Thomas Francis Eagleton was an American lawyer who served as a United States senator from Missouri from 1968 to 1987. He was briefly the Democratic vice presidential nominee under George McGovern in 1972. He suffered from bouts of depression throughout his life, resulting in several hospitalizations, which were kept secret from the public. When they were revealed, the McGovern campaign was humiliated, and Eagleton was forced to quit the race. He later became adjunct professor of public affairs at Washington University in St. Louis.