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Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer
Now in paperback with a new preface, this comprehensive biography weaves the triumph and the tragedy of the public and private lives of the most famous of Wisconsin leaders, Robert "Fighting Bob" La Follette. As a U.S. representative, governor of Wisconsin, and U.S. Senator, La Follette's political legacies have been long lasting; among them are the election of senators by constituents, creation of the Department of Labor and the Federal Trade Commission, women's suffrage, and workers' compensation.
Through the personal letters, diaries, and documents of the La Follette family, Unger uses the private life of La Follette as a means for understanding the public figure. Thoroughly researched and documented, Fighting Bob La The Righteous Reformer is a testament to the progressive tradition in Wisconsin and its premier leader.
Through the personal letters, diaries, and documents of the La Follette family, Unger uses the private life of La Follette as a means for understanding the public figure. Thoroughly researched and documented, Fighting Bob La The Righteous Reformer is a testament to the progressive tradition in Wisconsin and its premier leader.
416 pages, Paperback
First published September 25, 2000
About the author
Nancy C. Unger
10 books4 followersNancy C. Unger is Associate Professor of History at Santa Clara University. She believes that the story of Wisconsin giant Robert La Follette (1855-1925)and his fellow progressives remains a lively and highly relevant chapter in American history. It is the antidote to the resignation and complacency that emerge when problems are perceived as unprecedented in their severity, immune to remedy, and thus accepted as inevitable. Her op-eds applying the progressive tradition to the present are syndicated by the History News Service and have appeared in major newspapers across the country. Her radio appearances include Wisconsin Public Radio, Talking History, and Air America, and she has served as a consultant to PBS. Her current book project is Beyond Natures Housekeepers: Turning Points for Women in American Environmental History."
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 18, 2018
Professor Nancy C. Unger's book Fighting Bob LaFollette The Righteous Reformer might well be subtitled, all you want to know about LaFollette and was afraid to ask. He was a man of principle
and didn't like being questioned at all on that score.
Born in 1855 and growing up in the Civil War and Reconstruction Years there were two issues LaFollette never wavered on in public life. One was black civil rights an equality. He was a Republican
because that's what the party was birthed about and that's what it and he should stand for. The other
was women's equality. His father died young and as a kid saw his mother enter into a loveless second
marriage to a real jerk in order to preserve her own property and inheritance for her kids. He was a
confirmed suffragist and he also married a woman in Belle Case who was one as well.
He served three terms in Congress from a rural Wisconsin District 1885-1891 and practiced law
for 10 years, but always available as a speaker for a righteous GOP cause. He was a man with a
prickly sense of righteousness. In his autobiography published in 1912 he tells of being offered a
bribe to help fix a case by US Senator Philetus Sawyer while out of office. Sawyer was a millionaire
lumberman and a true representative of The Gilded Age. What LaFollette called a bribe, Sawyer
said was a retainer of $50.00. No one ever proved anything in this he said/he said situation.
But he did run for Governor of Wisconsin and win on a reform platform in 1900 and once in proved
no slouch in creating a political machine of his own. When he went to the Senate in 1905 LaFollette was never threatened in his home base as many of his progressive colldagues were.
There wasn't a president that he didn't cross swords with. Harding, Taft, and Coolidge he saw as
reactionaries. Theodore Roosevelt was a phony in his eyes. A man who sponsored just enough
reform legislation to lull the progressives to sleep. He makes no bones about it in his own autobiography. In 1912 when an attack of what was probably ptomaine poisoning at a banquet
derailed his insurgent presidential candidacy TR quickly filled the void. LaFollette's disappointment was massive and no doubt fueled his jealousy.
Democrat Woodrow Wilson you might have thought fulfilled some of LaFollette's reform ideas, but
not necessarily. He was not a fan of the legislation that created the Federal Reserve for instance,
said the appointees were just bankers themselves. But on foreign policy LaFollette really got on
Wilson's case. LaFollette was a confirmed isolationist and thought our entry into World War I was
a bad mistake. Many think so to this day. He wasn't crazy about chasing Pancho Villa into Mexico.
The treaty of Versailles and Wilson's League of Nations, as they say in Brooklyn, fuhgeddaboutit.
In 1924 69 and in ill health and wanting to make a run for the White House LaFollette ran for
President on a 3rd party ticket and against incumbent Calvin Coolidge and Democrat John W. Davis,
LaFollette finished second to Coolidge in a few states, denied Davis any electoral votes other than
the South, but only carried Wisconsin. He died mid 1925.
LaFollette was a stubborn self righteous man. He was also a magnificent orator. He managed to
make an early experimental sound film of his campaign speechmaking and he was quite the
spellbinder. Part of the secret of his enduring popularity.
I commend reading LaFollette's own autobiography as well as this portrayal. Professor Unger
portrays him flaws and all. On the whole however he was quite the character and politically if not
always intellectually honest.
and didn't like being questioned at all on that score.
