Senator and statesman, Thomas Eagleton dies at 77

ST, LOUIS POST-DISPATCH ^ | March 4, 2007 | Jo Mannies

[ConservativeStatement]

Retired U.S. Sen. Thomas F. Eagleton -- a towering figure in national and state politics for half a century and the person for whom the federal courthouse downtown is named -- died late Sunday morning.

He was 77. He had been ill for several months with various health problems. He died at St. Mary's Health Center in Richmond Heights.

[Perdogg]

Prayers for his family.

[AmishDude]

Probably only remembered as McGovern's abortive VP choice.

[Brian Mosely]

Yeah, Dropped because after they nominated him, it was revealed he had electro-shock therapy in the past.

[LdSentinal]

RIP.

[speedy]

RIP to the man George McGovern said he supported "110 percent" a few days before dropping him from the ticket in favor of Sargent Shriver.

[LiveFree99]

One of the jokes was "I'm just nuts about Eagleton."

[MuttTheHoople]

Notice how, when an old democrat or liberal dies, he's called a "Giant", while an old Republican isn't? Tom Eagleton was just a run-of-the-mill Democrat politician from the days when the Dems had a 150 seat majority in the House and a near-filibuster-proof Senate. He was shown to be nuts in the pre-Stuart Smalley days, and had to drop out of the VP slot.

He's no "giant".

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

No, he was no giant. I never heard of him before the VP bid.

He suffered depression--who doesn't at times--and was attacked because he had it treated. At least the media was equal opportunity in those days.

[HAL9000]

[DarthDilbert]

Although we never agreed with his political views at all, he helped our family in 1970 when no one could. My grandmother had passed away and my uncle, the youngest son, was a Marine in Vietnam with the 11th Marine Regiment. My dad had contacted the Red Cross who said time and time again that they were doing all they could to get my uncle home for the funeral. The funeral home did all they could to postpone the services and contacted Dad saying that they didn't know how much longer they could wait. After getting no results from the Red Cross, he contacted Senator Eagleton's office in DC to see if he could help. Dad explained the dilemma to his staff who then transferred the call directly to the Senator. Eagleton asked my father if he was calling long distance (no cell phones back then or Vonage) and after Dad explained that he was, Eagleton took down his contact information as well as the information about my uncle and said he'd make some calls and call my father back in a half hour. Around thirty minutes to the second later, Eagleton called Dad back and said that my uncle was on a chopper out of his firebase and en route home for the funeral. When he arrived at the airport, around nine or ten that morning, he was still in his muddy utilities. Dad then drove him home from the airport where he cleaned up. They then went directly to purchase my uncle a suit - that afternoon they held the funeral.

As I said, we never agreed with his political views, but we never forgot what he did for our family so many years ago. I'm glad that I was able to meet him in the early 1990s to thank him for what he did for us and how much it meant for all the family to be together at that time. I pray now for his family, wishing I could bring them the same comfort he did to ours.

[Lancey Howard]

Wow. Eagleton was only 42 in 1972 when McGovern chose him as his running mate.
I am getting old.

[TheLawyerFormerlyKnownAsAl]

Nice tribute. Go Tribe!

[fieldmarshaldj]

Rest in peace.