Richard Thompson
27thUnited States Secretary of the Navy
In office March 13, 1877 – December 20, 1880
President	Rutherford B. Hayes
Preceded by	George M. Robeson
Succeeded by	Nathan Goff Jr.
Judge of Indiana's 18th Circuit Court
In office 1867–1869
Appointed by	Andrew Johnson
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIndiana's7th district
In office March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849
Preceded by	Edward W. McGaughey
Succeeded by	Edward W. McGaughey
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIndiana's2nd district
In office March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1843
Preceded by	John Davis
Succeeded by	Thomas J. Henley
Member of theIndiana State Senate
In office 1836–1838
Member of theIndiana House of Representatives
In office 1834–1836
Personal details
Born	Richard Wigginton Thompson (1809-06-09)June 9, 1809 Culpeper, Virginia, U.S.
Died	February 9, 1900(1900-02-09) (aged 90) Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.
Political party	Whig(Before 1850s) American(Before 1850s–1860) Constitutional Union(1860–1861) Republican(1861–1900)
Signature

Richard Wigginton Thompson (June 9, 1809 – February 9, 1900) was theSecretary of the Navy under President Rutherford B. Hayes.

Thompson was born inCulpeper County, Virginia. He leftVirginia in 1831 and lived briefly inLouisville, Kentucky before finally settling inLawrence County, Indiana. There, he taught school, kept a store, and studied law at night.Admitted to the bar in 1834 and hepracticed law inBedford, Indiana.

He served four terms in theIndiana General Assembly from 1834 to 1838.^[1] He served asPresident pro tempore of theIndiana Senate for a short time and briefly held the office of actingLieutenant Governor.^[2]

In thepresidential election of 1840, he zealously advocated the election ofWilliam Henry Harrison. Thompson then represented Indiana in theUnited States Congress, serving in theUnited States House of Representatives from 1841 to 1843 and again from 1847 to 1849.

During the 1850s Thompson and some of his fellow Whigs (such as his friendSchuyler Colfax) transferred allegiance to the American Party, better known as theKnow Nothing Party. They did so due to their suspicion of the increased immigration from Ireland and Germany, but also because of the view of the northern portion of the American Party to be opposed to slavery. In time Thompson and his allies would allow an alliance of their portion of theWhig Party (which was collapsing with the American Party to prevent victories in elections by theDemocratic Party.

In the election of 1860 Thompson was his state's leader of those who organized theConstitutional Union Party. At the May convention, Indiana first supportedJohn McLean, but fell in behindJohn Bell on the second ballot. Thompson was placed on the National Committee, but gave up the onthird party strategy in August and supportedAbraham Lincoln so as not to risk a Democratic victory in Indiana.

Following theAmerican Civil War, Thompson served as judge of the 18th Circuit Court of the state of Indiana from 1867 to 1869.^[3] Active in Republican politics, he was the Platform Committee chairman at the1868 Republican National Convention in Chicago, he offeredVice PresidentSchuyler Colfax's name for renomination at the1872 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, and gave the nominating speech forOliver H. P. Morton for president at the1876 Republican National Convention in Cincinnati. In 1877,PresidentRutherford B. Hayes appointed himSecretary of the Navy; and he held that office until December 1880.

Thompson, as Secretary of the Navy, had never been among the leading figures of the Cabinet (William Evarts,John Sherman, orCarl Schurz) nor had been even a close colleague and friend of President Hayes like Vice PresidentWilliam Wheeler. Even the Postmaster General,David Key, who was the second Confederate veteran to serve in a Federal Cabinet since theAmerican Civil War was more notable. Reputedly Thompson was unprepared for his post. A popular (if suspect) story is that he was taken for a tour of one of our warships, and went below deck becoming thunderstruck and shouting, "My God, the durned thing's hollow!!" Thompson (being from Indiana) was not from a state with a seacoast, but Indiana has several rivers running through it. It is not hard to believe Thompson was on a steamboat at some point and saw the inside of it.

When he assumed the role of Secretary of the Navy he was replacing Grant's Secretary for nearly eight years,George Robeson. Whatever was the situation caused or allowed by Robeson's handling of the Navy, Thompson offered little additional guidance. His most notable involvement in any naval activity was actually on the sidelines: when Lt.George Washington De Long andJames Gordon Bennett Jr. set up theUSSJeannette Expedition to the North Pole in 1879, Thompson gave some advice to the preparations, but seemed determined to watch the extent of Government involvement in the project. His waffling (about escort vessels and later rescue vessels) were somewhat irritating. While not responsible for that tragedy, Thompson certainly did not help matters by his hair-splitting legalisms.

In 1880 a new matter arose that had a bearing with Thompson leaving his post. The French were in the process of funding the newPanama Canal Company under ComteFerdinand de Lesseps. The Hayes administration, while willing to keep good relations with the French, were fully suspicious about a French-owned Canal across theIsthmus of Panama as a violation of the Monroe Doctrine. Thompson was aware of this. But Thompson was also approached by the American-based section of the Panama Company with a job offer. The American section was headed and funded byJ. & W. Seligman & Co., then headed by Jessie Seligman. The Seligmans were old friends of former PresidentUlysses S. Grant and had offered Grant the position of the Presidency of the Canal Company. But Grant refused it. Looking around for a replacement they turned to Thompson. He accepted and then resigned from the Cabinet. Later on, this whole matter became an issue before the Congressional Committee that questioned both Seligman and Thompson. Eventually, Thompson would leave the Panama Company, but his reputation was somewhat tarnished by the situation. He was not connected with it at the time of the great scandalous collapse of the enterprise in 1889.

Retiring to Indiana, Thompson lived out the remainder of his days in his adopted state. He died in 1900 atTerre Haute, Indiana.

TheUnited States NavydestroyerUSSThompson (DD-305) was named in his honor.

He was also a member of theDelta Kappa Epsilon fraternity at Alabama (Psi chapter), and an activeFreemason and member ofTerre Haute Lodge No. 19, F&AM, serving as the Master of Terre Haute Lodge No. 19 in 1859 & 1860.^[4]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRichard W. Thompson.

• United States Congress."Richard W. Thompson (id: T000214)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Richard W. Thompson atFind a Grave
• Tyler AnbinderNativism & Slavery: The Northern Know Nothings & the Politics of the 1850s (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), p. 72, 195, passim 241, 268, 274.ISBN 978-0-19-507233-4.
• Leonard GuttridgeIcebound: The Jeannette Expedition's Quest for the North Pole (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1986), p. 42–49 passim, 53, 64, 65, 162, 164, 168.ISBN 0-87021-330-X.
• Maron J. SimonThe Panama Affair (New York:Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, p. 36, 155–156.
• Richard W. Thompson collection, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library
• Works by Richard W. Thompson at Project Gutenberg

• 1809 births
• 1900 deaths
• United States secretaries of the navy
• Republican Party members of the Indiana House of Representatives
• Republican Party Indiana state senators
• Indiana lawyers
• 19th-century American business executives in rail transportation
• Politicians from Terre Haute, Indiana
• Politicians from Culpeper County, Virginia
• People of Indiana in the American Civil War
• Indiana state court judges
• Hayes administration cabinet members
• Indiana Know Nothings
• Indiana Constitutional Unionists
• Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Indiana
• 19th-century United States representatives
• 19th-century members of the Indiana General Assembly

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from October 2025
• Commons category link from Wikidata