Editing Thomas Eagleton (section)

==Early life and political career==
[[File:Thomas F. Eagleton.jpg|thumb|Eagleton as Lieutenant Governor in 1965]]

Eagleton was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Zitta Louise (Swanson) and Mark David Eagleton, a politician who had run for mayor. His paternal grandparents were Irish immigrants, and his mother had Swedish, Irish, French, and Austrian ancestry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/call-me-tom-james-n-giglio/1101041346?ean=9780826219404|title=Call Me Tom: The Life of Thomas F. Eagleton|first=Barnes &|last=Noble|website=Barnes & Noble|access-date=January 3, 2018}}</ref>

Eagleton graduated from [[St. Louis Country Day School]], served in the U.S. Navy for two years, and graduated in 1950 from [[Amherst College]], where he was a member of [[Delta Kappa Epsilon]] fraternity (Sigma chapter). He then attended [[Harvard Law School]]. After graduating in 1953, Eagleton practiced law at his father's firm and later became associated with [[Anheuser-Busch]]'s legal department.<ref name=Papers>{{cite web|title=C0674 Eagleton, Thomas F. (1929–2007), Papers, 1944–1987|url=http://shs.umsystem.edu/manuscripts/invent/0674.pdf|publisher=The State Historical Society of Missouri|access-date=January 4, 2014|archive-date=January 4, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104204423/http://shs.umsystem.edu/manuscripts/invent/0674.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Eagleton married Barbara Ann Smith of St. Louis on January 26, 1956. A son, Terence, was born in 1959, and a daughter, Christin, in 1963. He was elected circuit attorney of the City of St. Louis in 1956. During his tenure, he appeared on the TV show ''[[What's My Line?]]'' (episode #355) as "District Attorney of St. Louis". (He stumped the panel.)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tv.com/episode-355/episode/95741/summary.html?q=eagleton&tag=search_results;title;4|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120914135741/http://www.tv.com/episode-355/episode/95741/summary.html?q=eagleton&tag=search_results;title;4|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 14, 2012|title=What's My Line?: EPISODE #355|last=TV.com|website=TV.com|access-date=January 3, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkLVdIGInd8 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/TkLVdIGInd8| archive-date=December 12, 2021 |url-status=live|title=What's My Line? – Mamie Van Doren; Melvyn Douglas [panel] (Mar 24, 1957)|last=What's My Line?|date=January 8, 2014|access-date=January 3, 2018|publisher=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He was elected Missouri Attorney General in 1960 at age 31 (the youngest in the state's history). He was elected the 38th lieutenant governor of Missouri in 1964, and won a U.S. Senate seat in [[1968 United States Senate election in Missouri|1968]], unseating incumbent [[Edward V. Long]] in the Democratic primary and narrowly defeating Congressman [[Thomas B. Curtis]] in the general election.

Eagleton suffered from depression; he checked himself into hospital three times between 1960 and 1966 for physical and nervous exhaustion, receiving [[electroconvulsive therapy]] (shock therapy) twice.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Clymer|first1=Adam|title=Thomas F. Eagleton, 77, a Running Mate for 18 Days, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/washington/05eagleton.html|work=The New York Times|date=March 5, 2007}}</ref><ref name="stlpd">{{cite web|url=https://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/special/pd125.nsf/0/6C7926B9C0966F6486256E04006BEC5F?OpenDocument|title=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|website=Stltoday.com|access-date=January 3, 2018|archive-date=January 18, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080118214345/http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/special/pd125.nsf/0/6C7926B9C0966F6486256E04006BEC5F?OpenDocument|url-status=dead}}</ref> He later received a diagnosis of [[bipolar II]] from [[Frederick K. Goodwin]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/us/politics/eagleton-pick-in-1972-colors-todays-vice-president-hunt.html?mcubz=1|title=Hasty and Ruinous 1972 Pick Colors Today's Hunt for a No. 2|last=Altman|first=Lawrence K.|date=July 23, 2012|access-date=June 24, 2017|work=The New York Times}}</ref>

The hospitalizations, which were not widely publicized, had little effect on his political aspirations. The ''[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]'' noted in 1972, immediately after Eagleton's vice-presidential nomination: "He had been troubled with gastric disturbances, which led to occasional hospitalizations. The stomach troubles have contributed to rumors that he had a drinking problem."<ref name="stlpd"/>