Senator Tom Eagleton, Sept. 4, 1929 – March 4, 2007

Flags across Missouri will be lowered to half-staff for Thomas Eagleton. He served Missouri in the Senate for 18 years, elected in 1968 and retiring in January 1987.

Missourians know, love and respect him for the way he did the job we asked him to do.

The rest of the country knows him because for 18 days in 1972, he was McGovern’s chosen running mate. He was forced from the ticket when it came out he had been treated for depression and part of that treatment had consisted of electroconvulsive therapy. McGovern has stated repeatedly for the last decade that dropping Eagleton was a mistake, and he regretted removing him from the ticket.

I called my mother when I heard about Senator Eagleton’s death. I was nine years old at the time the firestorm around him erupted, and don’t have the history or perspective she does, “Poor Tom Eagleton.” She said with a sigh. “He should have quit smoking. He was a good man and he deserved so much better than he got. We didn’t know anything about mental health back then. Mental illness was a failing, a moral weakness. They turned on him like he was caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy. Hell, they treated him worse. A sex scandal would have been small potatoes in comparison. I voted for McGovern, but it was under protest after that.”

His senate career was exemplary, and he was vital to a significant amount of important legislation, including the establishment of the Pell Grant education assistance program, and the establishment of the Department of Aging. Eagleton was an early opponent of the war in Vietnam, and he was the chief author of the War Powers Act. He considered the defining moment of his Senate career the legislation he co-authored to cut off funding for the bombing of Cambodia.

In his retirement, he taught at Washington University, wrote many commentaries for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, often taking the occupant of the White House to task. One of the last commentaries he wrote for the Dispatch was published Nov. 3, 2005 in which he pulled no punches in laying out what he saw as a no-win situation facing the United States because of what he viewed as President George W. Bush's "misadventures" in Iraq.

"Hubris is always the sword upon which the mighty have fallen," the former senator wrote. "From here on, any president will have to level with the American people before going to war."

State leaders were quick to eulogize their friend and colleague:

"Today Missouri has a hole in its heart," Sen. Claire McCaskill said in a statement. "Tom Eagleton managed to be a statesman, an intellectual and a man of the people all at the same time."

Missouri Republican U.S. Sen. Kit Bond also issued a statement saying: "Tom Eagleton cared deeply about Missouri and its citizens. His long career in public service is a powerful example to all of us that we are here to make a difference and should dedicate ourselves to causes larger than ourselves."

"Tom’s death is a great loss to our state. As a United States Senator, he was highly respected on both sides of the aisle. He was a person of high principle and consistent good humor." Said Jack Danforth in a statement issued soon after Senator Eagleton’s death. Danforth and Eagleton served together in the Senate for ten years, and in 1994 shared the Post-Dispatch’s Man of the Year honors.

In 1995, Senator Eagleton was instrumental in convincing the owners of the then-L.A. Rams to relocate to St. Louis. When asked what the nightlife was like, he didn't hesitate "We're like a raucous Des Moines."

Senator, you will be missed.

You already are.