John H. Sununu

John Henry Sununu, PhD (born July 2, 1939 in Havana, Cuba) is a former Governor of New Hampshire (1983-89) and former White House Chief of Staff under President George H. W. Bush.
Contents
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* 1 Early life
* 2 Governor
* 3 White House Chief of Staff
* 4 Political positions
* 5 Later life
* 6 Controversies
* 7 Trivia
* 8 References

[edit] Early life

Sununu was born in Havana, Cuba to Victoria Dada and John Saleh Sununu, an international film distributor.[1] He is Roman Catholic and has Lebanese and Spanish heritage.

He earned a BS in 1961, a Master's degree in 1963, and a Ph.D. in 1966 from MIT, all in mechanical engineering. Sununu is a member of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity.

From 1968 until 1973, he was Associate Dean of the College of Engineering at Tufts University and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He served on the Advisory Board of the Technology and Policy Program at MIT from 1984 until 1989.

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.

[edit] Governor

Sununu became New Hampshire's 85th Governor on January 6, 1983, and served three consecutive terms. He served as chairman of the Coalition of Northeastern Governors, the Republican Governors Association and, in 1987, the National Governors Association.

[edit] White House Chief of Staff

Sununu provided critical assistance to George H. W. Bush during the New Hampshire primary by advising him to emphasize his ill-fated "no new taxes" pledge.[2]

Sununu was the first White House Chief of Staff for Bush, serving from 1989 to 1991. He made many enemies from both within and outside the administration and the Republican Party. (see below) Sununu is responsible for recommending David Souter to president George H. W. Bush for appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States.

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

[edit] Political positions

Sununu holds deeply conservative economic and social views[2] and as an engineer, he supports the expansion of nuclear energy. He is fiercely against the imposition of new taxes.[2]

[edit] Later life

Sununu is President of JHS Associates, Ltd. and is a partner in Trinity International Partners, a private financial firm.

Sununu is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a member of the Board of Trustees for the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation. He is married to the former Nancy Hayes, and they have eight children, including U.S. Senator John E. Sununu.

He recently moved to Hampton Falls, New Hampshire. He and his wife were subsequently elected as the town's honorary hog reeves and poundkeepers.[3]
Governor John H. Sununu
Governor John H. Sununu

[edit] Controversies

Sununu angered some when he was the only governor of a U.S. state not to call for repeal of the extremely 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.[2] Sununu is of partial Palestinian and Lebanese descent.

Sununu resigned as White House Chief of Staff on December 3, 1991, effective December 15, 1991.[4] His resignation is chiefly blamed on a controversy involving his personal use of government military aircraft,[5] a scandal which was termed "Air Sununu".[6] Sununu reportedly took personal trips, for skiiing and other purposes, and classified them as official, for purposes such as conservation or promoting the Thousand Points of Light.[6] 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."[citation needed] Sununu had paid the government only $892 for his more than $615,000 worth of military jet travel.[7] 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.[8] Sununu became the subject of much late-night television humor over the incident.[8] 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.[8] Sununu then sent the car and driver back to Washington unoccupied while he returned on a corporate jet.[8] In the course of one week, 45 newspapers ran editorials on Sununu, nearly all of them critical of his actions.[9]

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.[5] 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.[10]

However, other sources claim that Sununu's departure was related to the president's declining approval ratings[11], or George W. Bush's belief that Sununu did not have his father's best interests at heart.[12].

[edit] Trivia

The 1991 police comedy film The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear features Sununu who is played by Peter Van Norden.

[edit] References

1. ^ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~battle/senators/sununu.htm
2. ^ a b c d Duffy, Michael (1988-11-28). The Markets Vote. TIME.
3. ^ Morse, Susan. "From governor to hog reeve". Portsmouth Herald. March 25, 2007
4. ^ http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=20294
5. ^ a b http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2004/06/01/colin/index.html?pn=2
6. ^ a b "Air Sununu Grounded", Washington Post, 1991-05-10.
7. ^ "The control tower takes over Air Sununu.", US News & World Report, 1991-05-20.
8. ^ Cite error 8; No text given.
9. ^ "Too Much Sununu News?; Post Said to Ignore Democrats' Abuses", Washington Post, 1991-06-28.
10. ^ "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, 1991-05-06.
11. ^ http://www.slate.com/id/2128748/
12. ^ http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A76395