Thomas Francis Eagleton was an American lawyer, politician and author. He was a United States senator from Missouri, serving from 1968 to 1987.
Background
Ethnicity:
Thomas Francis Eagleton's paternal grandparents were Irish immigrants, and his mother had Swedish, Irish, French, and Austrian ancestry.
Thomas Francis Eagleton was born on September 4, 1929 in St. Louis, St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. He was a son of Mark David Eagleton and Zitta Louise Eagleton.
Education
Thomas Francis Eagleton graduated from St. Louis Country Day School (now Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School) in 1946. In 1950 Eagleton received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College. In 1953 he obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from Harvard Law School.
After graduating from law school, Thomas Francis Eagleton entered private law practice in St. Louis with his father. He later became associated with the legal department of Anheuser-Busch. Eagleton was assistant general counsel to the Anheuser-Busch company and then was elected circuit attorney in St. Louis in 1956. Elected attorney general of Missouri in 1961, he then served as lieutenant governor of his state from 1965 to 1968. Eagleton won the United States Senate race in 1968 on the Democratic ticket and was serving in Washington when presidential hopeful George McGovern asked him to be his running mate.
Eagleton was not actually McGovern's first choice, but Senator Edward Kennedy had turned down the invitation. The honor would be short-lived for Eagleton, however, who came under media scrutiny. It was discovered that he had undergone psychological treatment for clinical depression on more than one occasion. McGovern initially stood behind his choice of running mate, but only eighteen days after tapping Eagleton he asked the senator to step aside and replaced him with R. Sargent Shriver. In spite of that decision, Eagleton was easily reelected to office in 1974 and remained in the Senate until he decided to retire from office in 1986.
During his three terms in the Senate, Eagleton served on the following committees: Appropriations Committee, Select Committee on Intelligence, Truman Scholarship Foundation, Governmental Affairs Committee, Foreign Relations Committee, Select Committee on Ethics, Labor and Human Resources Committee, Public Works Committee, Labor and Public Welfare Committee, District of Columbia Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, National Capital Planning Commission, Temporary Commission on Financial Oversight of the District of Columbia, Special Committee on Aging, and National Visitor Facilities Advisory Commission.
Thomas Eagleton retired from the United States Senate in January of 1987. He returned to Missouri and accepted a partnership with the St. Louis law firm of Thompson & Mitchell (now Thompson Coburn LLP). Eagleton also became a University Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science at Washington University where he taught courses in public policy and legislative politics. He was writing a memoir about his years in the Senate at the time of his death.
Thomas Eagleton died on March 4, 2007, of heart and respiratory complications. He donated his body to medical science at Washington University.
(This book presents the Constitution of the United States ...)
1987
Religion
A Roman Catholic, Thomas Francis Eagleton criticized the church’s veer to the right, in which "we seem to have merged God’s power into political power."
Politics
Thomas Francis Eagleton was a member of Democratic Party. In the Senate, Eagleton was active in matters dealing with foreign relations, intelligence, defense, education, health care, and the environment. He was instrumental to the Senate's passage of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, and sponsored the amendment that halted the bombing in Cambodia and effectively ended American involvement in the Vietnam War.
Personality
Thomas Francis Eagleton was remembered for his hearty belly laugh, his eccentricity and sense of humor, his generosity, and the courage to take an unpopular stand.
Physical Characteristics:
Thomas Francis Eagleton suffered from bouts of depression throughout his life, resulting in several hospitalizations, which were kept secret from the public.
Connections
On January 20, 1956 Thomas Francis Eagleton married Barbara Ann Smith. They had two children: Terence, Christin.