Thompson was treasurer of the
American National Insurance Company.
Congress He was a
Democratic member of the
House of Representatives from the
7th district of Texas from 1933 to 1935, having been elected to fill the vacancy caused by the death of United States Representative
Clay Stone Briggs. Following World War II, he represented Texas's
9th district from 1947 until he retired in 1966. He was one of the majority of the Texan delegation to decline to sign the 1956
Southern Manifesto opposing the desegregation of public schools ordered by the Supreme Court in
Brown v. Board of Education. However, Thompson voted against the
Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and
1960, as well as the
24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, while voting present on the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and not voting on the
Voting Rights Act of 1965. == Death and burial ==