On this day in 1942, Lawrence County’s own Fred Thompson was born..

Fred D. Thompson was born in Sheffield, Alabama, but grew up in Lawrenceburg and was a 1960 graduate of Lawrence County High School. Remembered as a class clown by friends, the 6’5″ Thompson was also a gifted athlete.

In his memoir ‘Teaching the Pig to Dance,’ Fred reminisced about many of his teenage misadventures in Lawrenceburg, including one incident when he threw a bottle of water into a window fan at the Blue Ribbon Café, accidentally shattering the window and earning him a lecture from café owner Dudley Brewer.

One of the turning points in Thompson’s life came when his then-father-in-law gave him a copy of Clarence Darrow’s autobiography. As he told the Boston ‘Globe’ in 2007, after reading Darrow’s book, Thompson knew he wanted to be a lawyer.

Fred earned a law degree from Vanderbilt in 1967. He obtained a job as an assistant U.S. Attorney and was introduced to Senator Howard Baker, with whom he formed a close bond. Thompson was Baker’s campaign manager in 1972. Baker, who was the ranking Republican on the Senate Watergate Committee, obtained a position for Thompson as committee counsel.

In his role as committee counsel, Thompson asked one of the most critical questions of the Watergate investigation. During a public hearing on July 16, 1973, Thompson asked White House aide Alexander Butterfield if he “was aware of the installation of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the President.” The question sparked a chain of events which precipitated Nixon’s resignation a year later. Thompson’s 1975 book ‘At That Point in Time’ recounted his experience in the Watergate hearings.

Thompson began an unlikely film career after successfully defending the whistleblower in a political scandal case in Tennessee. The story inspired the book ‘Marie: A True Story’ by Peter Maas. When the book was made into the film ‘Marie’ in 1985, Thompson played himself alongside Sissy Spacek, Jeff Daniels, and Morgan Freeman.

Fred’s film career went on to include parts in ‘Days of Thunder,’ ‘The Hunt for Red October,’ ‘Die Hard 2,’ and a recurring role as district attorney Arthur Branch on the television show ‘Law and Order.’

In 1994, Thompson successfully ran to fill the unexpired senate term of Vice President Al Gore and won again in 1996. He declined to run in 2002 and returned to acting.

On September 5, 2007, Fred announced on ‘The Tonight Show’ that he was running for president. He kicked off his presidential bid with a massive rally on the Square in Lawrenceburg on September 15. Thousands of people packed into the Square to hear Fred’s 25-minute speech, which he closed with, “The things I learned here have never left me, and I want to thank you for that, Lawrenceburg.”

Unfortunately for Fred, his campaign failed to gain traction, and he quit the race in January 2008.

Fred passed away on November 6, 2015 from a recurrence of lymphoma. He is buried in Mimosa Cemetery in Lawrenceburg.