Learn about Robert La Follette, his early life, influences, and political career. Read about Fighting Bob La Follette's time as governor of Wisconsin, as a U.S. Senator, and run for U.S. President.
Updated: 11/21/2023
Robert La Follette | Biography, Accomplishments & Impact
Table of Contents
- Who was Robert La Follette?
- Robert La Follette: Personal Life and Family
- Robert La Follette: Accomplishments and Career
- Fighting Bob La Follette: Significance and Impact
- Lesson Summary
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did Robert La Follette live?
Robert La Follette was born in Dane County, Wisconsin. He grew up working as a farm laborer and moved to Madison, Wisconsin, to attend the University of Wisconsin when he was 18. He settled in Madison during his time as a representative and Governor and moved to live in Washington D.C. when he was a U.S. Senator and presidential candidate. He died in Washington D.C. and is buried in Madison, Wisconsin.
What is Robert La Follette best known for?
Robert M. La Follette was best known for his public speaking and progressive politics, fighting against government and industry corruption and supporting free speech. He became known as "Fighting Bob" for his passion for exposing injustices and fighting for the rights of workers, environmental protection, free speech during wartime, and accountability of politicians during his political career from 1890 to 1925.
Table of Contents
- Who was Robert La Follette?
- Robert La Follette: Personal Life and Family
- Robert La Follette: Accomplishments and Career
- Fighting Bob La Follette: Significance and Impact
- Lesson Summary
Robert M. La Follette was an American public servant, serving as a state Representative, U.S. Senator, governor, and Presidential candidate. He was best known as a proponent of progressivism and spoke out against corrupt politicians and the influence of powerful business interests in politics. Originally from Wisconsin, he became nationally known through his energetic and outspoken flair in his public speaking and national presence.
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Robert La Follette was born June 14, 1855, in Primrose, Wisconsin, and died June 18, 1925, in Washington D.C. He grew up in Wisconsin in a prosperous rural area giving him exposure and understanding of conservative working-class farmers while working as a farm laborer.
During this same period, from around 1850 to the turn of the century in 1900, the upper Midwest experienced a shift in the agricultural structure of production and local economic practices, which had major effects on the national U.S. economy. With the emergence of the railroad expansion from the east, business investment opportunities paired with industrial innovation revolutionized farming. New machinery changed the way farmers harvested, increasing their yields and decreasing the time and effort of labor needed to produce them. This led to farmers growing cash crops, or a single crop that would bring high profit with other crops being bought as the competition of the worldwide market now at the doors of consumers with the railroad and affected farmers and families such as La Follette.
Early Life
When Lafollette was three years old, he recited a two-line poem at the newly built schoolhouse. It was clear to those around him that Lafollette was a natural in public speaking at an early age, no matter the subject or crowd. His father, Josiah, died when Lafollette was eight months old, leaving him to be raised by his mother, Mary. When La Follette was six years old, his mother married John Saxton. When he was 18 years old, Lafollette ran his family farm and marketed its produce. This experience and his aspirations and talents in public speaking and service formed the foundations for the career and causes Lafollette would champion in his life.
Education and Influences
Lafollette attended the University of Wisconsin in 1875, where he studied law and graduated in 1879. During his time at the university, he became active in social activities and excelled in oratory. He became involved in drama and acting, depicting good against evil and championing causes that were ignored or unrecognized by others.
At the University of Wisconsin, Lafollette met his future wife, Belle Case. They were close friends, and she was a major influence in his life. Case, like LaFollette, was also great at oratory and excelled academically. Case was an independent thinker and a strong individual whom others admired for her innovative approaches to subjects and was the first woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1885.
As Lafollette progressed in his career, he maintained his ties with former university classmates and faculty members such as Charles Van Hise, economists John Commons and Richard Ely, and historian Charles McCarthy, among others.
Late Life and Death
After his marriage on December 31, 1881, to Belle Case, Robert and Belle would have four children. They include:
- Fola La Follette, was born in 1882 and died on February 17, 1970.
- Robert La Follette Jr. was born on February 6, 1895, and died on February 24, 1953.
- Phillip La Follette was born on May 8, 1897, and died on August 18, 1965.
- Mary La Follette was born in 1899 and died in 1988.
Robert M. La Follette was a champion for the working class and worked to fight against the corruption of politicians and policies. He died on June 18, 1925, at the age of 70 in Washington D.C.
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The political and economic climate was changing in the 1870s and 1880s, giving way for big businesses to monopolize industries leaving small businesses, trades, and craftsmen to shift as the effects of the Industrial Revolution began to peak.
The U.S. government was starting to impose higher tariffs for industry and policies that favored corporate monopolies, leaving farmers at a financial disadvantage and driving many into debt and bankruptcy. Starting in the upper Midwest, alliances and organizations were forming to bring a balance and voice into the political realm to represent farmers and their interests in response to the current policies and political trends. Robert M. La Follette was a champion among such voices leading to the peak of his political career in spearheading his Progressive party and run for U.S. President.