Born in 1855 and growing up in the Civil War and Reconstruction Years there were two issues LaFollette never wavered on in public life. One was black civil rights an equality. He was a Republican
because that's what the party was birthed about and that's what it and he should stand for. The other
was women's equality. His father died young and as a kid saw his mother enter into a loveless second
marriage to a real jerk in order to preserve her own property and inheritance for her kids. He was a
confirmed suffragist and he also married a woman in Belle Case who was one as well.
He served three terms in Congress from a rural Wisconsin District 1885-1891 and practiced law
for 10 years, but always available as a speaker for a righteous GOP cause. He was a man with a
prickly sense of righteousness. In his autobiography published in 1912 he tells of being offered a
bribe to help fix a case by US Senator Philetus Sawyer while out of office. Sawyer was a millionaire
lumberman and a true representative of The Gilded Age. What LaFollette called a bribe, Sawyer
said was a retainer of $50.00. No one ever proved anything in this he said/he said situation.
But he did run for Governor of Wisconsin and win on a reform platform in 1900 and once in proved
no slouch in creating a political machine of his own. When he went to the Senate in 1905 LaFollette was never threatened in his home base as many of his progressive colldagues were.
There wasn't a president that he didn't cross swords with. Harding, Taft, and Coolidge he saw as
reactionaries. Theodore Roosevelt was a phony in his eyes. A man who sponsored just enough
reform legislation to lull the progressives to sleep. He makes no bones about it in his own autobiography. In 1912 when an attack of what was probably ptomaine poisoning at a banquet
derailed his insurgent presidential candidacy TR quickly filled the void. LaFollette's disappointment was massive and no doubt fueled his jealousy.
Democrat Woodrow Wilson you might have thought fulfilled some of LaFollette's reform ideas, but
not necessarily. He was not a fan of the legislation that created the Federal Reserve for instance,
said the appointees were just bankers themselves. But on foreign policy LaFollette really got on
Wilson's case. LaFollette was a confirmed isolationist and thought our entry into World War I was
a bad mistake. Many think so to this day. He wasn't crazy about chasing Pancho Villa into Mexico.
The treaty of Versailles and Wilson's League of Nations, as they say in Brooklyn, fuhgeddaboutit.
In 1924 69 and in ill health and wanting to make a run for the White House LaFollette ran for
President on a 3rd party ticket and against incumbent Calvin Coolidge and Democrat John W. Davis,
LaFollette finished second to Coolidge in a few states, denied Davis any electoral votes other than
the South, but only carried Wisconsin. He died mid 1925.
LaFollette was a stubborn self righteous man. He was also a magnificent orator. He managed to
make an early experimental sound film of his campaign speechmaking and he was quite the
spellbinder. Part of the secret of his enduring popularity.
I commend reading LaFollette's own autobiography as well as this portrayal. Professor Unger
portrays him flaws and all. On the whole however he was quite the character and politically if not
always intellectually honest.
January 18, 2026
Unger's book is a lengthy biography and goes more deeply into who he was-- his strengths, weaknesses, his upbringing, his friends, his foes, but a little less about his actual drafting of bills and his senatorial voting record. There are certainly allusions to those but if you asked me what were the laws he was instrumental in lobbying for and seeing passed, I couldn't tell you. Growing up in Wisconsin and living not far from where LaFollette's family had its farm, I feel I can better square the stories I'd heard in school with Unger's more detailed and nuanced version. So much of the Wisconsin political landscape has been influenced by LaFollette, even now, yet pieces are getting stripped away bit by bit. It's hard to believe that the roots of the Progressive movement can be found here. I wish more people would read this book and familiarize themselves with our history.
Read
January 1, 2026An intense reading about an intense man- the leader of the progressive movement in the Midwest and long-time advocate of women's suffrage, even governor of Wisconsin at one point. He made enemies of those with wealth and power and for that, the working American loved him. He instigated the investigation of the Teapot Dome scandal and worked to save federally owned natural resources from the greed of monopolies. HE clashed with TR and survived politically, While he oftentimes seemed self-centered, he did sacrifice his health for his causes. I would have liked to read more about his time as governor and his post WWI trip to Europe and Russia.
December 14, 2022
See my review at Reading World
April 24, 2024
Interesting and comprehensive, but a very mainstream analysis of the life of Fighting Bob La Follette.
September 26, 2014
A very interesting biography of one of Wisconsin's favorite sons, the namesake of my high school and according to a special committee chaired by Senator John F. Kennedy, one of the Senate's five greatest members, along with senators Henry Clay, John Calhoun, Daniel Webster, and Robert A. Taft.
La Follette's philosophy towards life and public service is one I admire and find sadly missing in so many people and public servants alike. La Follete put it simply "We shall find our greatest happiness day by day in giving happiness to others. At the finish we shall find that we have best served ourselves by serving humanity."
Although controversial his entire political career, Fighting Bob always was working for the common man. Some of the key issues he was fighting; fair elections without undue influence of the wealthy, big business and special interests, the unequal distribution of wealth and pwoer, equal rights for women, racial minorities, and workers, and fair taxation. Sadly I suspect that Bob would be saddened to see that us common folks are still looking for action on those issues today. In fact one might say we've taken a few steps backwards in recent years.
