Difference between revisions of "Fred Thompson"

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[[Image:FredThompson.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Fred Thompson]]
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{{Officeholder
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'''Fred Dalton Thompson''' (born August 19, 1942 in Sheffield, [[Alabama]]) is an [[United States of America|American]] lawyer, actor and former [[Republican Party|Republican]] [[U.S. Senate|senator]] from [[Tennessee]]. He is married to attorney Jeri Kehn, a political and media consultant, with whom he has two children.
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|name=Fred Thompson
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|image=Fred_thompson.jpg‎
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|party=[[Republican]]
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|spouse=Sarah Elizabeth Lindsey (1959-1985)<br/>[[Jeri Kehn]] (2002-  )
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|religion=[[Church of Christ]]
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|offices=
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{{Officeholder/senator
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|state=Tennessee
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|terms=December 2, 1994 – January 3, 2003
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|preceded=[[Harlan Mathews]]
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|former=n
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|succeeded=[[Lamar Alexander]]
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}}
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}}
  
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In 2002, he joined the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations, a non-partisan organization that promotes improved understanding of international affairs through public and private discussion. He is also a former member of the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission and a Visiting Fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, researching national security and intelligence. Thompson also serves as a public speaker with the Washington Speakers Bureau and is a special program host and senior analyst for ABC News Radio. He publishes a daily blog and podcast on the ABC Radio web site.
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'''Freddie Dalton Thompson''' (August 19, 1942, Sheffield, [[Alabama]] — November 1, 2015) was an [[United States of America|American]] lawyer, actor and former [[Republican Party|Republican]] [[U.S. Senate|senator]] from [[Tennessee]]. He was married to attorney Jeri Kehn, a political and media consultant, with whom he had two children. He ran for the Republican Party nomination for the Presidency of the United States in 2007, but dropped out of the race on Jan 22nd 2008 after coming third in the [[South Carolina]] Primary.
  
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Thompson also is the chair of the International Security Advisory Board, a bipartisan advisory panel that reports to the Secretary of State and focuses on emerging strategic threats.
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Aside from politics, Thompson began a career as a character actor, playing supporting roles in critically acclaimed films such as ''Marie'', ''The Hunt for Red October'', ''Cape Fear'', and ''In the Line of Fire''. Upon leaving the Senate, he picked up where he left off, playing [[New York]] District Attorney Arthur Branch on ''Law & Order''.  
  
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Thompson grew up in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, where he attended public school. He received his undergraduate degree in philosophy and political science from Memphis State University in 1964 and his law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1967, working his way through school. He was admitted to the Tennessee bar that same year.
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In 2009 Fred Thompson launched ''The Fred Thompson Show'', a nationwide radio program co-hosted by his wife Jeri Kehn.
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==Early Years==
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He attended public school in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee and graduated from Memphis State University in 1964. He received a J. D. degree from Vanderbilt University in 1967 and was admitted to the Tennessee bar that same year.
  
 
Thompson was an assistant U.S. attorney from 1969 to 1972; minority counsel, then to the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities ("Watergate Committee") from 1973 to 1974. He became special counsel to Tennessee Governor [[Lamar Alexander]] in 1980, special counsel, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations 1980-1981, Special counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee 1982. He became a member of the Tennessee Appellate Court Nominating Commission 1985-1987.   
 
Thompson was an assistant U.S. attorney from 1969 to 1972; minority counsel, then to the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities ("Watergate Committee") from 1973 to 1974. He became special counsel to Tennessee Governor [[Lamar Alexander]] in 1980, special counsel, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations 1980-1981, Special counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee 1982. He became a member of the Tennessee Appellate Court Nominating Commission 1985-1987.   
  
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From 1975 to 1992 Thompson worked as a corporate lobbyist in Washington, D.C. He represented firms such as General Electric, Westinghouse and the Tennessee Savings and Loan League. In 1982, Thompson lobbyed the U.S. Congress for passage of the Savings and Loan deregulation legislation. Thompson contributed to the the Garn - St Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982. In 1991, he worked with the Washington, D.C. firm of Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin, & Kahn, representing overseas business entities as a registered foreign agent.
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From 1975 to 1992 Thompson worked as a corporate lobbyist in Washington, D.C. He represented firms such as General Electric, Westinghouse and the Tennessee Savings and Loan League. In 1982, Thompson lobbied the U.S. Congress for passage of the Savings and Loan deregulation legislation. Thompson contributed to the Garn - St Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982. In 1991, he worked with the Washington, D.C. firm of Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin, & Kahn, representing overseas business entities as a registered foreign agent.
  