Legal Career and Early Political Activities
After La Follette graduated from university, he was admitted to the Wisconsin bar in 1880. As he entered public service, his first role was as Dane County District Attorney, which he served from 1880 to 1884. As District Attorney, he was known to challenge and question his republican bosses, who felt his ideas were too progressive.
He was elected to be a representative in the state legislature in 1884, where he maintained his party lines in his voting and was the youngest member at age 29 of the 49th Congress. In 1890, La Follette was defeated by Democrats after he lost local support for opposing a bill that would support the use of Wisconsin Native American lands to railroad companies. He then returned to Madison, WI, where he practiced law privately over the next ten years.
Ascendancy to the Governorship
In 1900 Robert M. La Follette won the nomination and in 1901 became the Wisconsin Governor after he resolved to expose corruption in the Republican Party when a Republican state treasurer was accused of misusing funds. Philetus Sawyer, a bondsman who would lose $300,000 in the case, offered the judge, who was the brother-in-law of La Follette, to decide the case in his favor. The judge withdrew from the case, and La Follette vowed to expose such corruption.
In 1902 La Follette won office again, and he had enough support from progressive Republicans to control the state assembly but lacked a majority in the Senate. This prevented La Follette from passing the reform-type policies he desired based on his experiences. Still, he used his oratorical skills to speak to the public on issues as often as possible, gaining public support.
La Follette embraced his talents by saying, "Publicity, discussion, and agitation are necessary to accomplish any work of lasting benefit."
In 1904, La Follette gained enough momentum in his campaign through his "roll call" tactic of sharing legislators' voting records to crowds of constituents, which provided enough progressives to have a majority in both houses of the legislature. The Wisconsin Idea which gained national attention was using University of Wisconsin professors and faculty to draft bills and administer the state regulatory apparatus created by the new laws. This interaction encouraged a strong tie between public leadership and academic expertise to improve government performance and was a signature to his governorship.
In 1905, several reforms were passed including:
- A railroad commission was established.
- Bill to control lobbying was passed.
- Direct Primary voting system was passed.
- Civil service Act removing partisanship and patronage from government.
La Follette was elected governor three times and left to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Stalwart Joseph Quarles in 1906.
Time in the United States Senate
La Follette had a successful career in the U.S. Senate, serving from 1906 until 1920 and from 1922 to 1925. His initial time as a new senator was dubbed as one who was not controlled by "the interests" as congress was believed to be a refuge for millionaires. He carried his experience as governor of Wisconsin to pass laws aimed against the railroad industry targeting freight rates, labor policies, and financing practices.
In 1908 La Follette argued at a debate on the Aldrich-Vreeland Currency Act that the nation's economy was controlled by fewer than 100 men, who were controlled by investment banking groups such as J.P. Morgan and Standard Oil.
La Follette can be quoted in 1918 as saying "The supreme issue, involving all others, is the encroachment of the powerful few upon the rights of the many."
La Follette worked from 1906 to 1914 to support environmental protections, the right to strike for labor unions, pushed to dismantle business trusts, and the 17th Amendment allowing for direct election of U.S. Senators.
In 1914 La Follette was considered by Progressive Republicans as a presidential candidate but was passed over when Theodore Roosevelt entered the race. He supported Woodrow Wilson while continuing his position as Senator, where he ensured safety regulations and opposed World War I, citing that the interests of intervention in foreign governments were intended to protect the investments of U.S. corporations and smash revolutions.
In the most famous speech address of his Senate career, La Follette defended the right to free speech in the time of war on October 6, 1917. A quote from his speech reads as follows:
"The universal conviction of those who yet believe in the rights of the people is that the first step toward the prevention of war and the establishment of peace, permanent peace, is to give the people who must bear the brunt of war's awful burden more to say about it."
While his speech gained him admiration and support, it also triggered a Senate investigation into possible treasonable conduct to which he was never charged with any crime.
After WWI, La Follette spoke out against the Treaty of Versailles and U.S. membership in the League of Nations while campaigning and was re-elected to the Senate in 1922.
Between 1921 and 1924, La Follette continued to expose government corruption and ran for president in 1924 as an independent Progressive but lost to the incumbent Calvin Coolidge.
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The progressive reforms and passion of La Follette brought him the name Fighting Bob La Follette as he fought against elites, those who were corrupt with money, power, and influence, and fought for the working people and the ideals he believed in.
After he died in 1925, his wife and children carried on his legacy in the political realm, continuing the progressive work of their father. Robert La Follette Jr. ran for the vacant senate seat of his father, was elected in 1925, and held the seat for 20 years, continuing his father's spirit.
