Everything about Robert M La Follette Sr totally explained
Robert Marion La Follette, Sr. nicknamed
"Fighting Bob" La Follette (
June 14,
1855 –
June 20,
1925) was an
American politician who served as a
U.S. Congressman, the 20th
Governor of Wisconsin (1901–1906), and
Republican Senator from
Wisconsin (1905–1925). He ran for
President of the United States as the nominee of his own
Progressive Party in
1924, carrying Wisconsin and 17% of the national popular vote.
He is best remembered as a proponent of
Progressivism and a vocal opponent of railroad trusts, bossism,
World War I, and the
League of Nations. In 1957, a Senate committee selected La Follette as one of their five greatest Senate predecessors. A 1982 survey of historians that asked them to rank the "ten greatest Senators in the nation's history" based on "accomplishments in office" and "long range impact on American history," placed La Follette first, tied with
Henry Clay.
His wife
Belle Case La Follette and sons
Robert M. La Follette, Jr. and
Philip La Follette led his political faction in Wisconsin into the 1940s. La Follette has been called “arguably the most important and recognized leader of the opposition to the growing dominance of corporations over the Government.”
Early life
La Follette was born in the town of
Primrose, Wisconsin, just outside
New Glarus, to Josiah La Follette and Mary Ferguson Buchanan; his paternal great-grandfather, Joseph La Follette, was born in
France, and he also had English ancestry. La Follette grew up in rural
Dane County, Wisconsin. The death of his father in 1856 and the subsequent bad relationship with his stepfather made for a difficult childhood. La Follette and others who opposed entry into World War I (and who later opposed endorsing the
Treaty of Versailles) were referred to as Irreconcilables.
From the beginning, La Follette opposed taking any side in World War I. He was a leader in filibustering the Armed Ship bill, which would have authorized the President to arm merchant vessels. In his speech opposing the measure, La Follette pointed out that its main supporter was a subsidiary of the International Mercantile Marine Company, which had been formed in England. In his eyes this bill would have had American gunners answering to English ship owners who "take their orders from the
British Admiralty. Hence we, professing to be a neutral nation are placing American guns and American gunners practically under the orders of the British Admiralty." La Follette’s opposition to the measure caused President Wilson to name him as part of "A little group of willful men, representing no opinion but their own.…" Most media outlets condemned La Follette in editorials and political cartoons (some of which mockingly portrayed him as receiving the
Iron Cross ).
In 1924, the
Federated Farmer-Labor Party (FF-LP) sought to nominate La Follette as its candidate. The FF-LP sought to unite all progressive parties into a single national Labor Party.
However, after a bitter convention in 1923, the Communist-controlled Workers Party gained control of the national organization's structure. Just prior to its 1924 convention in St. Paul, La Follette denounced the Communists and refused to be considered for the FF-LP endorsement. With La Follette's snub, the FF-LP disintegrated, leaving only the
Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party.
Instead, La Follette formed an independent Progressive Party and accepted its nomination in
Cleveland with Democratic Senator
Burton K. Wheeler of Montana as his running mate. The
American Federation of Labor, the
Socialist Party of America, the
Conference for Progressive Political Action and most of the former supporters of the FF-LP along with various former "Bull Moose" Progressives and midwestern Progressive movement activists then joined La Follette and supported the
Progressive Party.
La Follette's platform called for government ownership of the railroads and electric utilities, cheap credit for farmers, the outlawing of child labor, stronger laws to help labor unions, more protection of civil liberties, an end to American imperialism in Latin America, and a
referendum before any president could again lead the nation into war.
He came in third behind incumbent President
Calvin Coolidge and Democratic candidate
John W. Davis. La Follette won 17% of the popular vote, carried Wisconsin (winning its 13 electoral votes) and polled second in 11 Western states. His base consisted of
German Americans, railroad workers, the AFL labor unions, the
Non-Partisan League, the Socialist Party, Western farmers, and many of the "Bull Moose" Progressives who had supported Roosevelt in 1912. LaFollette's 17% showing represents the third highest showing for a third party since the American Civil War, only surpassed by Roosevelt's 27% in 1912 and
Ross Perot's 19% in 1992. Following the 1924 election, the Progressive Party disbanded.
Death and legacy
La Follette died in
Washington, D.C., of
cardiovascular disease several months after the election. He was buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery on the near west side of Madison.