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In 1977 Thompson took on the case of a Tennessee Parole Board chairman fired under suspicious circumstances. Thompson's work helped to expose a cash-for-clemency scheme that ultimately toppled the governor. The scandal became the subject of a best-selling book and later a film, ''Marie'', in which Thompson portrayed himself. He is an actor of note with more than 30 roles according to the International Movie Database including "The Hunt for Red October" and "Die Hard 2". He was a co-star of the popular television series ''Law and Order'' from 2002 to 2007. He has frequently portrayed governmental figures; in the 1993 film adaptation of ''Born Yesterday'', Thompson played the character of a United States senator prior to his election to the real-life United States Senate. He portrayed President Ulysses S. Grant in the HBO 2007 original movie ''Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee''.
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==U.S. Senate==
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Thompson was elected as a Republican to the [[United States Senate]] in the November 8, 1994, special election to fill the unexpired term (Ending January 3, 1997) of [[Al Gore|Albert Gore, Jr.]] vacant by resignation upon Gore's election as [[Vice President of the United States of America|Vice President]].  Thompson was re-elected in 1996 for a full 6-year term, ending January 3, 2003. He decided not to be a candidate for reelection in 2002, resuming his acting career.
  
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Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, Fred Thompson maintained law offices in Nashville and Washington and served as Special Counsel to both the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
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==Political Views==
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===Abortion===
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Thompson described himself as [[pro-life]]. During an interview in 2007 on Fox News' ''Hannity and Colmes'', he said the following:
  
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In his first campaign for public office, Thompson was elected by the people of Tennessee on November 8, 1994 to the remaining two years of [[Al Gore]]'s unexpired [[United States Senate|Senate]] term. When he was returned for a full term in 1996, he received more votes than any previous candidate for any office in Tennessee history. He won two elections in two years by more than twenty points each.  
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:I've always thought that ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' was a wrong decision, that they usurped what had been the law in this country for 200 years, that it was a matter that should go back to the states. When you get back to the states, I think the states should have some leeway. I might vote against one approach, but I think the state ought to have it. And I would not be and never have been for a law that says, on the state level, if I were back in Tennessee voting on this...to criminalize a young woman....
  
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While in the Senate, Thompson was a member of the powerful Senate Committee on Finance, which has jurisdiction over taxes, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare reform, and international trade. From this position, he focused on reducing taxes, reforming the U.S. tax code to make it simpler and fairer, and restoring the Social Security and Medicare programs to long-term solvency.
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However, when Fred Thompson first ran for the Senate in 1994, he said on the abortion issue,  
  
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While a strong supporter of free trade, Thompson advocated a balanced approach to trade and national security. He pushed for an export control policy that protects America's national security without unnecessarily burdening American industry with bureaucratic red tape. He also proposed legislation to curb the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by the People's Republic of China and other countries and to strengthen the United States' response to such activities.  
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:"Government should stay out of it... The ultimate decision must be made by the women... Government should treat its citizens as adults capable of making moral decisions on their own."
  
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Thompson also served as a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the National Security Working Group, which observes and monitors executive branch negotiations with foreign governments.
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Also in 1994, Thompson told a Tennessee newspaper (the ''Conservative Spectator''): "I’m not willing to support laws that prohibit early term [[abortion]]s....It comes down to whether life begins at conception. I don’t know in my own mind if that is the case so I don’t feel the law ought to impose that standard on other people." In 1991 and 1992, Thompson was paid for about 20 hours of work on behalf of an abortion rights group.
  
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In 1997 Thompson was elected Chairman of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, making him among the most junior senators in history to serve as Chairman of a major Senate Committee. He served as Chairman until June of 2001. The Governmental Affairs Committee is charged with overseeing the management of the federal government. During his Chairmanship, Thompson's committee actively pursued an agenda aimed at producing a smaller, more efficient, and more accountable government. Of his efforts, the Kingsport Times-News wrote, "Sen. Thompson is to be applauded for keeping a watchful eye over Washington fiscal matters. There should be more like him."
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===Campaign Finance Reform===
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Thompson was one of only ten Senate Republicans to vote for the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance legislation, which has drawn him a lot of criticism from [[conservative]]s. However, he has since changed his position, saying that some parts of the bill should be repealed.  
  
