Thomas Eagleton

Thomas Francis Eagleton, LL.B., (born September 4, 1929) is a former United States Senator from Missouri. He represented Missouri in the United States Senate from 1969 until 1987 and is best remembered for briefly being the Democratic vice presidential nomination with George McGovern in 1972.

He is a member of the Democratic Party and is currently a university professor at Washington University.

Early life and political career

Eagleton, the son of another St. Louis politician Mark D. Eagleton (who had run for mayor) and Zitta Swanson.

He graduated from St. Louis Country Day School, enlisted in the Navy for two years, and graduated Amherst College in 1950 and Harvard Law School.

Eagleton married Barbara Ann Smith of St. Louis on January 26, 1956. A son, Terence, was born in 1959, and a daughter, Christin, was born in 1960.

He always projected boyish charm. He was elected circuit attorney of the City of St. Louis in 1956 and Missouri Attorney General in 1960 at the age of 31 (the youngest in the state's history). He was elected Missouri Lieutenant Governor in 1964 and won a U.S. Senate seat in 1968.

From 1960 to 1966 Eagleton checked himself into the hospital three times for physical and nervous exhaustion, receiving electric shock treatments twice. ^*

The hospitalizations which were not widely publicized had little effect on his political aspirations although the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was to note in 1972 immediately after his vice persidential nomination:

He has been troubled with gastric disturbances, which have led to occasional hospitalizations. The stomach troubles have contributed to rumors that he had a drinking problem.^*

George McGovern's 1972 Vice Presidential selection

In 1972 Richard Nixon appeared unbeatable.

When George McGovern won the Democratic nomination for President, virtually all of the "name" Democrats such as Edward Kennedy, Walter Mondale and Birch Bayh turned down offers to run on the ticket.

The McGovern camp then searched for lesser known candidates and Eagleton, who had opposed the Vietnam War, was selected on July 14 with only a minimal background check. Eagleton made no mention of his earlier hospitalizations.

Newspapers soon revealed them. McGovern and Eagleton initially joked about the case with Eagleton saying he would undergo a psychiatric examination if other candidates (e.g., Nixon) would do the same. But the charges kept coming. Columnist Jack Anderson wrote a column falsely accusing Eagleton of being arrested for drunk driving -- a charge that Anderson had to retract.

McGovern in an infamous quote said he would back Eagleton "1000 percent". On August 1 Eagleton withdrew and was replaced by Kennedy in-law Sargent Shriver.

The incident raised serious questions about McGovern's judgment. In the general election Nixon won every state except Massachusetts.

Missouri returned Eagleton to the Senate in 1974 and 1980.

During the 1980 election Eagleton's neice Elizabeth Eagleton Weigand along with lawyer Stephen Poludniak were arrested for blackmail after they threatened to spread false accusations that Eagleton was bisexual. Eagleton told reporters that the extorted money was to be turned over to the Church of Scientology. Polundniak and Weigand appealed the conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court claiming they could not have not gotten a fair trial because of "the massive publicity surrounding this case, coupled with the pre-existing sentiment in favor of Sen. Eagleton." The Court turned down the appeal. Weigand was alleged to have heard from a third hand source Eagleton was seen disheveled and unshaven at the La Terrazza Di Marti (now known as LaTeDa) in Key West, Florida -- a establishment which she said was frequented by homsexuals. Eagleton testified he had only been to Key West once in 1972 and then with his son and daughter.^*

Eagleton did not seek a fourth term in 1986.

Senate career

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 and Water Acts, and sponsored the amendment that halted the bombing in Cambodia and effectively ended American involvement in the Vietnam War.

Post Senate career

In 1987 Eagleton returned to St. Louis, Missouri, as an attorney, political commentator, and professor at Washington University in St. Louis, where he still holds the title of Professor of Public Affairs. He also is a partner in the St. Louis law firm of Thompson Coburn and was a chief negotiator for a coalition of local business interests that lured the Los Angeles Rams football team to St. Louis. He is the author of three books about politics, and the 8th Circuit Federal Courthouse (in St. Louis) is named for him.

He has been honoured with his own star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

In January 2001, he joined other Missouri Democrats to oppose the nomination of former Missouri governor John Ashcroft for United States Attorney General. Eagleton's quote was evoked as the rallying cry of the debate and was entered into the official Judiciary Committee record.

"John Danforth would have been my first choice. John Ashcroft would have been my last choice."^*

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