Actor Lou Diamond Phillips called Mr. Thompson “a statesman and a true gentleman”, and country music star Tim McGraw said, “Our family was saddened to hear of the passing of Senator Fred Thompson”.
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Reaction to Thompson’s death showed he was well-liked and respected by many people, who praised him for his integrity and larger than life personality.
Former USA senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee acknowledges the crowd during the Republican National Convention at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 2, 2008.
Yet again he returned to politics in 2007 by announcing he would seek the Republican presidential nomination.
“Until I was 17, it never occurred to me I had to be anything, but at 17 I knew I wanted to be a lawyer”, Thompson said. You try to make the right speech at the right time.
Mr. Thompson gained experience in congressional oversight as a counsel during the 1970s Watergate scandal, famously asking the question that exposed Richard Nixon’s secret taping system inside the White House.
In 1977 he represented Marie Ragghianti, a parole board official and whistleblower fired for refusing to give pardons to prisoners who had bribed aides to the Democratic governor of Tennessee. Mr Thompson had been Ragghianti’s lawyer. After appearing in 18 films, in 1994 Thompson turned his attention back to Washington, running in a special election for the Senate seat vacated by Vice President Al Gore.
But he retired from his seat when his term expired in January 2003, saying: “I simply do not have the heart for another six-year term”. Mr Gore issued a statement Sunday evening in which he praised Mr Thompson for his dedication to public service.
Viewers of the hearings saw Thompson at the side of the senior Republican member of the Watergate committee, Sen.
“I was deeply inspired by his matter-of-fact, no-nonsense moral courage in that crucible”. Fred attended Lawrence County High School in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.
He left the Senate in 2002, and took up a full-time role on the television series “Law & Order”.
He played Arthur Branch, a Manhattan district attorney. Taking a shine to this whole “acting” game, Thompson racked up a few roles in films and television during the early ’90s, becoming the entertainment industry’s go-to guy for portrayals of governmental authority.
Like all politicians, he was an actor playing a part.
“Fred Thompson lived life to the very fullest”, said Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader and one of Mr Thompson’s Republican colleagues in the Senate.
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While Thompson had a down-home persona, he was also a sophisticated attorney and Beltway insider who immersed himself in politics. Having made a decision to go to university, he studied Philosophy and Political Science, first at Florence State College and later at Memphis State University.
