[3] Thompson graduated from Ohio State University in 1892, and taught at the High School in Bement, Illinois, for two years.

[3] Thompson was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1903 and served in the 76th and 77th General Assemblies, 1904–1906.

[4] In 1921 he was a member of the advisory committee to the conference on limitation of armaments held at Washington, D.C.

In 1926, President Calvin Coolidge appointed him special commissioner to make a survey of the economic and internal conditions of the Philippines.

[1] Thompson was nominated for Ohio Governor in 1922, but lost to Democrat A. Victor Donahey.