Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer

by Nancy C. Unger

Overview

Robert "Fighting Bob" La Follette (1855-1925) was one of the most significant leaders of American progressivism. Nancy Unger integrates previously unknown details from La Follette's personal life with important events from his storied political career, revealing a complex man who was a compelling mixture of failure and accomplishment, tragedy and triumph.

Serving as U.S. representative from 1885 to 1891, governor of Wisconsin from 1901 to 1906, and senator from Wisconsin from 1906 to his death in 1925, La Follette earned the nickname "Fighting Bob" through his uncompromising efforts to reform both politics and society, especially by championing the rights of the poor, workers, women, and minorities.

Based on La Follette family letters, diaries, and other papers, this biography covers the personal events that shaped the public man. In particular, Unger explores La Follette's relationship with his remarkable wife, feminist Belle Case La Follette, and with his sons, both of whom succeeded him in politics. The La Follette who emerges from this retelling is an imperfect yet appealing man who deserves to be remembered as one of the United States' most devoted and effective politicians.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807861028
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	06/19/2003
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	408
Lexile:	1600L (what's this?)
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Nancy C. Unger is assistant professor of history at Santa Clara University.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1
Beginnings
Oh, My Idolized Father

For a man who would be strongly associated with the dawning of modern, industrialized, urbanized America, Robert La Follette was born in 1855 into an astonishingly different time. Although La Follette would come to witness firsthand the rise of the Soviet Union, in the year of his birth Alexander II became czar of Russia. The glories of antebellum America were celebrated that same year in Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, an anonymously published new collection of poems including "Song of Myself." Precursors of the modern age, events that would more directly impact the life of Bob La Follette (and that he would impact in return) included the creation of America's first oil refinery, in Pittsburgh. The public's attention, however, was riveted on the brutal armed conflict over slavery in the newly formed Kansas territory, a series of incidents so violent they came to be known as "Bleeding Kansas." These dramatic incidents presaged the Civil War that would tear the nation apart and ultimately aid in the transformation of a predominantly rural, agricultural nation into an international industrial giant.

Robert La Follette lived out the ancient Chinese blessing (or is it a curse?), "May you live in interesting times," beginning with his birth, on 14 June 1855, in the township of Primrose, Wisconsin, a state which only seven years before had graduated from territorial status. No real understanding of La Follette or his life's work can come without an appreciation of his diverse and complex home state. Not yet "America's Dairyland," as proclaimed by its current license plates, Wisconsin could nevertheless already boast a long and unique history. Although much of its geography (and almost all of its 8,500 lakes) was the result of glacial movements during the last Ice Age, roughly a quarter of the state's 35 million acres was protected from glaciers. The result is a unique variety of landscapes that, prior to the coming of French explorers, were home to an estimated 20,000 Native Americans, most notably the Menominee and the Winnebago. Following encroachment by white trappers, traders, and farmers and the climactic defeat at the Battle of Wisconsin Heights in 1832, the relocation of the territory's tribes west of the Mississippi River proceeded with relatively few disturbances. Wisconsin, bereft of much of its native population, was awash with succeeding waves of new immigrants. By midcentury, the entire country was on the move (with one American in four moving across state lines), and a disproportionate number of its migrants were moving to Wisconsin. Migratory patterns were rarely simple, and instead involved a series of moves, as farms and homesteads were established only to be abandoned in a restless search for greener pastures.[1]

Robert La Follette took great pride in his pioneer beginnings. Living in an era filled with big business and big corruption in big cities, he stressed his humble birth--in a log cabin, no less--as proof of his inherent sturdiness, plainness, and integrity. His heritage was solidly American in the romantic tradition, the trail of his ancestors into Wisconsin long and complex. His maternal great-grandfather, a Scottish farmhand named John Fergeson, settled in North Carolina after crop failures and political oppression forced him to leave northern Ireland. Joseph Le Follet, La Follette's paternal great-grandfather, was a prosperous silk manufacturer who migrated to the Isle of Jersey after the massacre of St. Bartholomew in the sixteenth century. Le Follet's first wife, whose name remains unknown, was a Catholic who had escaped a convent school in France and was secreted out of the country in the traveling carriage of an English couple, customers of Jean Le Follet, Joseph's father. Despite her parents' opposition, she and Le Follet married around 1765. The couple emigrated to a French Huguenot colony near Newark, New Jersey, where in 1767 they produced one child, Isaac, before the young woman's death.[2]

