Senior Tennessee Sen. Howard Baker named Sen. Fred Thompson (seen here in 1973) to the job of chief counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee's Republicans in 1973. It was defining moment in Thompson's career.
As a young Republican lawyer, Thompson successfully represented Democrat Marie Ragghianti, who sued the state over her firing as chairman of the state parole board in 1977 by Gov. Ray Blanton. Blanton went to prison, and a book about the case, "Marie: A true Story," made a star of Thompson, who played himself in a 1986 movie based on the book. It was his first acting role.
Republican Sen. Thompson shares a light moment with Democratic Sens. Carl M. Levin of Michigan (left) and John Glenn of Ohio during Senate hearings in 1997 on campaign fund-raising. Thompson went against the party line and drew the ire of its leadership in favoring limits on campaign contributions and leading an investigation into both parties' fund-raising.
Thompson takes to the stage in portraying Andrew Jackson in a one-act play at the Hermitage near Nashville in 2000.
Expected Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson, former Tennessee senator and actor, and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-La., make the rounds pressing the flesh at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. While not officially a candidate, Thompson is campaigning like one on the primary circuit.
