Shocking truth about Fred Thompson revealed!

Before we get too far into the brand-new presidential campaign of Fred Thompson, which began in the wee hours of this morning in a webcast at Fred08.com, we need to straighten one thing out for the official record.

This may come as a major shock to the nation just discovering the latest presidential wannabe. Major publications have written long profiles of Thompson without revealing this detail. And it's certainly not news that the Thompson campaign wanted to leak out right at the peak of publicity. But it turns out that the newest candidate's name in the Republican race for president is, in fact, not Fred D. Thompson.

It's been a family secret for many, many years, uncovered only by the most diligent reporting. Few people know this. But Fred Thompson's actual first name isn't Fred. It's really Freddie. No, seriously.

Official marriage, birth and divorce records in Alabama and Tennessee show that the newest Republican presidential contender was born Freddie Dalton Thompson. (His mother, who lives outside Nashville, refuses to explain how this came to be.)

But Thompson was known as Freddie growing up in Lawrence County, Tenn. And he used the Freddie name all the way through college and all the way through law school.

But when he returned to his hometown to practice law in 1967, his wife's uncle, a wise local politician named Ed Lindsey, gave the young man an important piece of lifetime advice: “I told him one day that if you’ve got any ideas of wanting to be in politics, I would highly recommend that you get rid of this Freddie business.”

Freddie took Eddie's advice and that year, as a member of the Tennessee bar, Freddie Dalton Thompson forevermore became Fred D. Thompson.

The name Freddie did live on among old friends, and, in fact, it became something of a code word that they could use to reach him directly as he became a famous Hollywood actor and U.S. senator.

Bobby Alford, a local historian in Lawrenceburg who was Freddie's Babe Ruth baseball coach, recalls that on a visit home from Washington shortly after his 1994 election to the U.S. Senate, Freddie told all his hometown friends: "You all ever need anything up there, you call the girl in my office, and when you do, call me Freddie. Don't call me Fred. She'll know you're from Lawrenceburg and take care of you."

Indeed, a few years later when a group of some 30 Tennesseans lost their tickets for a long-awaited tour of the Capitol, Alford tried the trick. He called the senator's office, used the name Freddie and, by golly, the hometown group immediately got a brand-new set of replacement tickets from Thompson's staff.

"Freddie," Alford recalls, "was the magic word." You can learn a lot more interesting details about the past life of Freddie Thompson in a fascinating profile of the former senator by The Times' Joe Mathews that appears here on this website and in Thursday's print editions.

--Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[T. Folkman]

So... What's the big deal?? I kinda like "Freddie"....

[Alexander]

Typical liberal attack mode: attack the person's name or speaking style or just plain old call him/her names!

See: "Morning after Thompson’s announcement, LA Times attempts hit piece"

Thank you!

(Ans: Oh, please. Get a sense of humor!-AM)

[DeanFan84]

There's an awful lot that people don't know about good ol' Fred. Like the fact he got married in the fall term of his senior year in high school. (shotgun wedding.) Or that his 2nd wife is seven years younger than his first-born child. Or that Fred has worked more years as a lobbyist than as a politician or actor.

Just saying.

(FYI, interestingly he talks about his teenage marriage in his announcement video at fred08.com)

[Gary Ruppert]

And the LA Times hasn't done any attack pieces of this sort on that ambulance chasing sleazy lawyer "Johnny Reid Edwards"

Note to you left coasters: Some of us here in "flyover country" don't have time for fancy names. We're not focused on impressing the vapid Paris Hilton-worshipping, latte drinking, carbon offset-using, Limousine liberals out there.

But then again, if I were to mention Barack Obama's middle name, I think the left would charge me with a thought crime.

[Geeno]

You're a parody troll, aren't you Gary?

[Alexander]

OK I re-read the blog devoted to "Freddy" and figured out that there was an attempt at humor. As far as the front page story, I still think it carries a negative tone, but hey, which LA Times writer will dig for good stuff when it comes to all-things Republican?

[seatech1]

I think that everyone has the right to be called anything that they want. So it's no big deal to me (a democrat) that he prefers Fred, and goes by that. After all, I would not want to be called "Freddie", either. Freddie is a term we used (in grade school) for passing gas, because we were not permitted to say "fart". So, if this old fart wants to avoid being called a "freddie", that's okay with me.
It's ironic, however, that, with a middle initial of "D", it still sounds like Freddie Thompson when you say it out loud. If he wanted to avoid the use of the name, Freddie, you would think that he would stop using the middle initial, too. I guess he's not smart enough to think of that.

[Andrew]

What is Thompson's legal name now? Is it Fred or Freddie?

For example, what name appears on his second marriage certificate?

Thanks in advance for letting us know.

(Ans: Obviously, he prefers Fred now, Andy.--AM)

[John]

So? John Edwards is really Johnny Edwards on HIS birth certificate. Big deal.

[jon murphy]

Is the LA Times being serious when they write this. This is a joke. I can't believe this is what they spend their time doing. No wonder their losing readers, money, and their dignity!!

[Scott]

You actually write this article? You have WAY too much time on your hands.

(It was so long ago.)