I see that Thomas Eagleton died last weekend.

I took his class on the Vietnam war. I was impressed, and liked what I saw: he was friendly, honest, candid, fair, and forthright. For example, in recounting the Vietnam war and the surrounding political machinations, he was willing to admit points where his political opponents did the right thing, and where his own views were probably wrong in retrospect.

Though our politics are different, he was a Democrat I respected and admired. He was a decent and principled guy, and his passing seems to mark, to me, the passing of a different era of politics -- one that changed within his lifetime. Indeed, he was at the crux of that change.

Few knew about FDR's handicap: I guess it wasn't considered polite to write about such things. But when it emerged that Eagleton had had psychiatric treatment, the press went nuts about it. That was a change: politics became one notch more personal, one notch more acrimonious. And though we've seen psychiatric treatment come to be more accepted, we've also seen a downward slide in tone. There are fewer like Eagleton, who demonstrated you could disagree without being disagreeable.

I'd like to close with a quote from another man who viewed him across the political aisle:

John C. Danforth, a Republican friend and Senate colleague from Missouri for 10 years, recalled in January that Mr. Eagleton reflected a Senate era far less partisan than the one today. When Mr. Danforth was sworn in as senator in 1977 at a family dinner, Mr. Eagleton attended. The two never campaigned against each other. “There was nothing that was devious about him,” Mr. Danforth said. “He was wonderful to deal with in the Senate. He was funny, and saw the ridiculous in things.”

That's exactly right.

Bless you, Senator Eagleton. Thank you for your service, and for your laudable example.