1. Thomas Francis Eagleton was an American lawyer who served as a United States senator from Missouri from 1968 to 1987.
31 Facts About Thomas Eagleton
1. 2.
Thomas Eagleton was briefly the Democratic vice presidential nominee under George McGovern in 1972.
3.
Thomas Eagleton suffered from bouts of depression throughout his life, resulting in several hospitalizations, which were kept secret from the public.
4.
Thomas Eagleton later became adjunct professor of public affairs at Washington University in St Louis.
5.
Thomas Eagleton graduated from St Louis Country Day School, served in the US Navy for two years, and graduated in 1950 from Amherst College, where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
6.
Thomas Eagleton married Barbara Ann Smith of St Louis on January 26,1956.
7.
Thomas Eagleton was elected circuit attorney of the City of St Louis in 1956.
8.
Thomas Eagleton was elected the 38th lieutenant governor of Missouri in 1964, and won a US Senate seat in 1968, unseating incumbent Edward V Long in the Democratic primary and narrowly defeating Congressman Thomas B Curtis in the general election.
9.
Thomas Eagleton suffered from depression; he checked himself into hospital three times between 1960 and 1966 for physical and nervous exhaustion, receiving electroconvulsive therapy twice.
10.
Thomas Eagleton later received a diagnosis of bipolar II from Frederick K Goodwin.
11.
Thomas Eagleton did not mention his hospitalizations, and in fact decided with his wife to keep them secret from McGovern while he was flying to his first meeting with McGovern.
12.
On July 25,1972, just over two weeks after the 1972 Democratic Convention, Thomas Eagleton said that news reports that he had received electroshock therapy for clinical depression during the 1960s were true.
13.
Thomas Eagleton told reporters that the extorted money was to be turned over to the Church of Scientology.
14.
Thomas Eagleton 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.
15.
Notably, Thomas Eagleton was one of only three senators to oppose the nomination of Gerald Ford as vice president in 1973.
16.
The version of the Human Life Amendment in which Thomas Eagleton was most involved, the Hatch-Thomas Eagleton Human Life Federalism Amendment, was the only one to receive a formal vote in the Senate.
17.
In January 1987, Thomas Eagleton returned to Missouri as an attorney, political commentator, and professor at Washington University in St Louis, where until his death he was professor of public affairs.
18.
On July 23,1996, Thomas Eagleton delivered a warm introductory speech for McGovern during a promotional tour for McGovern's book Terry: My Daughter's Life-and-Death Struggle with Alcoholism at The Library, Ltd.
19.
At that time, McGovern spoke favorably about Thomas Eagleton and reminisced about their short-lived presidential ticket.
20.
Thomas Eagleton was a partner in the St Louis law firm Thompson Coburn and a chief negotiator for a coalition of local business interests that lured the Los Angeles Rams football team to St Louis.
21.
Thomas Eagleton strongly supported Democratic Senate nominee Claire McCaskill in 2006; McCaskill defeated incumbent Jim Talent.
22.
Thomas Eagleton led a group, Catholics for Amendment 2, composed of prominent Catholics who challenged church leaders' opposition to embryonic stem cell research and supported a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have protected such research in Missouri.
23.
Thomas Eagleton died in St Louis on March 4,2007, of heart and respiratory complications.
24.
Thomas Eagleton donated his body to medical science at Washington University.
25.
Thomas Eagleton threw out the ceremonial first pitch to end the pregame ceremonies of Game 5 of the 1985 World Series.
26.
Thomas Eagleton has been honored with a star on the St Louis Walk of Fame.
27.
Thomas Eagleton strongly opposed abortion despite his reputation as a liberal.
28.
Thomas Eagleton's religion was one of the defining factors of his political career, as religion was an important political issue in Missouri.
29.
Thomas Eagleton's Catholicism increased his appeal to the working class of St Louis and offset the "elitist stigma" of his private school education.
30.
Thomas Eagleton believed the Catholic Church was "a vital part of American life, conscience and thought".
31.
Thomas Eagleton married Barbara Ann Smith Thomas Eagleton in 1956, and the couple had two children together, a son and a daughter.