Freddie Dalton Thompson was an American politician, attorney, lobbyist, columnist, actor, and radio personality. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1994 to 2003. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the Republican Party presidential primaries for the 2008 United States presidential election.

Thompson was born at Helen Keller Memorial Hospital in Sheffield, Alabama on August 19, 1942, the son of Ruth Inez (née Bradley) and Fletcher Session Thompson (born Lauderdale County, Alabama, August 26, 1919, and died in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, May 27, 1990), who was an automobile salesman. Fred Thompson had English and distant Dutch ancestry. He attended public school in Lawrenceburg, graduating from Lawrence County High School in 1960 where he played high-school football. Thereafter, he worked days in the local post office, and nights at the Murray bicycle assembly plant.