After La Follette's death, his wife,
Belle Case La Follette, remained an influential figure and editor. His sons Philip and Robert entered the political arena. By the mid 1930s, the La Follettes had reformed the Progressive Party and had returned to power in the state; all but one of Wisconsin's congressmen were Progressives. Fighting Bob's son,
Philip La Follette, was elected Governor of Wisconsin. La Follette's other son,
Robert M. La Follette, Jr., succeeded his father as Senator where he led the Progressive caucus comprised of Progressive, Farm-Labor, American Labor, and various Republican and Democratic Party congressional representatives.
La Follette Jr. returned to the Republican Party in 1946, where he was defeated in the primary by former Democratic State Senator
Joe McCarthy. His grandson
Bronson La Follette served as Wisconsin's attorney general in the 1980s.
His son-in-law was the playwright
George Middleton, who was married to his daughter Fola.
Quotes
- "The will of the people shall be the law of the land."
"In times of peace, the war party insists on making preparation for war. As soon as prepared for, it insists on making war."
"The underlying reason indeed why both parties have failed to take the people's side in the present crisis is that neither party can openly attack the real evils which are undermining representative government without convicting themselves of treachery to the voters during their recent tenure in office."
"Every nation has its war party. It isn't the party of democracy. It is the party of autocracy. It seeks to dominate absolutely. It is commercial, imperialistic, ruthless. It tolerates no opposition. It is just as arrogant, just as despotic, in London, or in Washington, as in Berlin. The American Jingo is twin to the German Junker…. If there's no sufficient reason for war, the war party will make war on one pretext, then invent another."
"The purpose of this ridiculous campaign is to throw the country into a state of sheer terror, to change public opinion, to stifle criticism, and suppress discussion. People are being unlawfully arrested, thrown into jail, held incommunicado for days, only to be eventually discharged without ever having been taken into court, because they've committed no crime. But more than this, if every preparation for war can be made the excuse for destroying free speech and a free press and the right of the people to assemble together for peaceful discussion, then we may well despair of ever again finding ourselves for a long period in a state of peace. The destruction of rights now occurring will be pointed to then as precedents for a still further invasion of the rights of the citizen."
"America isn't made, it's in the making. Mere passive citizenship isn't enough. Men must be aggressive for what is right if government is to be saved from those who are aggressive for what is wrong."
Memorials
La Follette's cousin Chester La Follette painted the oval portrait that hangs in the Senate.
La Follette is represented by one of two statues from Wisconsin in National Statuary Hall, also known as the Old House Chamber in the United States Capitol.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is home to the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs (formerly the Robert M. La Follette Institute of Public Affairs).
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has dedicated part of a student dormitory as La Follette House.
The Robert M. LaFollette House, in Maple Bluff, Wisconsin, is a National Historic Landmark.
Bibliography
John D. Buenker, The History of Wisconsin. Volume IV The Progressive Era, 1893–1914 (1998), detailed narrative and analysis.
Carl R. Burgchardt; Robert M. La Follette, Sr.: The Voice of Conscience Greenwood Press. 1992; on his oratory, with selected speeches.
Garraty, John A. "Robert La Follette: The Promise Unfulfilled" American Heritage (1962) 13(3): 76–79, 84–88. ISSN: 0002-8738 article
.
K. C. MacKay, The Progressive Movement of 1924 (1947).
Herbert F. Margulies; The Decline of the Progressive Movement in Wisconsin, 1890–1920 (1968), detailed narrative.
Karen A. J. Miller; Populist Nationalism: Republican Insurgency and American Foreign Policy Making, 1918–1925 Greenwood Press, 1999.
David Thelen, Robert M. La Follette and the Insurgent Spirit 1976. short interpretive biography.
Nancy C. Unger. Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer (2000), full scale biography.
Primary sources
Carl R. Burgchardt; Robert M. La Follette, Sr.: The Voice of Conscience Greenwood Press. 1992; contains selected speeches.
Belle C. and Fola La Follette, Robert M. La Follette 2 vols., (1953), by wife and daughter
La Follette's autobiography, a personal narrative of political experiences, 1913.
Senator LaFollette in the Senate on March 11, 1908 — financial oligarchy and the story of the 1907 money-panic.
Senator LaFollette in the Senate on March 19, 1908 — watered railway stocks as basis of legal-tender circulation.
Senator LaFollette in the Senate on March 24, 1908 — industrial concentration.Further Information
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