Citation: Rice, M.A. (2011). Out-of-this-world leadership. Commentary South County Independent p, A8. 28 July 2011.

Note: This was published in the print version of the South County Independent but did not appear on their web site.

Independent View
Bruce Sundlun: Out-of-this-World Leadership

By Michael A. Rice

Last Sunday I had the distinct privilege to attend the funeral of Governor Bruce Sundlun at Temple Beth-El in Providence along with several my colleagues and friends from the university and former colleagues from the General Assembly. Over the last 16 years since he left office as governor, he has been teaching and using his office as Governor in Residence at URI as his base of operations to maintain his active participation in civic affairs around the state. Bruce was a regular fixture around campus and the University Club, and regaled students and fellow faculty with the real life tales of escaping Nazis in Belgium and France, rescuing the foundering Executive Jet Corporation from certain bankruptcy in the early 1970s, the inside details about some interesting national luminaries as CIA Director Allen Dulles, Air Force General Curtis LeMay, US Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, entertainer Lena Horne, Senator Patrick McCarran, Happy Rockefeller and even Madame Chang Kai-shek among many others.

In the vestibule of Temple Beth-El, a sampling of Bruce’s memorabilia from Bruce’s home and office was put on display including the ripcord pin of his parachute, pictures with various U.S. Presidents, various awards and trophies, and a simple framed Western Union Telegram from President John F. Kennedy announcing Bruce’s appointment to be a founding director of the Communications Satellite Corporation or COMSAT, a directorship that he held for 30 years. This little document is testimony to one of Bruce’s lesser publicized achievements.

Today we take for granted that we are able to watch on live television from London showing Wendy Deng Murdoch fending off a cream pie warrior with her ninja-swift reflexes, but there was a time not long ago prior to COMSAT that a simple 5-minute telephone call across the trans-Atlantic cables was a rare and costly proposition for ordinary Americans. As a director of COMSAT, Bruce was right in the thick of the transformation of global communications to what it is today. COMSAT was conceived by Kennedy in 1962 to jump start the commercial utilization of outer space through a government-business partnership. COMSAT, through its subsidiary the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (INTELSAT) allowed international governmental ownership of communications satellites and open access to member nations at a time when satellites were seen as an extremely risky proposition for any private business to undertake alone. Intelsat I, launched in April 1965 by COMSAT, was the first geostationary communications satellite (with orbital speeds matching the rate of earth’s spin to allow the satellite to remain in a fixed spot over earth) and precursor to the many commercial satellites to follow. Of course once the network was fully established, the U.S. government divested in COMSAT in 1998. Arguably, COMSAT contributed more to the bottom-line of US business more than Kennedy’s manned space flight programs ever did, but I never-the-less find it ironic that the day of Bruce’s death July 21, 2011, was also the day of the final landing of America’s space shuttle program.

Today, we often hear the mantra of “government does not create jobs, businesses do.” But back in 1962 when business concern for short-term bottom line was a hindrance to the greater public good of a global communications superhighway, Bruce was right there to help coordinate and build it. Bruce provides a good example of what happens when one of the “best and brightest” actually do choose to engage public service, build partnerships with business, and have a long-term vision for future. Our difficult economic challenges of today are no less solvable than they were in the early 1960s if we choose to follow in Bruce’s footsteps of leadership, pragmatism and vision for a brighter future.

Michael A. Rice is a professor at the University of Rhode Island and former state representative from South Kingstown.