William Bulger

William Michael Bulger (born February 2, 1934) is an American former Democratic politician, lawyer, and educator from South Boston, Massachusetts. His eighteen-year tenure as President of the Massachusetts Senate is the longest in history. After leaving office, he became president of the University of Massachusetts.

Bulger came from Old Harbor Village Housing Development (now more commonly known as the Mary Ellen McCormick Housing Development). He graduated from Boston College High School in 1952, then from Boston College in Classics, then from Boston College Law School.

Bulger was the younger brother of the convicted mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger, who led the Winter Hill Gang, and he received harsh criticism for refusing to distance himself from his brother, who was convicted of participating in 11 murders and sentenced to life in prison, or to cooperate with authorities after he became a fugitive. He was forced to resign from the presidency of the University of Massachusetts. Bulger went on to teach as a visiting scholar at Suffolk University, but has since removed himself from public life.

Early life

William Bulger's father, James Joseph Bulger Sr., was from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland. After settling in Everett, Massachusetts, James Sr. married Jane Veronica "Jean" McCarthy, a first-generation Irish immigrant. William Bulger was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and is the third of six children in the family, and younger brother of former mob boss James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger Jr. (1929–2018).

Bulger's father worked as a union laborer and occasional longshoreman; he lost his arm in an industrial accident and the family was reduced to poverty. In May 1938, when Bulger was four years old, the family moved to South Boston's Old Harbor Village housing project, soon after it opened. He grew up there and has maintained lifelong friendships with many of those who were his former neighbors, including best friend, Korean War Marine P.O.W. and Purple Heart recipient Fred L. Toomey. The late Congressman Joe Moakley (1927–2001) was also a close childhood neighbor. Although the Bulger family was poor, William matriculated into Boston College High School. He enrolled at Boston College in 1952, but his undergraduate career was interrupted when he joined the United States Army. He served from September 1953 to November 1955, then returned to Boston College, completing his undergraduate degree in English Literature with the help of the G.I. Bill. He attended Boston College Law School, from which he received his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree in 1961. After Joseph DiCarlo's conviction for extortion in 1977, Bulger succeeded him as Senate Majority Leader. Bulger was elected President of the Massachusetts State Senate in 1978 and was re-elected every two years through 1996, making his time as State Senate president the longest tenure in Massachusetts history.

Like other Massachusetts politicians who were elected leaders of their legislative chambers, Bulger was frequently pilloried in the media, but remained very popular in his district. He won his district election every two years from 1961 to 1994 without ever facing a serious challenger other than in the Democratic primary in 1988, when Stephen Holt, a neophyte liberal activist and bookstore owner from Dorchester, won 31 out of 60 precincts, only to lose by a landslide due to the huge turnout of Bulger supporters in South Boston.

Bulger appeared in Primary Motive as Senator William Bulger.

For many years, Bulger hosted the annual St. Patrick's Day Breakfast in South Boston; it is a "roast" of politicians.

During the 1960s, Bulger led efforts to write the first child abuse reporting laws in the state. He was supportive of environmental protection legislation.

Bulger was among the first advocates of charter schools and public school choice. During the 1980s, he advocated funding of public libraries, the expansion of childhood nutrition services and fuel assistance programs. As Senate president, Bulger led the debate on welfare reform in the early 1990s, with the resulting legislation becoming the model for a national law.

President of the University of Massachusetts system

Bulger was appointed president of the University of Massachusetts by the board of trustees on November 28, 1995. His candidacy for the UMass position was supported by Governor William Weld. The appointment was controversial in academic circles, as Bulger had no prior experience in higher education, and lacked the academic doctoral degree usually required for the presidency of a major state university system.

On August 6, 2003, Bulger announced that he would resign as president of the system effective September 1, 2003. His resignation came due to pressure from Governor Mitt Romney after Bulger had refused to cooperate with authorities who were searching for Bulger's brother, the notorious mobster James "Whitey" Bulger.

Extortion investigation

In 1989, a close associate of Bulger, Thomas Finnerty, was accused of extorting $500,000 from a real estate developer, Harold Brown. Bulger received $240,000 of the payment. Both men maintained that it was a loan from Brown. After an investigation by U.S. Attorney Jeremiah O'Sullivan, no charges against Bulger were pressed. However, it has been asserted by reporter Dick Lehr and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz that O’Sullivan may have had a Conflict of interest regarding his decision not to prosecute Bulger since he was aware that his brother Whitey Bulger was an FBI informant and was supportive of Bulger's efforts which helped O’Sullivan prosecute the mafia.

Whitey Bulger controversy

Bulger's older brother James "Whitey" Bulger Jr., was a convicted crime boss and multiple murderer and the former boss of the Winter Hill Gang. Whitey was a fugitive from 1995 until his arrest in June 2011. William Bulger lived next door to a house owned by one of his brother's associates, "where the gang hatched plots, stored an arsenal of weapons and even committed murder."</blockquote> When asked why he didn't urge Whitey to turn himself in, William replied that he didn't feel it was in his brother's best interest to give himself up at the time.

After invoking the Fifth Amendment when called to testify in 2002 before a Congressional committee investigating his brother's corrupt relationship with the FBI, Asked what he thought his brother did for a living, William Bulger said:

<blockquote>I had the feeling that he was in the business of gaming and ... whatever. It was vague to me but I didn't think, for a long while he had some jobs but ultimately it was clear that he was not being, you know, he wasn't doing what I'd like him to do. Months later, the committee report found Bulger's testimony "inconsistent" about whether the FBI had contacted him in the search for his fugitive brother.

The New York Times reported in 2013, after Whitey Bulger was convicted of murder, that William Bulger's attitude toward his brother led to unfavorable comparisons with the brother of the Unabomber, who provided authorities with information leading to the apprehension of Ted Kaczynski, who subsequently was convicted in the bombings. The Times concluded that "by contrast, it is hard to imagine what, if anything, would ever make Mr. Bulger turn on his brother."

Biographical works

Bulger, William M. While the Music Lasts: My Life in Politics. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. .
Bulger, William M. James Michael Curley: A Short Biography with Personal Reminiscences by William M. Bulger. Beverly, Massachusetts: Commonwealth Editions, 2009. .
Burke, John J. A Profile in Political Power, a 2010 documentary produced by JAMAR Productions, highlights the political career of William M. Bulger.

References

External links

Gitell, Seth. "Bulger's Denouement." Boston Phoenix December 12, 2002.
Billy Bulger at Howie Carrs website of the book "The Brothers Bulger"
60 Minutes segment about Bulger, aired in 1992