Larry Thompson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Larry Thompson
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| 30th United States Deputy Attorney General | |
| In office May 10, 2001 – August 31, 2003 |
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| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Robert Mueller (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | James Comey |
| United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia | |
| In office 1982–1986 |
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| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | William Harper |
| Succeeded by | Bob Barr |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Larry Dean Thompson
November 15, 1945 Hannibal, Missouri, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Education | Culver-Stockton College (BA) Michigan State University (MA) University of Michigan (JD) |
Larry Dean Thompson (born November 15, 1945) is an American lawyer and professor. He served as the United States Deputy Attorney General, a top legal job in the U.S. government, under President George W. Bush. He held this role until August 2003.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Larry Thompson was born and grew up in Hannibal, Missouri. His father worked for the railroad.
He went to Culver-Stockton College and earned his first degree in 1967. He then got a master's degree from Michigan State University in 1969. In 1974, he earned his law degree (called a Juris Doctor) from the University of Michigan.
In 1970, Larry Thompson married Brenda Anne Taggart. They have two sons together.
Working in Law and Business
While studying law, Thompson worked for Ford Motor Company. After finishing law school, he became a lawyer for Monsanto Company in St. Louis until 1977.
He then joined the law firm of King & Spalding in Atlanta, Georgia. He left for a few years to work for the government, then came back to the firm in 1986 as a partner. In 2001, he left King & Spalding again to return to government service.
Serving the U.S. Government
From 1982 to 1986, Larry Thompson worked as the U.S. attorney for the northern part of Georgia. In this role, he led a special team that fought against organized crime in the Southeast. People from both major political parties respected him.
Independent Investigations
From 1995 to 1998, Thompson worked as an Independent Counsel. This means he led a special investigation into problems with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He finished a big investigation that had started years before.
Deputy U.S. Attorney General
In 2001, President Bush chose Larry Thompson to be the United States Deputy Attorney General. This is the second-highest position in the Justice Department.
Thompson Memorandum: Rules for Companies
In January 2003, Thompson created an important set of guidelines called the Thompson Memorandum. These guidelines helped federal prosecutors decide when to charge a company with a crime, not just the people who work there.
The rules were strict. They said that for a company to show it was cooperating, it had to:
- Share information from its own internal investigations.
- Give up certain legal protections.
- Not pay for lawyers for executives who were being investigated.
Some people thought these rules were too tough. In 2006, new guidelines were put in place that made these rules less strict.
After Government Service
In August 2003, Larry Thompson left the Justice Department. For a year, he was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a research group.
Then, he became a senior vice-president and general counsel (chief lawyer) for PepsiCo in New York. Since 2011, he has been a law professor at the University of Georgia School of Law. He teaches about how companies should act responsibly and about white-collar crime.
After John Ashcroft resigned in 2004, Thompson was considered a top choice for Attorney General. If he had been chosen, he would have been the first African-American to lead the Justice Department. However, Alberto Gonzales got the job. Thompson's name was also mentioned as a possible choice for a Supreme Court Justice.
In 2017, the U.S. government chose Thompson to oversee Volkswagen AG. His job was to make sure the company followed new rules for the next three years.
Larry Thompson and his wife, Brenda, collect art by African American artists. In 2012, they gave many artworks to the Georgia Museum of Art. They also helped create a special job at the museum for an art expert. The museum showed their art collection in 2017.
Since 2020, Thompson has been a member of the Board of Curators for the Georgia Historical Society.
See also
- George W. Bush Supreme Court candidates
