Richard W. Thompson

Infobox US Cabinet official
name=Richard Wigginton Thompson

---

image_width=200px
order=27th
title=United States Secretary of the Navy
term_start=March 13, 1877
term_end=December 20, 1880
predecessor=George M. Robeson
successor=Nathan Goff, Jr.
birth_date=birth date|1809|6|8|mf=y
birth_place=Culpeper County, Virginia, U.S.
death_date=death date and age|1900|2|9|1809|6|8
death_place=Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.
party=Whig, Republican
spouse=
profession=Politician, Lawyer, Judge, Teacher
religion=

Richard Wigginton Thompson (June 8, 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 Legislature 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. In the election of 1860 Thompson was his state's leader of those who organized the Constitutional Union Party. At the May convention, Indiana first supported John McLean, but fell in behind John Bell on the second ballot. Thompson was placed on the National Committee, but gave up the on third party strategy in August and supported Abraham Lincoln so as not to risk a Democratic victory in Indiana. Following the American Civil War, Thompson served as judge of the 18th Circuit Court of the state of Indiana from 1867 to 1869. Active in Repubican politics, he was the Platform Committee chairman at the 1868 Chicago Convention, he offered Vice President Schuyler Colfax's name for renomination at the 1872 Philadelphia Convention, and gave the nominating speech for Oliver H. P. Morton for President at the 1876 Cincinnati Convention. In 1877, President of the United States Rutherford B. Hayes appointed him Secretary of the Navy; and he held that office until 1881.

Retiring to Indiana, Richard W. 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.

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1717&PIgrid=1717&PIcrid=85370&ShowCemPhotos=Y& Richard W. Thompson] at Find A Grave