Thomas Aquinas Foran (January 11, 1924 – August 6, 2000) was a

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

best known as the chief

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

in the Chicago Seven

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...

trial in which seven

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one jurisdic ...

s, including Jerry Rubin,

Abbie Hoffman Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989) was an American political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies") and was a member of the Chicago Seven. He was also a leading proponen ...

David Dellinger David T. Dellinger (August 22, 1915 – May 25, 2004) was an American pacifist and an activist for nonviolent social change. He achieved peak prominence as one of the Chicago Seven, who were put on trial in 1969. Early life and schooling Dellin ...

Rennie Davis Rennard Cordon Davis (May 23, 1940 – February 2, 2021) was an American anti-war activist who gained prominence in the 1960s. He was one of the Chicago Seven defendants charged for anti-war demonstrations and large-scale protests at the 1968 De ...

, and

Tom Hayden Thomas Emmet Hayden (December 11, 1939October 23, 2016) was an American social and political activist, author, and politician. Hayden was best known for his role as an anti-war, civil rights, and intellectual activist in the 1960s, authoring th ...

, were charged with inciting

riots A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targeted ...

at the

1968 Democratic National Convention The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held August 26–29 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Earlier that year incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had announced he would not seek reelection, thus making ...

. Foran also prosecuted several police officers caught on film beating the protestors with clubs.

Early life and education

Foran was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, on January 11, 1924. His parents were a physician and former high school teacher. He attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary and St. Ignatius High School and began studying at the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

. He interrupted his college education to serve as a torpedo bomber pilot in the Pacific in World War II. After the war, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in philosophy from

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Cathol ...

and received his law degree at the University of Detroit School of Law in 1950. He married Jean Foran and the couple had six children.

Legal career

Foran was a senior partner in Foran & Schultz (formerly Foran, Wiss & Schultz), the firm he founded in 1957. The other senior partners were Robert E. Wiss, who died in 1995, and Richard G. Schultz. In private practice, he established a reputation as an expert in eminent domain law, representing the city of Chicago in major public works projects, but he also acted as counsel for property owners. Foran became an assistant corporate counsel for Chicago in 1962.

U.S. Attorney

Foran was appointed a

for the Northern District of Illinois in 1968 with the support of the Chicago mayor,

Richard M. Daley Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh term ...

. He professionalized the office and shifted the office away from patronage. While in this role, he successfully prosecuted more than 150 organized crime figures, including

Felix Alderisio Felix Anthony "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio (April 26, 1912 – September 25, 1971) was an American enforcer, bagman, hitman and burglar for the Chicago Outfit. He was underboss to Sam Giancana during the 1960s, and boss from 1967 to his imprisonmen ...

Jackie Cerone John Philip Cerone (July 7, 1914 – July 26, 1996), nicknamed Jackie the Lackey, was an American mobster and boss of the Chicago Outfit during the late 1960s. He was the younger brother of mobster Frank "Skippy" Cerone, father of lawyer Joh ...

Fiore Buccieri Fiore "Fifi" Buccieri (December 16, 1907 – August 17, 1973) was a Chicago mobster and member of the Chicago Outfit who specialized in loansharking. Early years As a youth he was a member of the Chicago 42 Gang with future Outfit boss Sam "Mom ...

Richard Cain Richard Cain (October 4, 1931 – December 20, 1973), also known as Richard Scalzitti, was a notoriously corrupt Chicago police officer and a close associate of Mafia boss Sam Giancana. Early life Richard Cain was born to John and Lydia (n� ...

and William Daddano. In 1969, he was the chief prosecutor of the Chicago Seven

trial which charged seven

s, including Jerry Rubin,

, and

, with inciting

at the

. He was later censured by a United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit panel "for their open hostility toward the defendants and their failure to fulfill 'the standards of our system of justice'".

Post-U.S. Attorney

In the 1970 special election, Foran was a campaign aide for

Adlai Stevenson III Adlai Ewing Stevenson III (October 10, 1930 – September 6, 2021) was an American attorney and politician of the Democratic Party who represented Illinois in the United States Senate from 1970 until 1981. A member of the prominent Stevenson fami ...

. In the 1980s, Tom Foran represented former Governor Dan Walker in his bank fraud case.

Later life

He died of cancer in

Lake Forest, Illinois Lake Forest is a city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 19,367. The city is along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore. Lake Forest ...

, on August 6, 2000.

In popular culture

Harris Yulin played Foran in the 1987 film '' Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8'', and in the animated 2007 film '' Chicago 10'', Foran's voice was provided by Nick Nolte. He was portrayed by

Steven Culp Steven Bradford Culp (born December 3, 1955) is an American actor. Culp appeared in films '' Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday'' (1993), ''James and the Giant Peach'' (1996), ''The Emperor's Club'' (2002), and most notably in the 2000 politica ...

in the 2010 film ''

The Chicago 8 The Chicago Seven, originally the Chicago Eight and also known as the Conspiracy Eight or Conspiracy Seven, were seven defendants—Rennie Davis, David Dellinger, John Froines, Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and Lee Weiner—charged ...

'' and by

J. C. MacKenzie John Charles MacKenzie (born October 17, 1970) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for portraying Skip Fontaine on the HBO series ''Vinyl'' (2016) and Reagan "Normal" Ronald on the Fox series '' Dark Angel'' (2000–2002). He has also appea ...

in the 2020 film, '' The Trial of the Chicago 7''. Gary Houston played Foran in the 1992 stage adaptation from transcripts titled ''

The Chicago Conspiracy Trial ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' and produced by Remains Theatre in Chicago.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foran, Tom 1924 births 2000 deaths Loyola University Chicago alumni United States Navy bomber pilots of World War II University of Detroit Mercy alumni Lawyers from Chicago Military personnel from Illinois United States Attorneys for the Northern District of Illinois Chicago Seven