Both Joseph Le Follet and John Fergeson fought against the British in the American Revolution. During the war the Le Follet family name underwent the transformation to its current spelling. (According to family legend, an ancestor named Usual was surnamed Le Follet, "the Reckless," near the end of the twelfth century because of personal bravery in the local provincial wars, and the name, as a family cognomen, was retained permanently.) "Le Follet" became "La Follette" following the arrival of Joseph's three brothers in America in 1776. The brothers were part of a French crew financed by the Marquis de La Fayette to bring supplies from his estate and help fight the British. All four brothers participated in the battles of Brandywine and Yorktown, and all but Joseph agreed to demonstrate their loyalty to La Fayette by changing the spelling of their name from the masculine to the feminine form. Joseph resisted this change, listing his first four children in the family Bible as "Le Follet," but eventually came to conform with his brothers, listing his five subsequent children as "La Follette." It is not known whether the brothers Americanized the pronunciation of their name when they altered the spelling, but their descendent, Robert La Follette, would "have none of the French pronunciation," insisting that the accent be placed on the penult [lah-fall-it].[3]

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations     ix
Preface to the Paperback Edition     xi
Acknowledgments     xix
Introduction: Dull Tools     1
Beginnings: Oh, My Idolized Father     7
Civil Wars: My Name Is La Follette     20
The University Years: Training for the Duties of Citizenship     31
Belle Case La Follette: Woman's Victory, Woman's Tragedy     47
La Follette and the Law: Everything Is Not Enough     69
Congressman La Follette: So Good a Fellow Even His Enemies Like Him     85
Citizen La Follette: Forced into the Fight     98
Governor La Follette and the Wisconsin Idea: Wisconsin Is a Happier and Better State to Live In     120
Senator La Follette: The Bogey-Man of the Senate     139
The Burdens of a Great Name: You Have Set an Almost Unattainable Goal for Us     153
No Longer the Lonely Man of the Senate: The Coming of a New Order of Things     180
Incident in Philadelphia: La Follette's Political Suicide     200
No Surrender: One Hardly Knows Whether to Pity La Follette or Admire His Bravery     221
World War I: A Little Group of Willful Men     239
Resurrection: Time and Events Are Bringing Things Your Way at Last     263
Final Battles: I Want to Die ... with My BootsOn     281
Epilogue: A Challenge to Youth in America Down All the Future Years     305
Notes     311
Bibliography     353
Index     371

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Unger is a good storyteller, and her lively writing and strong sense of narrative move the book along at a brisk, enjoyable pace. . . . Fighting Bob La Follette effectively introduces La Follette to a new audience and reminds readers of the complexity of the man and his politics.—Wisconsin Magazine of History

Unger's biography gives us a survey of the public life and private struggles of this flawed giant, who, in many ways, is a case study of the strengths and weaknesses of charismatic moral leadership.—American Historical Review

An interesting and notably personal account of the life and times of Wisconsin's famed Progressive reformer.—Choice

Unger's voice remains subdued and objective throughout the book, but La Follette manages to leap from its pages.—New York Times Book Review

This new biography . . . elegantly weaves together the story of La Follette's family life with his heralded career. . . . Unger's narrative is riveting. . . . [A] passionate, engaging and scholarly study.—Publishers Weekly

This is a psychologically sensitive portrait of a man whose life was a compelling mixture of failure and accomplishment, tragedy and triumph. . . . Carefully documented, sensitive, and readable biography.—Political Psychology

Unger mines voluminous collections of private papers and documents to reveal La Follette's dynamism, childhood, married life, recurring illnesses, and sense of righteous perfection and his progressive ideas (e.g., the direct election of senators), which are now a part of American civic culture. . . . Unger's critical biography hints that today's America desperately needs democratic, grass roots-oriented politicians of high caliber like La Follette.—Library Journal

In our time of mediocre and timid political leadership, it is good to have a book that reminds us of the unique political courage of Bob La Follette.—Howard Zinn, Boston University

In Fighting Bob La Follette, Nancy Unger has produced a fascinating, insightful, and persuasive portrait of Wisconsin's 'Little Giant.' She has a good feel for him and penetrates into his mind and character. Especially impressive is the way she shows the repetitive patterns in his life of intense involvement and overwork followed by withdrawals and often accompanied by physical breakdowns. There were clear psychological dimensions to that pattern, and she interprets those with sensitivity.—John Milton Cooper Jr., University of Wisconsin-Madison

As a crusader for political reform and direct democracy, a champion of the economic underdog, and by all accounts one of the most significant governors and senators of the twentieth century, Robert M. La Follette Sr. has long deserved a full-scale biography. This is it. Nancy Unger has produced a convincing portrait of 'Fighting Bob' that does justice to both the man and his political movement.—Donald A. Ritchie, U.S. Senate Historical Office

John Milton Cooper Jr.

