Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Progressive Party movement, formed of equal parts reformed Democrats and Re-
publicans, was the original third-party ticket, molted from the frustrated moderates of the
Wisconsin Republican Party keen on challenging the status quo. As progressivism gained
steam and was led on by native sons, the citizenry of Wisconsin—tireless and shrewd salt-
of-the-earth workers—eventually embraced the movement with open arms, even if the rest
of the country didn't always. The Progressive movement was the first serious challenge to
the United States' political machine.
Fightin' Bob: Legacy of Progressivism
IfthereisonepiecetotheWisconsinpoliticalmosaicthatwarrantskudos,it'stheinveterate
inability to follow categorization. Whether politically prescient or simply lacking patience,
the state has always ridden the cutting edge. These qualities are best represented physically
by the original Progressive: Robert La Follette, a.k.a. “Menace to the Machine.” One polit-
ical writer in the early 20th century said of La Follette: “The story of Wisconsin is the story
of Gov. La Follette. He's the head of the state. Not many Governors are that.” A seminal
forceinWisconsin,LaFollette eschewedthepork-barrelstatusquotoformtheProgressive
Party. In Wisconsin, the La Follette family dominated the state scene for two generations,
fighting for social rights most people had never heard of.
Robert M. La Follette was born on a Dane County farm in 1855, where the typically
hardscrabble life prepared him for the rigors of the University of Wisconsin, which he
entered in 1875. He discovered a passion and talent for oratory but, too short for theater,
gravitated to politics—a subject befitting the ambitious young man. He was elected Dane
County district attorney in 1880. Well liked by the hoi polloi, he gave them resonance with
hishand-pumpingandhisoff-the-cuffspeechesabouthardworkandpersonalresponsibility
in government. An entrenched Republican, he was more or less ignored by the party brass,
so in 1884 he brashly ran for U.S. Congress on his own—and won. He was the youngest
state representative in U.S. history.
Initially, La Follette toed the party line fairly well, though he did use his position to
crow elegantly against the well-oiled political infrastructure. After the Republicans were
voted out en masse in 1890, La Follette returned to Wisconsin and formed the Progressive
Party. He ran for governor and, after two tries, landed the nomination. A tireless circuit and
chautauqua lecturer, he relied on a salt-of-the-earth theme and left audiences mesmerized.
This marked the birth of the “Fightin' Bob” image, which persists to this day. He was elec-
ted governor three times, returned to the Senate for a tempestuous career, and made serious
runs at the presidency.