The innovative ideas and ideals of Robert M. La Follette have inspired public leaders, activists, and politicians since his time of public service. President John F. Kennedy named La Follette one of the five most illustrious senators in history. His legacy and positions reformed American politics to form the Progressive Party, which emerged near the end of his career and life and influenced the policy and positions of politicians and thinkers into the 20th century.
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Robert M. La Follette, also known as Fighting Bob was a public servant and Progressive politician in the Republican party during the early 1900s. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1879, he became a district attorney. After serving as a congressman in Wisconsin, he soon became the Governor. His reforms were known as The Wisconsin Idea for employing professors and academics to write and review his laws, merging academics with the government process. In 1906, he became a U.S. Senator and supported the passage of the 17th Amendment, allowing for the direct election of senators. In 1912, La Follette ran for President of the United States but lost the nomination to Theodore Roosevelt.
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Additional Info
Robert La Follette Biography
Robert Marion La Follette was born on June 14, 1855 in the small town of Primrose, Wisconsin. La Follette's parents had moved from Kentucky to Wisconsin in search of land and opportunity. At the age of 19, he left home to attend the University of Wisconsin (Go Badgers!) where he studied law. Four years later, Robert became a practicing attorney. Within one year of graduating from college, he was made district attorney in a small Wisconsin county in 1880. This would begin a long and successful career as a public servant. Married to the love of his life, Belle Case in 1881, Robert and his wife had four kids.
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After four years as a district attorney, La Follette was elected to the House of Representatives in 1885, where he worked tirelessly for political reform. Political reform is the way a government changes over time to reflect the needs and demands of the people. Robert La Follette was a man who said what he thought – most of the time he was thinking about fixing the government and defending his constituents, the people he represented in Wisconsin.
His fiery reputation helped him win an election for governor of Wisconsin, a position he held from 1901 until 1906. After much debate, La Follette decided to forego another term as governor to become one of Wisconsin's two senators. Known as 'Fighting Bob' by the other senators, he worked tirelessly for government reform from 1906 until 1925. After forty-five years of championing the rights of the common man, Robert La Follette died on June 18, 1925 in Washington DC at the ripe old age of seventy-five.
Accomplishments
Robert La Follette is known and celebrated for numerous achievements during his forty-five year career. Early on, he set himself apart from other members of the Republican Party in Wisconsin. No party boss or political leader was going to tell him what to do. Instead, he openly shared information about the ways party bosses used bribes and influence to get what they wanted. Robert made it his mission to listen to the needs of his constituents.
La Follette became the governor of Wisconsin just as the Progressive Era was gaining momentum across the country. Progressive reformers wanted to increase government oversight and accountability to protect Americans, while at the same time check the power and influence of big business. During his tenure as governor, LaFollette pushed the 'Wisconsin Idea': the Wisconsin government used Wisconsin professors and academics to write and analyze laws. The main goal was to hold the government accountable to the people. Major accomplishments in Wisconsin included a direct primary, reforming taxes, and stricter transportation regulations. At the time, the direct primary was pretty much unheard of: before the direct primary system, party bosses picked the candidates who ran for an election, unlike the system we have today where Americans vote for their own candidates, then select a final nominee.
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In 1906, Robert LaFollette was full-steam-ahead with Progressive Reforms. He brought the Wisconsin Idea to Washington DC and quickly gathered a following in the Senate. To inform others about his goals and actions, he published the 'La Follette's Weekly'. As a reform-minded Republican, he helped pass the 17th Amendment which allowed for the direct election of senators. Before the 17th Amendment, state legislatures elected the two senators, not the people. La Follette took on party bosses, exposed abuses of power, and called out Big Business tycoons like J.P. Morgan who profited at the expense of the average Joe. Unfortunately for 'Fighting Bob', he failed to secure the presidential nomination for the Republican Party in 1912, but continued to rage in the Senate for another 14 years. In that time, he succeeded in passing the Seaman's Act of 1915, a landmark law that protected sailors and passengers.
Quotes
A particularly vocal man, Robert La Follette was never afraid to speak his mind. Noteworthy 'Fighting Bob' quotes include:
- 'The essence of the Progressive movement, as I see it, lies in its purpose to uphold the fundamental principles of representative government. It expresses the hopes and desires of millions of common men and women who are willing to fight for their ideals, to take defeat if necessary, and still go on fighting.'
- 'Men must be aggressive for what is right if government is to be saved from men who are aggressive for what is wrong.'
- 'The supreme issue, involving all others, is the encroachment of the powerful few upon the rights of the many.'
- 'There never was a higher call to greater service than in this protracted fight for social justice.'
Lesson Summary
Robert Marion La Follette, a successful attorney, congressman, governor, and senator left a profound legacy that helped shape the United States as we know it today. By challenging the self-interested political leaders of the early 20th century, La Follette stood up for the interests of the American people. 'Fighting Bob' will forever be remembered as a true hero of the Progressive Era.
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Robert La Follette | Biography, Accomplishments & Impact
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