Governor of Rhode Island
Pastore was elected Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island in 1944. On October 6, 1945, he succeeded to the office of Governor of Rhode Island when Governor J. Howard McGrath resigned to become U.S. Solicitor General under President Harry S. Truman. During his first year in office, he established a one-percent sales tax.
In 1946, Pastore was elected to a full term as governor after defeating his Republican opponent, John G. Murphy, by a margin of 54%-46%. With his victory, he became the first Italian American to be elected a governor in the United States; Charles Poletti, who served as Governor of New York in December 1942, also succeeded to office but never sought election in his own right. He was re-elected in 1948, defeating Warwick mayor Albert P. Ruerat by 61%-38%. During his tenure, he enacted the state's first primary election law and corporate income tax. He also created a program to combat water pollution and a $20 million bonus for World War II veterans. As chairman of the New England Governors' Conference, he called for a uniform nationwide unemployment insurance tax, either through "federalization of the program or some form of federal reinsurance."
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