La Follette, Robert M., Sr.

La Follette, Robert M. (Marion), Sr. (1855–1925) governor, U.S. senator; born in Primrose, Wis. Born into a poor pioneer family, he worked his way through the University of Wisconsin and became a lawyer (1880). (He married his college classmate, Belle Case, herself a lawyer; she remained his solid colleague throughout his career.) A Republican, he served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1885–91), then broke with his state party's "stalwart" establishment and launched his own statewide movement, calling for a broad program of progressive social and economic reforms such as direct primary elections, control of railroad rates, and more equitable taxation. As governor (1901–06) he was eventually successful enough that reformers of the U.S.A. were advocating the "Wisconsin Idea." Moving on to the U.S. Senate (1906–25), he continued to advance his progressive agenda, but when Theodore Roosevelt drew the progressive Republicans into his Bull Moose party in the 1912 election, La Follette felt betrayed. Often on the outs with the establishment—he was known as "Battling Bob"—he opposed America's entry into World War I but supported the various war bills. He also opposed America's joining the League of Nations and the World Court. He ran for president on his own Progressive party ticket in 1924 and got one-sixth of the popular vote.