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Thompson held hearings on topics such as improving the federal regulatory process; reforming the Internal Revenue Service; exploring ways to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse; and a number of national security issues, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and missile technologies. He also investigated and successfully enacted solutions to information management problems such as computer security.
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===Gun Rights===
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Thompson was opposed to most [[gun control]] laws. Speaking of the Virginia Tech massacre, he said:
  
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Additionally, the committee was chosen by the Senate leadership in 1997 to conduct an investigation into alleged improper or illegal activities associated with the 1996 federal election campaigns. The Wall Street Journal's Phil Kuntz observed, "Republican Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee and his Governmental Affairs Committee have offered the public a rare peek at the underside of American politics."
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:"Whenever I've seen one of those 'Gun-free Zone' signs, especially outside of a school filled with our youngest and most vulnerable citizens, I've always wondered exactly who these signs are directed at. Obviously, they don't mean much to the sort of man who murdered 32 people just a few days ago."
  
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Thompson was not a candidate for re-election in 2002. He had publicly stated his unwillingness to have the Senate become a long-term career. Although he announced in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks his intention to seek re-election ("Now is not the time for me to leave," said Thompson at the time), upon further reflection he decided against it. The decision seems to have been prompted in large part by the death of his daughter (Elizabeth "Betsy" Thompson Panici) on January 30, 2002, from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.
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Although his record in the Senate on guns is generally mixed. Thompson voted pro-gun 19 times and anti-gun 14 times. Additionally, Thompson voted for the Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban, which restricts ownership and use of guns or ammunition by individuals convicted of misdemeanor or felony domestic violence.
  
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Thompson married Jeri Kehn on June 29, 2002, at First Congregational United Church of Christ, Naperville, Illinois, having first met her on July 4, 1996. Kehn (born January, 1967) is an attorney and a political media consultant at the Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, and McPherson law firm in Washington, D.C. She had formerly worked for the Senate Republican Conference and the Republican National Committee.
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===[[Immigration]]===
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Thompson believed that U.S. borders should be secured before considering comprehensive immigration reform:
  
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In the final months of his U.S. Senate term in 2002, Thompson joined the cast of the long-running NBC television series ''Law & Order'', playing district attorney Arthur Branch. On May 30, 2007, he asked to be released from the show, potentially in preparation for a presidential bid.
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:"The government could start by securing our nation's borders. A sovereign nation that can't do that is not a sovereign nation. This is secondarily an immigration issue. It's primarily a national security issue. We were told twenty years ago if we produced a comprehensive solution, we'd solve the illegal immigration problem. Twelve million illegals later, we're being told that same thing again."
  
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In October 2003, Fred and Jeri Thompson had their first child, Hayden Victoria Thompson. A second child was born to them in November, 2006. Thompson also has two grown children and five grandchildren from his previous marriage, which ended amicably in divorce after 25 years. Thompson has said that his former wife, Sara Lindsey, indicated she would campaign for Thompson if he did run for president.
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Fred Thompson received an average career grade of "C" from the group Americans for Better Immigration. They rated him A+ on border security and an F on visas for foreign workers.
  
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After the retirement of Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in 2005, Thompson was appointed to an informal position by President George W. Bush to help guide the nomination of John Roberts through the United States Senate confirmation process.
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===Marriage===
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Fred Thompson endorsed an amendment to the Constitution that would prevent state judges from altering the definition of marriage without the direction of their states' legislatures. [http://www.latestpolitics.com/blog/2007/09/fred-thompson-proposes-marriage.html]
  
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He is currently considering a run for [[President]] in 2008 and on June 1, 2007, he filed papers with the Tennessee Secretary of State creating "Friends of Fred Thompson," a state-based corporation that will raise and spend money to gauge interest and support for a possible presidential candidacy <ref>http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/06/01/fred-thompson-takes-formal-step-towards-%e2%80%9908-bid/</ref>. <ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/30/AR2007053000583.html</ref> A March 23, 2007 Rasmussen Reports poll had him beating Senator [[Hillary Clinton]] with 44 percent to Clinton's 43 percent<ref>http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/thompson_tied_with_clinton_trails_obama</ref>.
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==2008 Presidential Campaign==
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Fred Thompson's name had been mentioned as a possible candidate for President since early 2007. In response, a grassroots political movement began on the [[internet]], trying to draft Thompson to run. He formed a presidential exploratory committee on June 1, 2007. On September 5, 2007, Thompson made his candidacy official, announcing on ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'': "I'm running for president of the United States."   He dropped out of the race on Jan 22nd, 2008, after coming in third in the South Carolina Primary. He endorsed his former rival, Senator [[John McCain]] of [[Arizona]].
  
