[2] His father, a tailor who had moved from Potenza to the United States in 1899, died when John was nine, and his mother went to work as a seamstress to support the family.

[2] As a child, Pastore worked delivering coats and suits for his uncle/stepfather, as an errand boy in a law office, and as a foot-press operator in a jewelry factory.

[2] Pastore graduated with honors from Classical High School in 1925, and spent a year working a $15-a-week job as a claims adjuster for the Narragansett Electric Company.

[2] He served as an assistant attorney general from 1937 until 1938, when he lost that position after the Republican Party swept several statewide offices.

[5] When the Democratic Party returned to power in 1940, Pastore was appointed assistant attorney general in charge of the criminal calendar, serving in that position until 1944.

[6] 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%.

[1] In 1964 Pastore delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, which nominated Lyndon B. Johnson for the presidency.

[1] Pastore won his final senate race in 1970 by a 68%–32% margin over John McLaughlin, a Catholic priest who at the time supported the Vietnam War.

He is well remembered for taking part in a 1969 hearing involving a $20 million grant for the funding of PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting proposed by former President Lyndon Johnson.

President Richard Nixon wanted to cut the proposed funding to $10 million due to the demands of the Vietnam War.

The late Ted Kennedy eulogized: "My brother Jack had thought the world of him...John had a great heart.