Editing Thomas A. Hendricks (section)

==Vice presidency (1885)==
Hendricks maintained a strong working relationship with President Cleveland during his brief tenure. He spoke highly of Cleveland's character and described him as "courteous and affable". Hendricks, who had been in poor health for several years, served as Cleveland's [[Vice President of the United States|vice president]] during the last eight months of his life, from his inauguration on March 4 until his death on November 25, 1885. The vice presidency remained vacant after Hendricks's death until [[Levi P. Morton]] assumed office in 1889.<ref name="hendricksmn"/>{{sfn|Gray|1977|p=138}}{{sfn|Gugin|St. Clair|2006|pp=161, 164–65}}{{sfn|Holcombe|Skinner|1886|pp=388–90}} 
On September 8, 1885, in [[Indianapolis]], Hendricks made a controversial speech in support of Irish independence. Soon afterwards, Boston machine politician [[Martin Lomasney]] named the Hendricks Club after him.{{sfn|Van Nostrand|1948|p=442}}{{sfn|Holcombe|Skinner|1886|pp=633–637}}

===Death and legacy===
[[File:Etc 409.jpg|thumb|The tomb of Thomas Hendricks in [[Indianapolis, Indiana]]]]

Hendricks died unexpectedly of a heart attack on November 25, 1885, during a trip home to Indianapolis.{{sfn|Gray|1977|pp=122, 138}}{{sfn|Memorial|p=6}} He complained of feeling ill the morning of November 24, went to bed early, and died in his sleep the following day, aged 66.{{sfn|Holcombe|Skinner|1886|pp=388–90}} His reported last words were "Free at last!".

Hendricks's funeral service at Saint Paul's Episcopal Cathedral in Indianapolis was a large one. Hundreds of dignitaries were in attendance, including President Grover Cleveland, and thousands of people gathered along the city's street to see the 1.2-mile-long funeral cortege as it traveled from downtown Indianapolis to [[Crown Hill Cemetery]], where his remains were interred.{{sfn|Holcombe|Skinner|1886|pp=390–403}}{{sfn|Memorial|p=31}}<ref>During the last two years of his life, as his health was failing, Hendricks made plans for his eventual death and selected a burial site and monument. In the 1880s he had the remains of his only child, Morgan, who had died thirty years earlier and was buried at Shelbyville, moved to the Hendricks burial site in Indianapolis. Morgan Hendricks is buried next to the monument that marks his father's grave. See ''Memorial Address on the Life and Character of Thomas A. Hendricks (Vice-President of the United States)'', pp. 30–31, and Gray, p. 124.</ref>

Hendricks, a popular member of the Democratic Party, remained on good terms with both Democrats and Republicans. He was a fiscal conservative and a powerful orator who was known for his honesty and firm convictions.{{sfn|Gugin|St. Clair|2006|p=164}}{{sfn|Gray|1977|p=139}}{{sfn|Memorial|p=25}}

Hendricks was one of four vice-presidential candidates from Indiana who were elected during the period 1868 to 1920, when Indiana's electoral votes were critical to winning a national election. (The three other men from Indiana who became U.S. vice presidents during this period were [[Schuyler Colfax]], [[Charles W. Fairbanks]], and [[Thomas R. Marshall]].) Five other men from Indiana, [[George Washington Julian]], [[Joseph Lane]], Judge Samuel Williams, [[John W. Kern]], and [[William Hayden English]], lost their bids for the vice presidency during this time period.{{sfn| Gray |1977|pp= ix–xi; xiii–xvii }}{{sfn|Gugin|St. Clair|2006|p=165}}