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Thompson announced April 11, 2007 that he's in remission from lymphoma (a type of cancer).
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==Quotes==
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"This country has shed more blood for the freedom of other people than all the other nations in the history of the world combined, and I'm tired of people feeling like they've got to apologize for America." (August 2007)
  
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"I have had no illness from it, or even any symptoms. My life expectancy should not be affected. I am in remission, and it is very treatable with drugs if treatment is needed in the future—and with no debilitating side effects,". <ref>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,265271,00.html</ref>
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"Report: Russian bombers have penetrated US airspace 16 times in 10 days. I'm just surprised Obama didn't grant the pilots citizenship." (August 12, 2014)
  
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{{cquote|"We must push back and push back hard"... "Remember how we won in the 1980. We stuck to our conservative principles."}}<ref>[http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/5/25/73456.shtml?s=ic Fred Thompson: Stick to 'Conservative Principles'] </ref>
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"Hillary: I will 'restore faith in the future of the country we love'. Check her donor list; find out which country she's talking about." (June 3, 2015)
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"Hillary asks donors for $1 so she knows 'you have my back—just like I'll have yours.' Apparently Benghazi ambassador didn't send $1 in." (June 17, 2015)
  
 
== See also ==
 
== See also ==
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[[Image:FredThompson.jpg|200px|right]]
 
*[[2008 Presidential Election]]
 
*[[2008 Presidential Election]]
 
*[[President of the United States of America]]
 
*[[President of the United States of America]]
 
*[[Republican Party]]
 
*[[Republican Party]]
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*[[Previous Breaking News/Fred Thompson|Articles about '''Fred Thompson''' from previous "Breaking News"]]
  
 
== External links ==
 
== External links ==
  
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*[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000669/bio Fred Dalton Thompson]
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<small>
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*[http://www.imwithfred.com/ I'm with Fred!] - Exploratory committee site
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*[http://www.abcradio.com/Blog.asp?id=15663&m=5&y=2007 The Fred Thompson Report], Opinions and Commentary of Fred Thompson.
 
*[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=t000457 FRED THOMPSON] U. S. Congress.
 
*[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=t000457 FRED THOMPSON] U. S. Congress.
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*[http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/fred-thompson/ Fred Thompson] The Washington Post.
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*[http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/fred-thompson/ Fred Thompson] ''The Washington Post''.
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*[http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RobertDNovak/2007/05/31/why_fred_thompson Why Fred Thompson?], By Robert D. Novak, May 31, 2007.
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*[http://vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=22003 Fred Thompson Interest Group Ratings], Project Vote Smart.  Retrieved June 4, 2007.</small>
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
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<references/>
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{{Reflist}}
  
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{{DEFAULTSORT: Thompson, Fred}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Fred}}
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[[category:political people]]
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[[Category:Former United States Senators]]
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[[Category:Actors]]
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[[Category:2008 Presidential Candidates]]
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[[Category:Tennessee]]
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[[Category:Republicans]]
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[[Category:Conservatives]]
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[[Category:Pro-Life]]
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[[Category:Pro Second Amendment]]

Latest revision as of 02:52, August 23, 2022

Fred Thompson
Fred thompson.jpg
U.S. Senator from Tennessee
From: December 2, 1994 – January 3, 2003
Predecessor Harlan Mathews
Successor Lamar Alexander
Information
Party Republican
Spouse(s) Sarah Elizabeth Lindsey (1959-1985)
Jeri Kehn (2002- )
Religion Church of Christ

Freddie Dalton Thompson (August 19, 1942, Sheffield, Alabama — November 1, 2015) was an American lawyer, actor and former Republican senator from Tennessee. He was married to attorney Jeri Kehn, a political and media consultant, with whom he had two children. He ran for the Republican Party nomination for the Presidency of the United States in 2007, but dropped out of the race on Jan 22nd 2008 after coming third in the South Carolina Primary.

Aside from politics, Thompson began a career as a character actor, playing supporting roles in critically acclaimed films such as Marie, The Hunt for Red October, Cape Fear, and In the Line of Fire. Upon leaving the Senate, he picked up where he left off, playing New York District Attorney Arthur Branch on Law & Order.

In 2009 Fred Thompson launched The Fred Thompson Show, a nationwide radio program co-hosted by his wife Jeri Kehn.

Early Years

He attended public school in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee and graduated from Memphis State University in 1964. He received a J. D. degree from Vanderbilt University in 1967 and was admitted to the Tennessee bar that same year.

Thompson was an assistant U.S. attorney from 1969 to 1972; minority counsel, then to the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities ("Watergate Committee") from 1973 to 1974. He became special counsel to Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander in 1980, special counsel, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations 1980-1981, Special counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee 1982. He became a member of the Tennessee Appellate Court Nominating Commission 1985-1987.

