The La Follettes of Wisconsin

Love and Politics in Progressive America

Bernard A. Weisberger

• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN:
  9780299141332
• Print ISBN:
  9780299141349
  9780299141301
• Subtopic: Political Biographies

The La Follettes of Wisconsin—Robert, Belle, and their children, Bob Jr., Phil, Fola, and Mary—are vividly brought to life in this collective biography of an American political family. As governor of Wisconsin (1901–06) and U.S. Senator (1906–25), "Fighting Bob" battled relentlessly for his Progressive vision of democracy—an idealistic mixture of informed citizenry and enlightened egalitarianism.

            By contrast, the private man suffered from intense, isolated periods of depression and relied heavily on his family for survival. Together, "Old Bob" and his beloved wife, Belle Case La Follette—a lawyer, journalist, and Progressive leader in her own right—raised their children in the distinctly uncompromising La Follette tradition of challenging social and political ills. Fola became a campaigner for women's suffrage, Phil was governor of Wisconsin, and "Young Bob" became a U.S. senator.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Illustrations
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1 - Belle and Bob (1879 - 1905)
• 2 - Bob: On the Road and on the Rise (1906 - 1911)
• 3 - Belle: A "New Woman" and Her Family (1891 - 1911)
• 4 - Fola: From Art to Activism (1904 - 1911)
• 5 - Transition Time: The Family Completed (1912 - 1916)
• 6 - The Catastrophe: Alone and at Bay (1917 - 1919)
• 7 - In Another Country: Old Bob's Last Campaigns (1919 - 1925)
• 8 - The Succession That Wasn't (1925 - 1941)
• Epilogue: The War and After
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index