2007.03.05: March 5, 2007: Headlines: Directors - Shriver: History: The Washington Post: Thomas Eagleton: 1929-2007
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2007.03.05: March 5, 2007: Headlines: Directors - Shriver: History: The Washington Post: Thomas Eagleton: 1929-2007
Thomas Eagleton: 1929-2007
Thomas Eagleton, a U.S. senator who spent two weeks as the vice presidential running mate of George McGovern in 1972 before leaving the ticket after revelations of his earlier psychiatric hospitalization for depression, died Sunday in Richmond Heights, Mo. Sargent Shriver, the Peace Corps founder and Kennedy family intimate, became the new vice presidential nominee. He and McGovern lost in a landslide to President Richard Nixon, even amid early revelations of the Watergate scandal.
Thomas Eagleton: 1929-2007
Thomas Eagleton: 1929-2007
Running mate stepped aside
He joined McGovern in '72 as a rising Democratic star. But admitting treatment for depression ended his national ambitions.
The Washington Post
Published March 5, 2007
Thomas Eagleton, a U.S. senator who spent two weeks as the vice presidential running mate of George McGovern in 1972 before leaving the ticket after revelations of his earlier psychiatric hospitalization for depression, died Sunday in Richmond Heights, Mo.
Mr. Eagleton, 77, had heart and respiratory ailments.
He made his name as a crusading young lawyer and politician in his home state before winning election to the U.S. Senate in 1968. Mr. Eagleton supported consumer protection laws and labor union rights, but it was his strong opposition to the Vietnam War that made him a natural political ally of McGovern, a South Dakota Democrat who had long denounced the war.
For Mr. Eagleton, being tapped as vice presidential nominee among a dozen other potential candidates was a signal of his own rise in the party leadership. Future Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, who was McGovern's campaign director, once wrote that Mr. Eagleton's appeal was "primarily because he was Catholic, urban and an unknown from a border state."
Although McGovern's staff knew that Mr. Eagleton had been hospitalized for fatigue, the campaign went ahead with the nomination on the assurance that his time under care was brief. They also felt they could present the vice presidential nominee as a man of relentless verve who once "campaigned [himself] right into the hospital."
However, under media questioning prompted by anonymous tips, Mr. Eagleton was compelled to announce he had "voluntarily" hospitalized himself for nervous exhaustion and depression three times since 1960, usually after the campaign season. He also said his treatment regimen included psychiatric counseling, chemotherapy and electric shock treatment. He said he was in "good, solid, sound health" for the 1972 race.
McGovern said he was "1000 percent" behind Mr. Eagleton but soon reversed himself. There had been a big drop in contributions and many calls for Mr. Eagleton's resignation among influential newspapers that questioned his suitability for a high-pressure job. Mr. Eagleton said he would withdraw for party unity.
Sargent Shriver, the Peace Corps founder and Kennedy family intimate, became the new vice presidential nominee. He and McGovern lost in a landslide to President Richard Nixon, even amid early revelations of the Watergate scandal.
Mr. Eagleton was re-elected in 1974 by a wide margin and spent two more terms in the Senate.
After not seeking re-election in 1986, Mr. Eagleton returned to his hometown, St. Louis, to practice law. He wrote a political affairs column in the St. Louis Post Dispatch and had a leading role in bringing the former Los Angeles Rams to the city in 1995.
The Rams won the Super Bowl in 2000, a point of pride for Mr. Eagleton. However, he said he was well-aware that his political epitaph would focus on the 1972 race. "That was a down-the-tube election from A to Z," he said in 1990.
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
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Headlines: March, 2007; Sargent Shriver (Director 1961 - 1966); History
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Story Source: The Washington Post
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