Thomas Eagleton


Official portrait, 1967

United States Senator from Missouri
In office: December 28, 1968 – January 3, 1987

Personal details
Born: Thomas Francis Eagleton; September 4, 1929; St. Louis, Missouri, US
Died: March 4, 2007 (aged 77); St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.

Thomas Francis Eagleton (September 4, 1929 – March 4, 2007) was an American lawyer who served as a United States senator from Missouri from 1968 to 1987. He was briefly the Democratic vice presidential nominee under George McGovern in 1972. He suffered from bouts of depression throughout his life, resulting in several hospitalizations, which were kept secret from the public. When they were revealed, it humiliated the McGovern campaign, and Eagleton was forced to quit the race. He later became adjunct professor of public affairs at Washington University in St. Louis.

{snip}

1972 vice-presidential candidacy

{snip}

Selection as vice-presidential nominee

After a large number of prominent Democrats declined to be McGovern's running mate, Senator Gaylord Nelson (who was among those who declined) suggested Eagleton. McGovern chose Eagleton after only a minimal background check as had been customary for vice presidential selections at that time. Eagleton made no mention of his earlier hospitalizations, and in fact decided with his wife to keep them secret from McGovern while he was flying to his first meeting with McGovern.

Replacement on the ticket

On July 25, 1972, just over two weeks after the 1972 Democratic Convention, Eagleton admitted the truth of news reports that he had received electroshock therapy for clinical depression during the 1960s. McGovern initially said he would back Eagleton "1000 percent". McGovern consulted confidentially with preeminent psychiatrists, including Eagleton's own doctors, who advised him that a recurrence of Eagleton's depression was possible and could endanger the country should Eagleton become acting president. On August 1, nineteen days after being nominated, Eagleton withdrew at McGovern's request, and after a new search by McGovern, Thomas Eagleton was replaced by Sargent Shriver, former U.S. Ambassador to France, and former (founding) director of the Peace Corps and the Office of Economic Opportunity.

A Time 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.

McGovern's failure to vet Eagleton and his subsequent handling of the controversy gave occasion for the Republican campaign to raise serious questions about his judgment. In the general election, the Democratic ticket won only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

{snip}