Thomas Francis Eagleton (born September 4, 1929) is a former United States Senator from Missouri, serving from 1969 until 1987. He is best remembered for briefly being a Democratic Vice Presidential nominee, sharing the ticket under George McGovern in 1972. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
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.
From 1960 to 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 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.[2]
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 niece 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--an establishment which she said was frequented by homosexuals. Eagleton testified he had only been to Key West once, in 1972, and then with his son and daughter.[3]
Eagleton did not seek a fourth term in 1986.
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.
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."[4]
He's a disgusting POS.