Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame

The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame == Officers ==

The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame is managed by a president, vice president, recording secretary, corresponding secretary, and treasurer, with an active board of about twenty members, who serve as the electors to the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame. They receive formal, written nominations from the general public. ==Inductees==

Nearly 800 men and women have been inducted into the hall of fame, including Native Americans from the earliest days of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. In 2023, the organization announced its intent to induct Michael Flynn, the retired U.S. army lieutenant general and U.S. national security advisor under Donald Trump's first presidency. Flynn plead guilty in 2017 to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about conversations with the Russian ambassador and later promoted claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. Eight board members resigned from the organization and the state's congressional delegates and statewide elected executive officials stated that they would not attend Flynn's induction in the 2024 class. Patrick Conley, the organization's "volunteer general counsel", stood by the organization's decision but said it would delay the induction because it was "poor timing to honor General Flynn in this turbulent and politically charged environment." ==Publications==

• Patrick T. Conley and Manuel Gorriaran, Eminent Rhode Islanders: Biographical Profiles of the Inductees to the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame, 1965-2000 (Providence: [The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in conjunction with the Rhode Island Publications Society, 2001]). • Patrick T. Conley, ''Rhode Island's Founders: From Settlement to Statehood''. (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2010) • Patrick T. Conley, The Makers of Modern Rhode Island [1790-1860]. (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2012) • Patrick T. Conley, ''The Leaders of Rhode Island's Golden Age [1861-1900]''. (The History Press, 2019) ==See also==