Ex-Sen. Thomas Eagleton dead at 77

ST. LOUIS, March 4 (UPI) -- Retired U.S. Sen. Thomas F. Eagleton, who played a pivotal role in national and state politics for decades, has died over the weekend in Missouri at age 77.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Eagleton suffered varied health problems prior to his death at St. Mary's Health Center in Richmond Heights.

Eagleton, known as a colorful, charismatic figure, was an early opponent of the war in Vietnam and was author of the War Powers Act, which forbids the president to declare war without extensive congressional approval. In his later years, Eagleton was a staunch critic of the Iraq War and the Bush administration's strategies.

In 1972, Eagleton was the running mate of Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern, but was forced to step down after his treatments for depression in the 1960s, which included electric shock therapy, became public.

Born in St. Louis in 1929, Eagleton served in the Navy and earned degrees from Amherst (Mass.) College and Harvard. He went on to become a charismatic, admired and memorable statesman for whom the federal court house in downtown St. Louis is named, the newspaper said.