Former Missouri Senator Thomas Eagleton died today at the age of 77 from unknown causes . He is best known as George McGovern’s Vice Presidential Nominee in the 1972 presidential elections. He is also a big reason why Republican candidate Richard Nixon did so well in the 1972 elections against Democratic candidate George McGovern. Shortly after Senator Eagleton was chosen as the Vice Presidential Nominee at the Democratic National Convention in July 1972, it was revealed by the press that he had been hospitalized for psychiatric treatment and had twice undergone electroshock therapy for depression. He dropped out of the presidential race on August 1st 1972. Why was Thomas Eagleton so disastrous for George McGovern? Before the press revealed that Eagleton had been hospitalized, George McGovern had the image of being a competent man of simplicity and conviction. George McGovern was the anti-establishment politician who out hustled the better-funded democratic presidential candidates like