Dr. Larry Spinelli has worn numerous hats in and around politics...Hill staffer, senior positions in the federal bureaucracy, political science professor, historian and author. His new book is Watergate's Unexpected Hero, about the life of the incredibly impactful New Jersey Democratic Congressman Peter Rodino - to whom Spinelli was a staffer and friend for 30+ years. Rodino's 40-year career in the House spanned from Truman to Reagan as he played important roles on labor policy, landmark civil rights legislation, attempting to hold back the tide of 80s conservatism...but most notably, as Chair of the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate crisis and Nixon impeachment hearings. In this role, the previously low-profile Rodino led the hearings watched daily by 80 million Americans amidst the greatest constitutional turning point since the Civil War. In this conversation, Dr. Spinelli talks his own connection to Rep. Rodino - and the 50+ year career of the legendary congressman who found himself at the center of a national crisis and ultimately became one of the most prominent and respected members of Congress of the past century.

IN THIS EPISODE

How Larry's use of Machivellian high-school politics led him to first meet Peter Rodino in the late 1960s..

How the Rodino family first came to the U.S. from Italy and located in Newark NJ...

The anti-Italian discrimination the Rodinos faced and how a young Peter Rodino fought back...

 
How Peter Rodino first gets his foot in the door in local politics in the 1930s...

How his WWII service and a controversial anti-labor bill set the stage for him to come to Congress in 1948...

Just weeks into his first term, Rodino bucks the seniority system and takes on a racist, autocratic committee chair...

Peter Rodino's often under-realized impact on the landmark civil rights legislation of the mid 1960s...

The two unexpected elections that made Peter Rodino Chair of the House Judiciary Committee in 1973 and thrust him into the spotlight as the Watergate scandal grew...

The steps Rodino took to ensure bipartisan cooperation and effectiveness out of the House Impeachment Committee...

The liberal member of the Committee who worked against Rodino behind the scenes...

What Rodino believed was on the infamous, missing "18 minute gap" in the Nixon White House tapes...

Rodino's view Gerald Ford's controversial pardon of Richard Nixon...

Rodino's stature as a popular, national-figure after the Watergate hearings...

How close did Rodino come to being Jimmy Carter's VP nominee in 1976...

How Rodino held on to a changing Newark, NJ district as it moved from majority Italian-American to majority Black...

Peter Rodino's final 15+ years after leaving the House in early 1989...

Is Peter Rodino the most influential Italian-American political figure in American history...