PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Eighty years ago, John Pastore was inaugurated as Rhode Island's governor, becoming the nation's first Italian American to hold that office. He would soon make history again as the country's first Italian American U.S. senator.

Now, Providence College has digitized over 100 rare films from its extensive Pastore archives, including a campaign commercial that then-U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy made for Pastore two years before his election as president.

Pastore served Rhode Island for three decades before retiring in 1976. He died in 2000 at age 93.

In the video above, 12 News Politics Editor Ted Nesi takes you inside the Providence College Archives' preservation effort and shares rare footage from Pastore's long career.

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