Ready to give U.S. a dose of law and order
Speakeasy's presidential candidate profile
By Samantha Pirc, Campus Life writer
November 5, 2007 | 11 a.m.
If all the world’s a stage than it should come as no surprise to Americans that yet another actor is running for political office. The Republican Party has another presidential candidate, Fred Thompson. Fred Thompson is best known for his role as District Attorney Arthur Branch on the NBC series “Law & Order,” but this Republican candidate has real life political experience to back up his campaign for the presidency.
Thompson was born August 19, 1942, in Sheffield, Alabama, though his family moved to Tennessee very early after his birth. He was young when he began to show a knack for acting. According to his Web site, Thompson was once hit hard during a high school football game and lay unmoving at midfield. When the coaches ran out to check on him, Thompson looked up and asked “How’s the crowd taking it?” Thompson married his girlfriend Sarah Lindsey during high school when both were just 17.
After high school he went on to become the first member of his family to go to college. Thompson earned a double-major in philosophy and political science in 1964 from Memphis State University, now the University of Memphis. He then went on to earn a law degree from Vanderbilt in 1967.
Soon after graduation from Vanderbilt, Thompson worked a short stint as an assistant U.S. attorney. He began his political work as a campaign manager for Republican U.S. Senator Howard Baker. Thompson entered into the national spotlight when, at the age of 30, he traveled to Washington, D.C. to serve as minority counsel to the Senate Watergate committee. He gained attention especially as his line of questioning lead to the discovery of the audio taping going on in the Oval Office. After Watergate, Thompson once again gained national attention when he defended Marie Ragghianti. Ragghianti was a former Tennessee Parole Board chair who had been fired after refusing to release felons from jail who had bribed aides to Democratic Governor Ray Blanton. Ragghianti’s case was made famous with a book titled “Marie”, and later a movie with the same name in which Thompson played himself.
It was in the movie version of the Ragghianti case that Thompson had his first big screen role. He went on to appear in numerous television shows and movies, some including “Die Hard II,” “The Hunt for Red October” and “Days of Thunder.” Thompson’s role on the NBC show “Law and Order,” however, has given him the most fame. He accepted the role while still occupying his seat in the Senate and became the only actor on the show to have law experience in real life. His character is also a regular on other “Law and Order” series, making him one of the only actors to have roles in two TV series simultaneously.
Thompson’s biggest political role came in 1992 when Al Gore, who had been elected Vice-President, vacated his seat in the Senate. Thompson campaigned to fill this term by driving around Tennessee in a red pick-up truck and giving speeches from the back. His campaign was successful, and he was re-elected in 1996 with more votes than any candidate in Tennessee state history. Thompson announced his next big political move September 5, 2007, on the “Tonight Show” when he officially said he was running for president. Groups immediately began to pop up in support of the lawyer turned politician turned actor, calling themselves “FredHeads.”
Thompson’s platform is that of a typical Republican candidate. He values individual liberties, personal freedoms, a limited government and a free market. Also, Thompson is against gay marriage, is for strengthening the military and is ready to put a gun into the hand of every American. One might wonder what makes this candidate different from all the others. What makes Fred Thompson worthy of the role of the most powerful man in the world? The answer to that question is something that might take much political debating, analysis and consideration. Or people can just turn on the TV at any time of day and catch an episode of “Law and Order” to decide for themselves.
---