hog reeves and poundkeepers.[25] The title is usually given to an unsuspecting newcomer each year.

Sununu's daughter Cathy is the president of the Portsmouth Museum of Art in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.[26]

In the 1991 police comedy film The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, Sununu is played by Peter Van Norden.[27]

In January 1995, John Sununu made a cameo appearance on the first episode of the Delta Burke CBS sitcom, Women of the House, titled "Miss Sugarbaker Goes to Washington". In the episode, Suzanne Sugarbaker is a guest on the CNN political program, Crossfire. Michael Kinsley also appears.

In the 1996 film Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, a clip (from This Island Earth) of a jet plane prompts Tom Servo to quip, "John Sununu goes for a haircut."

Political endorsements

After the first presidential debate, on September 26, 2016, Sununu endorsed Donald J. Trump for President of the United States.[28] Earlier, he had called Trump "dumb," "a loser" and "a political chameleon".[29]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1
  2. ↑ "Remarks by Senator John Sununu at ATFP Inaugural Gala". ATFP. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Behind the Sununu Surname". The New York Times. November 21, 1988. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 "New Hampshire Governor John H. Sununu". National Governors Association. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  5. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/28/us/sununu-keeps-link-to-tufts-6-years-after-quitting-faculty.html
  6. ↑ Pichirallo, Joe; Rezendes, Michael (March 12, 1989). "THE FORCEFUL STYLE OF JOHN SUNUNU". Washington Post. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  7. ↑ Duffy, Michael; Goodgame, Dan (November 28, 1988). "The Markets Vote". TIME.
  8. ↑ "Bush's Bad Cop"
  9. ↑ York, Byron (December 10, 2011). "Read-my-lips feud returns in Romney-Gingrich fight". washingtonexaminer.com. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  10. ↑ Nathaniel Rich (1 August 2018). "Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  11. ↑ "Chief Justice Souter?". Wall Street Journal. February 29, 2000. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  12. 1 2 Tinsley E. Yarbrough (2005). "David Hackett Souter: Traditional Republican on the Rehnquist Court". Oxford University Press. Retrieved June 27, 2008.
  13. ↑ Bush, George W. (2010). Decision Points. Crown. pp. 81–82. ISBN 978-0-307-59061-9.
  14. ↑ NY Times (xx 1991) "Sununu as Symbol; Departure of Embattled Chief of Staff Removes Convenient Target of Critics"
  15. ↑ Rosenthal, Andrew (December 4, 1991). "SUNUNU RESIGNS UNDER FIRE AS CHIEF AIDE TO PRESIDENT; CITES FEAR OF HURTING BUSH". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  16. ↑ SUNUNU RESIGNS UNDER FIRE AS CHIEF AIDE TO PRESIDENT; CITES FEAR OF HURTING BUSH
  17. 1 2 3 "Air Sununu Grounded". Washington Post. May 10, 1991.
  18. ↑ "The control tower takes over Air Sununu". US News & World Report. May 20, 1991.
  19. ↑ Rosenthal, Andrew (23 April 1991). "Sununu Travel Records to Be Opened". The New York Times. Retrieved 16:49, Friday, October 19, 2018 (UTC). Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  20. 1 2 Duffy, Michael (1 July 1991). "The White House: A Bad Case of the Perks". Time. Retrieved 16:49, Friday, October 19, 2018 (UTC). Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  21. ↑ "Too Much Sununu News?; Post Said to Ignore Democrats' Abuses". Washington Post. June 28, 1991.
  22. ↑ "My so-called famous classmate". Salon. 1 June 2004. Retrieved 16:49, Friday, October 19, 2018 (UTC). Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  23. ↑ "The flights of Air Sununu; the White House chief of staff mixed politics and playtime on some of his 'official' trips. (John Sununu)". US News & World Report. May 6, 1991.
  24. ↑ "USACC. Brent Scowcroft". Archived from the original on April 11, 2009. Retrieved April 22, 2010.
  25. ↑ Morse, Susan. "From governor to hog reeve". Portsmouth Herald. March 25, 2007
  26. ↑ McQuaid, Cate (July 2, 2010). "On the waterfront New Hampshire museum's dazzling if uneven exhibit is a sprawling take on contemporary art, 'At the Edge'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved July 2, 2010.
  27. ↑ The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear on IMDb
  28. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 1, 2016. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  29. ↑ Barrick, Dan (September 27, 2016). "After Calling Trump 'Dumb,' 'Loser' and 'Phony,' Sununu Now Backs GOP Nominee". NHPR. New Hampshire. Retrieved September 27, 2016.

Media related to John H. Sununu at Wikimedia Commons

Party political offices
Preceded by
Meldrim Thomson Jr.		 Republican nominee for Governor of New Hampshire
1982, 1984, 1986		 Succeeded by
Judd Gregg
Preceded by
Dick Thornburgh		 Chair of the Republican Governors Association
1985–1986		 Succeeded by
Tom Kean
Preceded by
Fergus Cullen		 Chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party
2009–2011		 Succeeded by
Jack Kimbal
Political offices
Preceded by
Vesta M. Roy
Acting		 Governor of New Hampshire
1983–1989		 Succeeded by
Judd Gregg
Preceded by
Bill Clinton		 Chair of the National Governors Association
1987–1988		 Succeeded by
Gerald L. Baliles
Preceded by
Ken Duberstein		 White House Chief of Staff
1989–1992		 Succeeded by
Samuel K. Skinner
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