Fred Thompson (R)
Candidate Profile:
Fred Thompson, 65, former Senator from Tennessee and well-known TV and movie actor, joined the race for the Republican nomination for President on September 5.
He earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy and political science from Memphis State University in 1964 and his law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1967. Thompson served as assistant US attorney in Nashville, then Minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee. He spent several years as a corporate attorney then, breaking open a political corruption case, was asked to portray himself in a movie drawn from the event.
He went on to appear in more than 18 films and the TV show, Law & Order.
Between roles, Thompson continued his work as an attorney and public servant. He served as special counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1980 and the Senate Intelligence Committee in 1982. In 1994, he ran to fill the remaining two years of an unexpired Senate term and then was reelected with more votes than any candidate for any office in Tennessee’s history.
Major Issues
Taxes
While in the US Senate, Thompson, who served on the Finance Committee, supported and worked to enact three major tax-cut bills.
National Security
Thompson served on Senate Intelligence Committee, focusing on nuclear proliferation and technology transfers that could damage American industrial and national security.
Free Trade
While a vocal supporter of free trade, Thompson has also fought to link free trade to our national security interests. For example, when voting to grant full-trading status to China, Senator Thompson fought unsuccessfully to include an amendment in the bill that would have required the president to impose sanctions against China if it violated nuclear-nonproliferation agreements.
Notable Quote:
“Today we face the urgent threat of radical Islamic terrorists. Al Qaeda is committed to attacking us here at home, and wants to use weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to kill millions. We must never give them that opportunity. We must defeat the terrorists abroad, and that begins in Iraq and Afghanistan—the central fronts in this global war.”