“Go forth in love and peace—be kind to dogs—and vote Democratic”. Thomas Eagleton’s dying wishes in a letter to friends and family written shortly before his death.
Thomas Francis Eagleton (born the day after yesterday’s subject, Whitey Bulger) was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Zitta Louise (Swanson) and Mark David Eagleton, a politician and mayoral candidate.
The Eagleton family lived in a large house at 4608 Tower Grove Place in St. Louis. Mark, whose parents were from the Irish Free State, was a lawyer. Other family members in the home were Zitta, her oldest son Mark Jr., and Tom. Also in the home was Mark Sr.’s cousin John Hennelly from Ireland – the only immigrant on the page. The four servants were two maids (Ruby Hines and Fanny Stevens), and two housemen (Claude Stevens and Tom Green).
The other residents on the page had occupations ranging from saleslady to corporation official. There are only 30 people listed on the page. The census taker ends the page with a near-poetic “Here ends the enumeration of block 4099.”
Later life
Eagleton graduated from St. Louis County Day School, served two years in the Navy, and graduated from Amherst College and Harvard Law School. He worked as a lawyer in his father’s firm and later with Anheuser-Busch.
He was elected circuit attorney of the City of St. Louis, Missouri Attorney General, and later Missouri Lieutenant Governor before winning the U.S. Senate seat from the state. He stumped the panel when he appeared on the game show “What’s My Line” as “District Attorney of St. Louis”, and at age 31 was the youngest Missouri Attorney General ever.
He suffered from depression and checked himself into hospital three times, twice receiving electroconvulsive therapy (shock therapy). This was not widely known. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported he had been hospitalized for gastric disturbances.
In 1972, while George McGovern was running for the Democratic presidential nomination, a large number of Democrats declined to be his running mate. One unnamed senator was quoted as saying “The people don’t know McGovern is for amnesty, abortion, and legalization of pot. Once middle America—Catholic middle America, in particular—finds this out, he’s dead.” After Eagleton’s death, it came out that he was the source of the quote. Not knowing this, the McGovern campaign after a cursory check of his background chose Eagleton to be the Vice-Presidential candidate. On his part, Eagleton and his wife discussed it and decided not to mention the hospitalizations to McGovern.
Two weeks after the Democratic Convention with news reports swirling about the hospitalizations, Eagleton admitted the reports were true. McGovern backed him 1000%. McGovern checked with psychiatrists, including Eagleton’s own who said that a recurrence of his depression was possible and could endanger the country were he President at the time. Nineteen days after being nominated, he withdrew at McGovern’s request. McGovern chose Sargent Shriver, former U.S. Ambassador to France and founding Director of the Peace Corps, as his replacement. McGovern/Shriver went on to lose badly in the election, winning only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.
Eagleton won reelection to the Senate in 1974 and 1980 before retiring. In 1980 his niece and a lawyer were arrested (and later convicted) for trying to blackmail Eagleton by spreading false rumors that he was bi-sexual.
Post-senate, he was an attorney, political commentator, and professor at Washington University in St. Louis. He died of heart and respiratory complications in 2007 and donated his body for scientific research at Washington University.
Other happenings on September 4, 1929:
The explosion of a powder mill in a bomb factory, near Brescia in Italy, killed17 people.
Tomorrow – A man who wouldn’t want to be caught dead with a Ford.
Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive each day’s entry in your email box.
Sources
- Wikipedia.org
- Ancestry.com
- Onthisday.com
- Picryl.com
- Youtube.com
Famous People and Their First Census 