La Follete was not perfect. He was self-righteous to the point compromise was not an option. However, history has judged him favorably as noted in this passage from the book "His self-righteousness, a quality honed since early childhood, led to a reluctance to cooperate even with those who shared his views. His refusal to compromise alienated many, repeatedly curtailing his effectiveness. And yet it was that same certainty in the justness of his positions that led one scholar looking at La Follette's lifetime of achievements to declare, "It is silly to call a man egotistical in a tone of reproof; what person who believes in himself and is willing to fight for the prevalence of his beliefs is not self-centered?" Fighting Bob relentlessly championed, according to his own lights, the rights of the many over those of the powerful few. Nearly seventy-five years after his death, he was hailed by Madison (Wisc.) Capital Times editorial page editor John Nichols as "the most courageous political leader this nation has ever produced."
Robert M. La Follette's legacy is summed up at the end of the book like this: "The true value of La Follette's political legacy may be yet to come if Martin Luther King Jr. was right, that "somehow righteousness is stronger than evil." "History is a long story of the fact," King insisted, "that goodness defeated is [ultimately] stronger that evil triumphant," for "evil is ultimately doomed by the powerful, insurgent forces of good." Proud, uncompromising, shrewd, resourceful, and inspired, the righteous reformer Robert La Follette was indeed one of the "dull tools" of "Almighty God."6
If you're like me, reading this book will have you yearning for a Robert M. La Follete for this day and age.
La Follette's philosophy towards life and public service is one I admire and find sadly missing in so many people and public servants alike. La Follete put it simply "We shall find our greatest happiness day by day in giving happiness to others. At the finish we shall find that we have best served ourselves by serving humanity."
Although controversial his entire political career, Fighting Bob always was working for the common man. Some of the key issues he was fighting; fair elections without undue influence of the wealthy, big business and special interests, the unequal distribution of wealth and pwoer, equal rights for women, racial minorities, and workers, and fair taxation. Sadly I suspect that Bob would be saddened to see that us common folks are still looking for action on those issues today. In fact one might say we've taken a few steps backwards in recent years.
La Follete was not perfect. He was self-righteous to the point compromise was not an option. However, history has judged him favorably as noted in this passage from the book "His self-righteousness, a quality honed since early childhood, led to a reluctance to cooperate even with those who shared his views. His refusal to compromise alienated many, repeatedly curtailing his effectiveness. And yet it was that same certainty in the justness of his positions that led one scholar looking at La Follette's lifetime of achievements to declare, "It is silly to call a man egotistical in a tone of reproof; what person who believes in himself and is willing to fight for the prevalence of his beliefs is not self-centered?" Fighting Bob relentlessly championed, according to his own lights, the rights of the many over those of the powerful few. Nearly seventy-five years after his death, he was hailed by Madison (Wisc.) Capital Times editorial page editor John Nichols as "the most courageous political leader this nation has ever produced."
Robert M. La Follette's legacy is summed up at the end of the book like this: "The true value of La Follette's political legacy may be yet to come if Martin Luther King Jr. was right, that "somehow righteousness is stronger than evil." "History is a long story of the fact," King insisted, "that goodness defeated is [ultimately] stronger that evil triumphant," for "evil is ultimately doomed by the powerful, insurgent forces of good." Proud, uncompromising, shrewd, resourceful, and inspired, the righteous reformer Robert La Follette was indeed one of the "dull tools" of "Almighty God."6
If you're like me, reading this book will have you yearning for a Robert M. La Follete for this day and age.
July 18, 2016
I think one of the worst sins a biographer can commit is to use their knowledge of the future to attribute meaning to early events in a person's life, and Unger is extremely guilty of this. I got real sick, real fast of hearing about how Bob's relationships with his father, step father or Bascom acting as a surrogate father all resulted in this aspect or that of his personality.
I was also shocked to find Bob a pretty unlikable figure, to some extent I'm guessing it was just the style of politics at the time, but he repeatedly seemed to distort events to support his idealized view of himself. He was petulant, ambitious and for most of his career just seemed ridiculous.
That said he did think the issues through and was ahead of his time on a lot of them. It was also particularly interesting to see the more La Follette side of the WWI events after reading Wilson.
I guess as the most famous politician our state ever produced I was hoping for a bit more.
I was also shocked to find Bob a pretty unlikable figure, to some extent I'm guessing it was just the style of politics at the time, but he repeatedly seemed to distort events to support his idealized view of himself. He was petulant, ambitious and for most of his career just seemed ridiculous.
That said he did think the issues through and was ahead of his time on a lot of them. It was also particularly interesting to see the more La Follette side of the WWI events after reading Wilson.
I guess as the most famous politician our state ever produced I was hoping for a bit more.
Want to Read
September 12, 2009Well, I'm going to the Fighting Bob fest so I should probably know about The Bob!
April 11, 2017
OK, but felt a little endless.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews