Fred Thompson, the former U.S. Senator from Tennessee, whose six-foot, six-inch frame and rumbling baritone became a distinctive calling card in the court room, politics, and entertainment, died Sunday, November 1, 2015 in Nashville, surrounded by his wife Jeri and family. He was 73.
The cause of death was complications from non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Thompson was diagnosed with the disease in 2004 and had been in remission before it returned last year.
Thompson’s charisma, honesty, and unique background set him apart in American politics and his reputation as a dogged, detail-oriented lawyer put him at the center of several important moments for the United States. These moments would open the door to opportunities in politics, media, and entertainment. His plain-spoken and common-sense conservatism, informed by a federalist philosophy, would vault him into the Senate and consideration for the presidency.
Fred Dalton Thompson was born on August 19, 1942, in Sheffield, Alabama, before his family moved to Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. At the age of 17, Thompson married Sarah Elizabeth Lindsey (the marriage ended in 1985) and the couple had three children, Tony, Daniel, and Elizabeth (Betsy). Thompson worked two jobs to help support the family while he attended college, graduating from Memphis State University and earning a law degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
After launching his legal career as a self-described country lawyer, Thompson joined the U.S. Attorney’s office in Nashville in 1969. In 1972 he would get his first taste of politics, serving as the campaign manager for Tennessee Republican Senator Howard Baker’s re-election campaign.
A year later Baker would recruit Thompson to Washington, D.C. to serve as minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee in its investigation of the Watergate scandal. During the nationally televised Watergate hearings, it was Thompson’s cross examination of former Nixon White House aide Alexander Butterfield that made national headlines after he asked, “Mr. Butterfield, were you aware of the existence of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the President?” After the committee investigation ended, Thompson returned to Nashville and private practice.
In 1977, he found himself again at the intersection of law and politics. Marie Ragghianti had been fired from her job on the Tennessee Parole Board for refusing to parole prisoners who had paid bribes to Tennessee Governor Ray Blanton’s staff. Thompson filed a wrongful termination suit against Blanton's office, and during the trial exposed the bribery scheme. Ragghianti won her case and was reinstated to her post.
The Ragghianti case was documented in a best-selling book, and in 1985 a movie adaptation, Marie, was also produced. Thompson was asked to play himself in that film, and that role launched his career as an actor. Over the next ten years, Thompson would appear in 18 films, often in roles that played to his physical stature and demeanor – from the director of the CIA and a rear admiral to a senior F.B.I. agent and White House chief of staff. The films included, No Way Out, Days of Thunder, Die Hard 2, The Hunt for Red October, In the Line of Fire, Cape Fear, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Secretariat. Thompson was perhaps best identified for his role as New York District Attorney Arthur Branch on the hit TV show Law & Order.
Thompson’s successful legal and film careers, as he liked to say, “opened the door to politics and I walked right through.” In 1994 he ran to fill the last two years of then-Vice President Al Gore’s U.S. Senate term. Thompson’s common-sense conservatism and his abiding faith in American Exceptionalism made him a natural in an election cycle now known as the “Republican Revolution.” Feeding off displeasure with Washington, Thompson ran on a platform of term limits and smaller government, and he did so in a way that reminded voters of his roots. “I am, in many respects, an average Tennessean,” he told a reporter at the time. “I worked in a factory. I drive a truck. I practice law. I was a Federal prosecutor. I’ve worked without health insurance. I’ve worked for minimum wage. I cover the spectrum. Like a lot of people in Tennessee, I had to get with it to get by.”
Thompson drove across Tennessee in a red pickup truck and was a constant, visible presence in the state. Thompson won his Senate race in a landslide and would be elected in similar fashion in 1996.
During his time in the Senate, Thompson served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, and was a member of the Finance Committee, Judiciary Committee, and the Intelligence Committee. His time in the Senate drew upon his experience as a prosecutor and legal counsel and he used his ranking position on the committee to drive fundamental government accountability and efficiency. He was deeply focused on the needs of Tennessee, ensuring the nuclear security complex in Oak Ridge remained a vital contributor to our nation's security. He also worked with fellow Tennessee Senator Bill Frist to secure funding for the largest Department of Energy research project to date: the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). In addition to domestic policy, Thompson was engaged in crucial national security issues such as addressing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and China’s rising influence both regionally and globally.
Thompson supported term limits, and followed through by announcing that he would not seek re- election in 2002, and was succeeded in the U.S. Senate by his long-time friend Lamar Alexander. Thompson remained active in public policy, serving on the State Department’s U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, as a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and a member for the Council on Foreign Relations. He also helped guide the confirmation process of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
In 2002, Thompson married Jeri Kehn and they had two children, Hayden and Sammy. He remained engaged in the public square and provided regular radio commentaries for the Paul Harvey Radio Show, which led to a grassroots draft effort in 2007 for him to run for the Republican presidential nomination. In January 2008, Thompson threw his support behind his close friend Senator John McCain and provided the keynote nomination speech on McCain’s behalf at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis.
Thompson continued his career in radio, working with Jeri on his nationally syndicated Fred Thompson Show from 2009 through 2011, before moving on to additional work in TV and feature films, and worked until his death.
Thompson is survived by his wife, Jeri, and their two children, Hayden and Sammy; his brother, Ken; his two adult sons, Dan and Tony (his daughter Betsy is deceased); and grandchildren Dalton, Rachel, Lindsey, Adrian, and Antonio.
Services will be held Friday, November 6, at 10AM CT at War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville (301 6th Ave N, Nashville, TN 37243). The service is open to the public.
Following the service, family and friends will go to Lawrenceburg, Tennessee for a Hometown Tribute at the Crockett Theatre. A private burial will be held in Lawrenceburg. Woodlawn Funeral Home of Nashville is handling arrangements. In lieu of flowers, the Thompson family asks for donations to the following organizations:
Alive Hospice 1718 Patterson Street, Nashville, TN 37203 www.alivehospice.org
Boys & Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee 1704 Charlotte Ave, Suite 200, Nashville, TN 37203 www.bgcmt.org
Mayo Clinic, Department of Development 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905 www.mayoclinic.org/giving-to-mayo-clinic
MusiCorps P.O. Box 73051, Washington, DC 20056 www.musicorps.net