A fascinating, insightful, and persuasive portrait of Wisconsin's 'Little Giant.' [Unger] has a good feel for him and penetrates into his mind and character.

Howard Zinn

In our time of mediocre and timid political leadership, it is good to have a book that reminds us of the unique political courage of Bob La Follette.

Editorial Reviews

Unger's voice remains subdued and objective throughout the book, but La Follette manages to leap from its pages.

New York Times Book Review

Nancy C. Unger's biography gives us a survey of the public life and private struggles of this flawed giant, who, in many ways, is a case study of the strengths and weaknesses of charismatic moral leadership.

American Historical Review

Nancy Unger has produced a convincing portrait of 'Fighting Bob' that does justice to both the man and his political movement.

Donald A. Ritchie

An interesting and notably personal account of the life and times of Wisconsin's famed Progressive reformer.

Choice

One of America's most important Progressive-era leaders, Robert Marion La Follette (1855-1925) was an uncompromising advocate for workers and the poor--both in Washington, D.C., as a senator and representative, and in Wisconsin, as governor. This new biography, by historian Unger (Santa Clara University) elegantly weaves together the story of La Follette's family life with his heralded career. The two strands of his life merge best through Unger's account of his marriage to Belle Case La Follette, whom Unger calls "[o]ne of the most... politically influential spouses in American history." Although that may overstate the case (Belle doesn't really appear to be in the same league as Eleanor Roosevelt or even Abigail Adams), her independent spirit did help shape her husband's career. Having refused for years to commit to marrying Bob--opting for the women's suffrage lecture circuit instead--she was instrumental in getting her husband to think about women's rights. Unger's narrative is riveting even when she is considering political history straightforwardly--that is, without the charms of family anecdotes. Under La Follette's governorship, she recounts, Wisconsin led the nation in Progressive reform--the state adopted the direct primary, passed an antilobby law, reformed civil service statutes, enacted land conservation regulations and reined in the railroads and utilities. A politician who put the well-being of the American people over petty party politics, La Follette, Unger argues, prefigured the New Deal era. This passionate, engaging and scholarly book may not alter the fact that Americans have largely forgotten about La Follette and his legacy, but it does a good job trying. Illus. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Robert M. La Follette (1855-1925), Wisconsin governor and U.S. senator, was a giant among progressive-era (1880s-1920s) reformists. He and Belle Case La Follette, his wife, relentlessly championed the political and economic rights of workers, women, minorities, farmers, and the poor while assailing racial and sexual discrimination and industrialists' overwhelming influence in Congress. Unger (history, Santa Clara Univ.) mines voluminous collections of private papers and documents to reveal La Follette's dynamism, childhood, married life, recurring illnesses, and sense of righteous perfection and his progressive ideas (e.g., the direct election of senators), which are now part of American civic culture. Unger also explains how events like the Titanic disaster and the 1912 presidential election influenced La Follette's political plans. A worthwhile purchase for academic and public libraries, Unger's critical biography hints that today's America desperately needs democratic, grass roots- oriented politicians of high caliber like La Follette. Recommended for public and academic libraries.--Charles L. Lumpkins, Pennsylvania State Univ., State College Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Library Journal

Unger's voice remains subdued and objective throughout the book, but La Follette manages to leap from its pages.

New York Time Book Review

Unger is a good storyteller, and her lively writing and strong sense of narrative move the book along at a brisk, enjoyable pace.

Wisconsin Magazine of History

Unger's biography gives us a survey of the public life and private struggles of this flawed giant.

American Historical Review

An interesting and notably personal account of the life and times of Wisconsin's famed Progressive reformer.

Choice

Unger's voice remains subdued and objective throughout the book, but La Follette manages to leap from its pages.

New York Times Book Review

Unger's narrative is riveting. . . . [A] passionate, engaging and scholarly study.

Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher