Features

The Actor

Thompson at a South Carolina fund-raiser in June.

(Photo: Brett Flashnick/AP)

In 1975, Thompson wrote about the experience in his book At That Point in Time: The Inside Story of the Senate Watergate Committee, portraying himself as the picture of the awestruck country lawyer. He insists when Baker offered him the job in February of 1973, “the only names I could recall without prompting were Howard Hunt and Gordon Liddy.”

Because it was a Republican investigator who had uncovered the fact that Nixon aide Alexander Butterfield had admitted that the White House featured an elaborate taping system, Baker insisted that a Republican cross-examine Butterfield the next day so the GOP could maintain the illusion of impartiality—and take credit. On national television, Thompson asked Butterfield the now famous line, “Are you aware of the installation of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the president?” Butterfield famously answered yes (as everyone already knew he would). It was Thompson’s first star turn, a role that marked him in America’s minds as a righteous heavyweight prosecutor.

Thompson’s own book suggests he wasn’t exactly an impartial participant in the proceedings, however. He admits to leaking the news about the Butterfield discovery to Nixon’s lawyers without authorization. Transcripts from the Nixon Tapes also suggest Thompson was at least partially in Nixon’s pocket. As the Watergate Committee prepared to call Nixon aide John Dean, Nixon lawyer J. Fred Buzhardt coached Thompson on how to question Dean. Buzhardt told Nixon, “I found Thompson most cooperative, feeling more Republican every day.” The next day, Nixon Chief of Staff Alexander Haig reported to the president, “He [Thompson] thinks we’re in good shape.” Of course, they were not. Not long after, Dean became the first Nixon aide to directly tie the president to the break-in and cover-up. But Thompson’s reputation as a plain-speaking crusader for truth and justice had already been made.

Thompson’s acting career also happened by accident. After parlaying his Watergate fame into big speaking fees and the start of a lucrative lobbying career (his clients included Westinghouse and the Tennessee savings-and-loans industry), Thompson returned to private practice in Tennessee. There, he wound up representing Marie Ragghianti, the head of the Tennessee Parole Board who was fired by Democratic governor Ray Blanton for exposing a parole-for-sale scheme. Ragghianti sued for wrongful dismissal, and Thompson won the case. Serpico author Peter Maas wrote a book about Ragghianti’s story that was eventually optioned as a movie with Sissy Spacek slated to play the title role.

According to Thompson lore, director Roger Donaldson had to plead with Thompson to audition to play himself. “The idea of him playing himself was reached,” Donaldson told the Nashville Tennessean in May of this year. “And so I said to Fred, ‘Would you be interested at having a go at playing yourself?’ He was like, ‘Shucks, do you think I could do that?’ I said, ‘You never know until you try.’”

However, back in 1985, when the movie was made, Thompson freely admitted he’d lobbied Donaldson hard until he scored an audition. Although the film wasn’t especially successful, Thompson received raves, including one that described him as the movie’s “real discovery.”

Bored with the law and in the process of getting a divorce from Lindsey, Thompson started work on a novel and began going on auditions. The book was never published, but within a few years, Thompson had become a Hollywood go-to guy for gruff government types, eventually playing a CIA director in No Way Out and a navy admiral in The Hunt for Red October. Most of his parts didn’t take long to film, so Thompson kept his hand in the lobbying game. Tennessee insiders tried to persuade Thompson to run for the retiring Baker’s seat in 1984, but he declined, quipping to the Washington Post, “the hassle factor is up and the pay is not.”

The day after his South Carolina speech in June, Thompson headed to New Hampshire for a bit of packaged politicking to be chronicled by the home team. With rare exceptions, Thompson has limited his media exposure to reliably conservative outlets like The Weekly Standard, Sean Hannity, and Fox News. This morning, Fox had the exclusive.

The first stop was Riley’s gun shop, the largest rifle-and-pistol joint in New Hampshire. A few minutes after noon, two black SUVs barreled down the two-lane blacktop and were waved into the parking lot by a Thompson aide. The cars emptied, and Thompson emerged with Jeri. Thompson’s blue suit was a torrent of wrinkles—he conjured up ’60 Nixon more than ’80 Reagan. His better half looked, well, better in a smart black suit that seemed a slight bit of overkill for a gun-and-ammo stop. They held hands and walked up a wheelchair-accessible ramp into Riley’s, where two or three customers idly chatted with the help about the stability of this or that rifle scope.