Person

Robert M. La Follette

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Overview

Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" La Follette Sr. (June 14, 1855June 18, 1925), was an American lawyer and politician. He represented Wisconsin in both chambers of Congress and served as the governor of Wisconsin from 1901 to 1906. A Republican for most of his life, he ran for president of the United States as the nominee of his own Progressive Party in the 1924 presidential election. Historian John D. Buenker describes La Follette as "the most celebrated figure in Wisconsin history". Born and raised in Wisconsin, La Follette won election as the Dane County District Attorney in 1880. Four years later, he was elected to the House of Representatives, where he was friendly with party leaders like William McKinley. After losing his seat in the 1890 election, La Follette regrouped. As a populist he embraced progressivism and built up a coalition of disaffected Republicans. He sought election as governor in 1896 and 1898 before winning the 1900 gubernatorial election. As governor of Wisconsin, La Follette compiled a progressive record, implementing primary elections and tax reform. La Follette won re-election in 1902 and 1904, but in 1905 the legislature elected him to the United States Senate. His populist base was energized when he emerged as a national progressive leader in the Senate, often clashing with conservatives like Nelson Aldrich. He initially supported President William Howard Taft, but broke with Taft after the latter failed to push a reduction in tariff rates. He challenged Taft for the Republican presidential nomination in the 1912 presidential election, but his candidacy was overshadowed by that of former President Theodore Roosevelt. La Follette's refusal to support Roosevelt alienated many progressives, and, though La Follette continued to serve in the Senate, he lost his stature as the leader of that chamber's progressive Republicans. La Follette supported some of President Woodrow Wilson's policies, but he broke with the president over foreign policy. During World War I, La Follette was one of the most outspoken opponents of the administration's domestic and international policies and was against the war. With the Republican and Democratic Parties each nominating conservative candidates in the 1924 presidential election, left-wing groups coalesced behind La Follette's third-party candidacy.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“Publicity, discussion, and agitation are necessary to accomplish any work of lasting benefit.”
— Spoken in Evansville, IN (July 7, 1906), As quoted in Unreasonable Men: Theodore Roosevelt and the Republican Rebels Who Created Progressive Politics, Michael Wolraich (2014)
“There is another plane of thought into which some have entered. It holds up a vision of a society redeemed by true democracy. It believes in a time when monopoly shall be no more, and labor and capital, no longer at war, shall cooperate to the wiping out of involuntary and undeserved poverty in an era of industrial equality and social peace.”
— "The Basis of the Struggle", July 31, 1909, La Follette's Weekly Magazine. As quoted in Democracy in Print: The Best of The Progressive Magazine, 1909–2009 by Matthew Rothschild. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2009. https://muse-jhu-edu.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/book/8720
“We are slow to realize that democracy is a life; and involves continual struggle. It is only as those of every generation who love democracy resist with all their might the encroachments of its enemies that the ideals of representative government can even be nearly approximated.”
— As quoted in Rothschild, Matthew. “Fighting Bob La Follette: Visionary American Leftist.” The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era10, no. 3 (2011): 362–68. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537781411000090
“I have become more and more impressed with the deep underlying singleness of the issue. It is not the tariff or conservation or the currency. It is not the trusts. The supreme issue, involving all the others, is the encroachment of the powerful few upon the rights of the many.”
— 1912, as quoted in The Real Populism Fights Unequal Wealth, by Fred R. Harris, 25 May 1972
“Wealth has never yet sacrificed itself on the altar of patriotism.”
— "La Follette Fights for Higher War Tax", New York Times (August 22, 1917)
“Mere passive citizenship is not enough. Men must be aggressive for what is right if government is to be saved from those who are aggressive for what is wrong.”
— "The Perils of Passive Citizenship", Speech in Washington, D.C. (August 11, 1924)

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

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Overview

Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" La Follette Sr. (June 14, 1855June 18, 1925), was an American lawyer and politician. He represented Wisconsin in both chambers of Congress and served as the governor of Wisconsin from 1901 to 1906. A Republican for most of his life, he ran for president of the United States as the nominee of his own Progressive Party in the 1924 presidential election. Historian John D. Buenker describes La Follette as "the most celebrated figure in Wisconsin history". Born and raised in Wisconsin, La Follette won election as the Dane County District Attorney in 1880. Four years later, he was elected to the House of Representatives, where he was friendly with party leaders like William McKinley. After losing his seat in the 1890 election, La Follette regrouped. As a populist he embraced progressivism and built up a coalition of disaffected Republicans. He sought election as governor in 1896 and 1898 before winning the 1900 gubernatorial election. As governor of Wisconsin, La Follette compiled a progressive record, implementing primary elections and tax reform. La Follette won re-election in 1902 and 1904, but in 1905 the legislature elected him to the United States Senate. His populist base was energized when he emerged as a national progressive leader in the Senate, often clashing with conservatives like Nelson Aldrich. He initially supported President William Howard Taft, but broke with Taft after the latter failed to push a reduction in tariff rates. He challenged Taft for the Republican presidential nomination in the 1912 presidential election, but his candidacy was overshadowed by that of former President Theodore Roosevelt. La Follette's refusal to support Roosevelt alienated many progressives, and, though La Follette continued to serve in the Senate, he lost his stature as the leader of that chamber's progressive Republicans. La Follette supported some of President Woodrow Wilson's policies, but he broke with the president over foreign policy. During World War I, La Follette was one of the most outspoken opponents of the administration's domestic and international policies and was against the war. With the Republican and Democratic Parties each nominating conservative candidates in the 1924 presidential election, left-wing groups coalesced behind La Follette's third-party candidacy.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“Publicity, discussion, and agitation are necessary to accomplish any work of lasting benefit.”
— Spoken in Evansville, IN (July 7, 1906), As quoted in Unreasonable Men: Theodore Roosevelt and the Republican Rebels Who Created Progressive Politics, Michael Wolraich (2014)
“There is another plane of thought into which some have entered. It holds up a vision of a society redeemed by true democracy. It believes in a time when monopoly shall be no more, and labor and capital, no longer at war, shall cooperate to the wiping out of involuntary and undeserved poverty in an era of industrial equality and social peace.”
— "The Basis of the Struggle", July 31, 1909, La Follette's Weekly Magazine. As quoted in Democracy in Print: The Best of The Progressive Magazine, 1909–2009 by Matthew Rothschild. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2009. https://muse-jhu-edu.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/book/8720
“We are slow to realize that democracy is a life; and involves continual struggle. It is only as those of every generation who love democracy resist with all their might the encroachments of its enemies that the ideals of representative government can even be nearly approximated.”
— As quoted in Rothschild, Matthew. “Fighting Bob La Follette: Visionary American Leftist.” The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era10, no. 3 (2011): 362–68. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537781411000090
“I have become more and more impressed with the deep underlying singleness of the issue. It is not the tariff or conservation or the currency. It is not the trusts. The supreme issue, involving all the others, is the encroachment of the powerful few upon the rights of the many.”
— 1912, as quoted in The Real Populism Fights Unequal Wealth, by Fred R. Harris, 25 May 1972
“Wealth has never yet sacrificed itself on the altar of patriotism.”
— "La Follette Fights for Higher War Tax", New York Times (August 22, 1917)
“Mere passive citizenship is not enough. Men must be aggressive for what is right if government is to be saved from those who are aggressive for what is wrong.”
— "The Perils of Passive Citizenship", Speech in Washington, D.C. (August 11, 1924)

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.