Richard W. Thompson
Richard Thompson | |
---|---|
27th United States Secretary of the Navy | |
In office March 13, 1877 – December 20, 1880 | |
President | Rutherford B. Hayes |
Preceded by | George M. Robeson |
Succeeded by | Nathan Goff Jr. |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 7th district | |
In office March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849 | |
Preceded by | Edward W. McGaughey |
Succeeded by | Edward W. McGaughey |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 2nd district | |
In office March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1843 | |
Preceded by | John Davis |
Succeeded by | Thomas J. Henley |
Personal details | |
Born | Richard Wigginton Thompson June 9, 1809 Culpeper, Virginia, U.S. |
Died | February 9, 1900 Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S. | (aged 90)
Political party | Whig (Before 1850s) American (Before 1850s–1860) Constitutional Union (1860–1861) Republican (1861–1900) |
Richard Wigginton Thompson (June 9, 1809 – February 9, 1900) was an American politician.
Thompson was born in Culpeper County, Virginia. He left Virginia in 1831 and lived briefly in Louisville, Kentucky before finally settling in Lawrence County, Indiana. There, he taught school, kept a store, and studied law at night. Admitted to the bar in 1834, he practiced law in Bedford, Indiana, and served four terms in the Indiana General Assembly from 1834 to 1838. He served as President pro tempore of the Indiana Senate for a short time and briefly held the office of acting Lieutenant Governor. In the presidential election of 1840, he zealously advocated the election of William Henry Harrison. Thompson then represented Indiana in the United States Congress, serving in the United States House of Representatives from 1841 to 1843 and again from 1847 to 1849.
During the 1850s Thompson and some of his fellow Whigs (such as his friend
In the election of 1860 Thompson was his state's leader of those who organized the
Following the
Thompson, as Secretary of the Navy, had never been among the leading figures of the Cabinet (
When he assumed the role of Secretary of the Navy he was replacing Grant's Secretary for nearly eight years,
In 1880 a new matter arose that had a bearing with Thompson leaving his post. The French were in the process of funding the new
Retiring to Indiana, Thompson lived out the remainder of his days in his adopted state. He died in 1900 at Terre Haute, Indiana.
The United States Navy destroyer USS Thompson (DD-305) was named in his honor.
He was also a member of the
References
- ^ "Inception to 1899". Terre Haute Lodge, No. 19, F.&A.M. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
External links
- United States Congress. "Richard W. Thompson (id: T000214)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Richard W. Thompson at Find a Grave
- Tyler Anbinder Nativism & Slavery: The Northern Know Nothings & the Politics of the 1850s (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), p. 72, 195, passim 241, 268, 274. ISBN 978-0-19-507233-4.
- Leonard Guttridge Icebound: The Jeannette Expedition's Quest for the North Pole (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1986), p. 42–49 passim, 53, 64, 65, 162, 164, 168. ISBN 0-87021-330-X.
- Maron J. Simon The Panama Affair (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, p. 36, 155–156.
- Richard W. Thompson collection, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library
- Works by Richard W. Thompson at Project Gutenberg