Thomas Eagleton
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Thomas Eagleton
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Thomas Francis Eagleton (September 4, 1929 – March 4, 2007) was a United States Senator from Missouri, serving from 1968-1987. He is best remembered for briefly being a Democratic Vice Presidential nominee, sharing the ticket under George McGovern in 1972. He was an adjunct professor of Public Affairs at Washington University for over a decade.
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[edit] Early life and political career
Eagleton was 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 U.S. Navy for two years, and graduated from Amherst College in 1950, where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He then attended 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 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.
Between 1960 and 1966, Eagleton checked himself into the hospital three times for physical and nervous exhaustion, receiving electric shock treatments twice.[1]
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 presidential nomination:
He had been troubled with gastric disturbances, which have led to occasional hospitalizations. The stomach troubles have contributed to rumors that he had a drinking problem.[1]
[edit] 1972 Presidential Campaign
[edit] Selection as Vice Presidential Candidate
In 1972, Richard Nixon appeared unbeatable. When Senator George McGovern won the Democratic nomination for President, virtually all of the high-profile Democrats such as Ted Kennedy, Walter Mondale and Birch Bayh turned down offers to run on the ticket.
Having been declined by the "name" Senators, McGovern turned to 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.
[edit] Replacement on the Ticket
McGovern said he would back Eagleton “1000%”, but on August 1, Eagleton withdrew at McGovern's request and, after new search by McGovern, was replaced by Kennedy in-law Sargent Shriver.
A Time magazine poll taken at the time found that 77 percent of the respondents said "Eagleton's medical record would not affect their vote." Nonetheless, the press made frequent references to his shock therapy, and McGovern feared that this would detract from his campaign platform.[1]
McGovern's handling of the controversy was an opening for the Republican campaign to raise serious questions about his judgement. In the general election, the Democratic ticket won only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.
[edit] Amnesty, Abortion and Acid
On April 25, 1972, George McGovern won the Massachusetts primary and journalist Bob Novak phoned Democratic politicians around the country, who agreed with his assessment that blue-collar workers voting for McGovern did not understand what he really stood for.[2] On April 27, 1972 Novak reported in a column that an unnamed Democratic senator had talked to him about McGovern.[3] "The people don’t know McGovern is for amnesty, abortion and legalization of pot," the Senator said.[3] "Once middle America - Catholic middle America, in particular - finds this out, he’s dead."[3] The label stuck and McGovern became known as the candidate of "amnesty, abortion and acid."[2][4]
Novak was accused of manufacturing the quote.[3] To rebut the criticism, Novak took Eagleton to lunch after the campaign and asked whether he could identify him as the source.[3] The senator said he would not allow his identity to be revealed.[3] "Oh, he had to run for re-election", said Novak.[2] "The McGovernites would kill him if they knew he had said that." Novak added.[2]
On July 15, 2007, Novak disclosed on Meet the Press that the unnamed senator was Thomas Eagleton.[2] Political analyst Bob Shrum says that Eagleton would never have been selected as McGovern's running mate if it had been known at the time that Eagleton was the source of the quote.[2] "Boy, do I wish he would have let you publish his name. Then he never would have been picked as vice president," said Shrum.[2] "Because the two things, the two things that happened to George McGovern—two of the things that happened to him—were the label you put on him, number one, and number two, the Eagleton disaster. We had a messy convention, but he could have, I think in the end, carried eight or 10 states, remained politically viable. And Eagleton was one of the great train wrecks of all time."[2]
[edit] Re-election to Senate
Missouri returned Eagleton to the Senate in 1974 and 1980.
During the 1980 election, Eagleton's niece Elizabeth Eagleton Weigand and 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. Poludniak and Weigand appealed the conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that 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.
Eagleton did not seek a fourth term in 1986.
[edit] 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 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.
[edit] Post-Senate Career
In 1987, Eagleton returned to St. Louis as an attorney, political commentator, and professor at Washington University in St. Louis, where he (up until his death) held the title of Professor of Public Affairs. In 2006, he taught a seminar on the Presidency and the Constitution at Saint Louis University School of Law. He was 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 was the author of three books on politics, and the 8th Circuit Federal Courthouse in St. Louis is named after him.
He has been honored with a 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."[5]
Another recent appearance was with Democratic Senate candidate Claire McCaskill in the 2006; McCaskill won, defeating incumbent Jim Talent.
Eagleton led a group, "Catholics for Amendment 2", composed of prominent Catholics, that challenged church leaders' opposition to stem cell research and to the proposed state constitutional amendment (#2) that would have protected such research in Missouri. The group e-mailed a letter to fellow Catholics explaining reasons for supporting Amendment 2.[6] The amendment ensures that any federally approved stem cell research and treatments would be available in Missouri. "[T]he letter from Catholics for Amendment 2 said the group felt a moral obligation to respond to what it called misinformation, scare tactics and distortions being spread by opponents of the initiative, including the church."[6]
[edit] Death
Thomas Eagleton died in St. Louis on Sunday, March 4, 2007, of heart and respiratory complications. Eagleton donated his body to medical science at Washington University.[7]He wrote a farewell letter to his family and friends months before he died, citing that his dying wishes were for people to "go forth in love and peace — be kind to dogs — and vote Democratic."[8]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- ^ a b c d e f g h Meet the Press Transcript for July 15, 2007. "Interview with Robert Novak
- ^ a b c d e f Kansas City Star. "With another disclosure, Novak bedevils the dead" by Steve Kraske. July 28, 2007. The original story is a dead link. An archival copy is available here.
- ^ Columbia Tribune. "A slice of history: Biographers of the late U.S. Sen. Thomas Eagleton of Missouri will find some vivid anecdotes when they comb through his large collection of journals, letters and transcripts housed in Columbia" by Terry Ganey. August 19, 2007
- ^ Ronnie white-Record on civil rights
- ^ a b http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/05/stemcells.catholics.ap/index.html
- ^ Washington University Record
- ^ Eagleton's last wish: 'Be kind to dogs' - Politics - MSNBC.com
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Clinton, Bill (2005). My Life. Vintage. ISBN 1-4000-3003-X.
[edit] External links
- Thomas Eagleton at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Time magazine — July 24, 1972 cover article
- Time magazine — August 7, 1972 cover article on withdrawal
- History Channel on Eagleton's withdrawal speech
- Thomas Eagleton Photographs in the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri-St. Louis
| Preceded by John M. Dalton |
Attorney General of Missouri 1961–1965 |
Succeeded by Norman H. Anderson |
| Preceded by Hilary A. Bush |
Lieutenant Governor of Missouri 1965–1968 |
Succeeded by William S. Morris |
| Preceded by Edward V. Long |
United States Senator (Class 3) from Missouri 1968 — 1987 Served alongside: Stuart Symington, John Danforth |
Succeeded by Kit Bond |
| Preceded by Edmund Muskie |
Democratic Party Vice Presidential candidate 1972 (withdrew) |
Succeeded by Sargent Shriver |
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