Thomas F. Eagleton, a former United States senator, a driving force behind the Los Angeles Rams move to St. Louis and short-time vice-presidential candidate, died Sunday at age 77.
Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern removed Eagleton from the Democratic ticket in 1972 after revelations of mental illness and electroshock therapy overshadowed his Senate legislative efforts on issues from presidential war powers to home rule for the District of Columbia.
“I’ve known Senator Tom Eagleton for all of my adult life,” said former St. Louis Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. “He was a major mover and shaker in both the St. Louis community and St. Louis politics.”
“He was extremely helpful in the pursuit and the acquisition of the St. Louis Rams,” said Bosley. “And you were always able to call on him when you needed him. He will truly be missed.”
“He was a classic Blue candidate in a Red state. Brilliant and intellectual, he stood head and shoulders above most of his Senate peers. Although he had a privileged upbringing, he always had an unyielding interest in and concern for those most vulnerable in our society – a strong sense of social justice,” American Publisher Donald M. Suggs said.
“Although he held high political position, he was always approachable. I enjoyed a longtime personal relationship with him that started long before I was involved in the St. Louis American, dating the tumultuous 1970s and 1980s.”
“Senator Tom Eagleton was a fierce advocate for peace and justice. He was a giant of the U.S. Senate and the conscience of the Democratic Party. My family and I extend our deepest sympathies to Barbara Eagleton and the Senator’s children,” said Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay.
“Senator Eagleton and my father, former Congressman Bill Clay, were elected to Congress on the same night in 1968. They shared a common agenda to end an unjust and illegal war and to refocus our national priorities on advancing equal opportunity for all Americans, especially those who had been left out of the mainstream. He represented Missouri with honor and integrity.”
A native of St. Louis, Eagleton was a Navy veteran and a graduate of Amherst and Harvard Law School. He was elected to his first public office, as prosecutor in St. Louis, in 1956 at the age of 27. It was also in 1956 that he married the former Barbara Ann Smith of St. Louis.
Eagleton’s early political career was a steady march made up of neat quadrennial strides. After four years as prosecutor, he was elected attorney general of Missouri in 1960. In 1964, he was elected lieutenant governor. In 1968, he was elected to the Senate after defeating the incumbent Democratic senator, Edward Long, in a party primary. He was re- elected in 1974, benefiting from a widespread feeling in Missouri that he had been ill-treated by McGovern, and again in 1980.
Former Sen. John Danforth served with Eagleton for 10 years and they remained close friends. Danforth said in a statement that Eagleton’s death was a great loss to the state and to him personally.
“Tom Eagleton was an outstanding public servant throughout his career in elective politics and beyond,” Danforth said.