10 Things You Didn't Know About Tommy Thompson
Compiled by the U.S.News & World Report library staff
1. Tommy G. Thompson was born on Nov. 19, 1941, in Elroy, Wis. His mother's family migrated to the United States during the Irish potato famine and obtained property via the Homestead Act of 1862. His maternal grandfather, who helped organize a farm workers union, was part of Wisconsin's Progressive movement in the early 1900s.
2. When he was 4 years old, he asked for a tricycle. His father, a grocery store and gas station owner, made him earn it. He paid Tommy 25 cents an hour to scrape chicken droppings off the eggs farmers traded for food.
3. He was not originally an outgoing person but made a conscious effort to overcome his innate shyness. While working on his bachelor's degree in political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he practiced his new outgoing personality by asking strangers for their vote–long before he ran for office.
4. He earned his law degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1966, the same year he entered politics. He won a seat in the Wisconsin Assembly by visiting 80 percent of the homes in his district.
5. He met his wife, Sue Ann Mashak, when she came to Madison to lobby for higher teacher salaries. They married in 1968 and have three children: Kelli, Tommy, and Jason.
6. He spent 20 years in the Wisconsin Assembly. During his last five years, he served as the Assembly minority leader and earned the nickname "Dr. No" for his opposition to the Democrats.
7. He is the longest-serving governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in 1986 and stayed in office till 2001.
8. His brother, Libertarian Ed Thompson, ran in the 2002 Wisconsin gubernatorial race. He lost with 11 percent of the votes.
9. He considered running for president but instead supported George W. Bush, who appointed him secretary of health and human services in 2001. He resigned from his HHS position on Dec. 3, 2004, and took a position as a senior partner at a law firm.
10. He likes to ride Harleys and was inducted into South Dakota's Sturgis Motorcycle Museum Hall of Fame in 2002.
www.tommy2008.com/Biography.aspx
Current Biography Yearbook 1995
Encyclopedia of World Biography 2005
Almanac of American Politics
New York Times
www.sturgismuseum.com/custompage.asp?pg=inducteebiothompson
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