Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
LaFollette'scriticsfoundhimasself-righteousandpassionatelytactlessashewasbrilli-
ant,forthcoming,gregarious,andeveryothersuperlativebywhichheremainsknowntoday.
This driven man of the people was no more enigmatically contradictory than many other
public figures, but historians have noted that even his most vehement opponents respected
his ethics. Under him, Wisconsin instituted the nation's first direct primary and watershed
civil-servicesystems,passedanticorruptionlegislationandrailroadmonopolyreforms,and,
most importantly, formed the Wisconsin Idea.
Progressivism and the Wisconsin Idea
Progressivism represented a careful balance of honest-to-goodness idealism and what may
todaybetermedLibertariantenets.LaFollettesawitasanattempttoovercome,onagrass-
roots level, the dehumanizing aspect of corporate greed and political corruption.
The Pro-
gressive,
the Madison-based periodical he founded, remains one of the country's leading
media for social justice.
THE OTHER LA FOLLETTE
WhileRobertLaFolletteSr.dominatedWisconsinpoliticsformostofthreedecades,
he by no means did it alone. He and his wife, Belle, were an inseparable team, both
passionate crusaders for social justice.
Belle LaFollette (1859-1931)wasbehindBobineverywayandinmanycases,it
could be said,
was
Bob. Her grandmother inculcated in her a fierce determination to
obtain the education she herself had been denied. It was at the University of Wiscon-
sin that this very independent woman caught the eye of her soulmate, Bob La Fol-
lette. The two rewrote many of society's constricting traditions. They were the first
couple in Wisconsin to delete “obey” from their marriage vows. Belle later became
the first woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin law school.
Her postcollegiate life was an amazing blend of supporting Bob and maintaining
her own crusading career as a journalist, editor, and suffrage leader. She marched in
the state's first major suffrage parade and became a leading researcher and writer on
practices of segregation, welfare, and other social issues. In addition to all that, she
lectured, acted as her husband's attorney, and raised the La Follette brood.
She knew Bob would need an enlightened insider, so she chose to study law. She
immersed herself in the issues and became his most trusted adviser. When Bob La