From 1975 to 1992 Thompson worked as a corporate lobbyist in Washington, D.C. He represented firms such as General Electric, Westinghouse and the Tennessee Savings and Loan League. In 1982, Thompson lobbied the U.S. Congress for passage of the Savings and Loan deregulation legislation. Thompson contributed to the Garn - St Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982. In 1991, he worked with the Washington, D.C. firm of Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin, & Kahn, representing overseas business entities as a registered foreign agent.

U.S. Senate

Thompson was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in the November 8, 1994, special election to fill the unexpired term (Ending January 3, 1997) of Albert Gore, Jr. vacant by resignation upon Gore's election as Vice President. Thompson was re-elected in 1996 for a full 6-year term, ending January 3, 2003. He decided not to be a candidate for reelection in 2002, resuming his acting career.

Political Views

Abortion

Thompson described himself as pro-life. During an interview in 2007 on Fox News' Hannity and Colmes, he said the following:

I've always thought that Roe v. Wade was a wrong decision, that they usurped what had been the law in this country for 200 years, that it was a matter that should go back to the states. When you get back to the states, I think the states should have some leeway. I might vote against one approach, but I think the state ought to have it. And I would not be and never have been for a law that says, on the state level, if I were back in Tennessee voting on this...to criminalize a young woman....

However, when Fred Thompson first ran for the Senate in 1994, he said on the abortion issue,

"Government should stay out of it... The ultimate decision must be made by the women... Government should treat its citizens as adults capable of making moral decisions on their own."

Also in 1994, Thompson told a Tennessee newspaper (the Conservative Spectator): "I’m not willing to support laws that prohibit early term abortions....It comes down to whether life begins at conception. I don’t know in my own mind if that is the case so I don’t feel the law ought to impose that standard on other people." In 1991 and 1992, Thompson was paid for about 20 hours of work on behalf of an abortion rights group.

Campaign Finance Reform

Thompson was one of only ten Senate Republicans to vote for the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance legislation, which has drawn him a lot of criticism from conservatives. However, he has since changed his position, saying that some parts of the bill should be repealed.

Gun Rights

Thompson was opposed to most gun control laws. Speaking of the Virginia Tech massacre, he said:

"Whenever I've seen one of those 'Gun-free Zone' signs, especially outside of a school filled with our youngest and most vulnerable citizens, I've always wondered exactly who these signs are directed at. Obviously, they don't mean much to the sort of man who murdered 32 people just a few days ago."

Although his record in the Senate on guns is generally mixed. Thompson voted pro-gun 19 times and anti-gun 14 times. Additionally, Thompson voted for the Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban, which restricts ownership and use of guns or ammunition by individuals convicted of misdemeanor or felony domestic violence.

Immigration

Thompson believed that U.S. borders should be secured before considering comprehensive immigration reform:

"The government could start by securing our nation's borders. A sovereign nation that can't do that is not a sovereign nation. This is secondarily an immigration issue. It's primarily a national security issue. We were told twenty years ago if we produced a comprehensive solution, we'd solve the illegal immigration problem. Twelve million illegals later, we're being told that same thing again."

Fred Thompson received an average career grade of "C" from the group Americans for Better Immigration. They rated him A+ on border security and an F on visas for foreign workers.

Marriage

Fred Thompson endorsed an amendment to the Constitution that would prevent state judges from altering the definition of marriage without the direction of their states' legislatures. [1]

2008 Presidential Campaign

Fred Thompson's name had been mentioned as a possible candidate for President since early 2007. In response, a grassroots political movement began on the internet, trying to draft Thompson to run. He formed a presidential exploratory committee on June 1, 2007. On September 5, 2007, Thompson made his candidacy official, announcing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: "I'm running for president of the United States." He dropped out of the race on Jan 22nd, 2008, after coming in third in the South Carolina Primary. He endorsed his former rival, Senator John McCain of Arizona.

Quotes

"This country has shed more blood for the freedom of other people than all the other nations in the history of the world combined, and I'm tired of people feeling like they've got to apologize for America." (August 2007)

"Report: Russian bombers have penetrated US airspace 16 times in 10 days. I'm just surprised Obama didn't grant the pilots citizenship." (August 12, 2014)

"Hillary: I will 'restore faith in the future of the country we love'. Check her donor list; find out which country she's talking about." (June 3, 2015)

"Hillary asks donors for $1 so she knows 'you have my back—just like I'll have yours.' Apparently Benghazi ambassador didn't send $1 in." (June 17, 2015)

See also

FredThompson.jpg

External links

References