Borah, William E

Borah, William E(dgar)

(born June 29, 1865, Fairfield, Ill., U.S.—died Jan. 19, 1940, Washington, D.C.) U.S. senator (1907–40). He practiced law in Boise, Idaho, and in 1892 became the state's Republican Party chairman. In the Senate he wielded great power as chairman of the foreign relations committee from 1924. A champion of isolationism in foreign policy, he was best known for his role in preventing the U.S. from joining the League of Nations; he also opposed efforts to aid the Allies before the U.S. entered World War II. A maverick Republican, he supported many of the New Deal programs to relieve economic hardship and sponsored bills establishing the Department of Labor as well as the federal Children's Bureau.