This profile was compiled from Washington Post and washingtonpost.com staff reports. Click on linked names to read other profiles, or see the full list of key players.

As chair of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, Fred D. Thompson (R-Tenn.) had the lead role in the 1997 hearings into campaign fund-raising improprieties.

From The Post: • GOP Hits Gore on Temple Fund-Raiser, March 16, 1997 • Inquiry Leaves Indelible Images of Excess, Nov. 1, 1997 • For Thompson, Star Billing in Senate Drama, March 16, 1997 • A Lead Actor in Search of a Plot, July 11, 1997

Thompson's main career has been as a lawyer. After working for his mentor, Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr. (also R-Tenn), as minority counsel during the Senate Watergate hearings, Thompson went into private practice in Tennessee and Washington.

In 1977, he represented the head of the Tennessee Parole Board, fired from her job after exposing a pardon-selling scheme. Thompson sounded so good reading trial transcripts that he got to play himself in the movie, "Marie," starring Sissy Spacek. He has since acted in 18 films. Usually he plays authority figures, often in the federal government.

The ranking Democrat on Thompson's committee is Sen. John Glenn of Ohio.

• See Sen. Thompson's listing in our Congressional Guide.

Last updated March 4, 1998