Spring 2001

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Seven years have passed since the film release of Forrest Gump, but most of us who saw the movie still can recall with a great deal of fondness Tom Hanks’s Oscar-winning portrayal of the title character. Forrest Gump found himself a part of a series of key historical events that led to personal meetings with the great and near great, including Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. Rose-Hulman has its own Forrest Gump in the person of Richard Wigginton Thompson.

Col. Thompson – as friends, neighbors, and Rose Poly students always knew him – had an unusually long life of public service and was a man to be reckoned with in state and national affairs for 65 years. He ranked as a spellbinding orator, among the very best in the nation. With pride, the citizens of Terre Haute and Indiana pointed to Col. Thompson, the friend of the common man and counsel to the mighty. For Rose and her students, he was the long-serving lawyer for Chauncey Rose’s railroad interests and, a 17-year veteran of the Board of Managers, serving as president from 1893 until his death in 1900 while in his 91st year.

Thompson's remarkable story began almost at birth. Born in Culpepper, Va., in 1809, he grew up in a family where politics and public service were taken seriously. His father, though not a Democrat, was a close friend of Andy Jackson. His stepmother was the granddaughter of George Washington’s younger brother Charles. Both grandfathers fought in the Revolution. With such a pedigree, it is little wonder that Thompson would find himself face-to-face with an amazing group of American politicians and statesmen.

With all humility, Thompson laid honest claim to having met and heard (and for most was a source of counsel to) every U.S. President who served from 1801 until 1900. It began with a chance meeting with former President Jefferson in 1825, while Thompson was visiting Charlottesville, some 50 miles southwest of Culpepper. He also saw and heard former presidents Madison and Monroe, who lived in the vicinity and would travel frequently through Culpepper, staying the night.

Thompson's father introduced young Richard to President Jackson at his first inaugural in 1829. His father teasingly commented to Jackson that his son supported Henry Clay, Jackson’s Whig opponent in the election. Expecting a lecture, Thompson was instead favored with advice that stood him well the rest of his long life. Jackson told him: "My son, I have no advice to give you in reference to your politics except this – think always for yourself, and let your conscience be your invariable guide."

Young Richard headed west when the family’s fortune ebbed, landing in Bedford, Ind., at the age of 22, to seek his destiny and fortune. Before long, reading the law at night on his own, he was admitted to the bar. At 25 he was elected to the first of two terms in the State Assembly. By 1840 he was stumping for William Henry Harrison and was elected himself to the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming a life-long friend of fellow congressman Abraham Lincoln. While there he became acquainted with John Quincy Adams, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan. During his congressional days, Thompson established Terre Haute as his permanent residence.

Washington held no charm for Thompson, who would serve another term in 1846. But he established a sound reputation that led to job offers that were never sought. President Taylor asked him to be ambassador to Austria, President Fillmore wanted him to be the general solicitor of the Land Office, and Lincoln offered him a court of claim judgeship. The biggest surprise came in 1877 when President Hayes asked him ‘out of the blue’ to join his cabinet as Secretary of the Navy. He filled that post, despite advancing age, until December 1880, when he accepted the chairmanship of the American Committee of the Panama Canal Company, at triple his salary as a cabinet secretary.

With the exception of the travel required for his duties with the Panama Canal Company, Thompson spent the rest of his life in Terre Haute, filling the role of "The Grand Old Man of Indiana" as his obituaries called him. As president of the Board of Managers he looked forward each year to delivering the graduation address and passing out the diplomas. At his death the Board closed the school so that all students could attend his funeral.