The Witnesses Will Not Be Silenced — PETER PELLARIN

PETER PELLARIN, U.S. Congressman, retired

Peter “Pete” Pellarin (b. 1934) ran for public office first in 1968 when he was elected to the Boston City Council. Pellarin ran a campaign in which he aggressively targeted the Boston Corporation Counsel’s office for what Pellarin felt was the over-zealous prosecution of his father on charges of tax fraud related to the family’s used car dealership. Rumors surrounding Pellarin’s personal life contributed to his failure to be reelected to the City Council, after which Pellarin ran for – and won – a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the Massachusetts 9th congressional district.

Personally appointed by President Richard Nixon to lead the eponymous commission that would investigate the Apollo 18 accident, Pellarin delivered a report that largely exonerated command module pilot Barton Cunningham from responsibility for the outcome of the mission. Now retired from his lobbying firm, Pellarin lives with his wife in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and remains a controversial figure in the Apollo 18 story.