AM IDEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SENATE WARTIME ADDRESSES OF ROBERT MARION LA FOLLETTE Harry R. Gianneschi A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December . 197.5 618206 Vu.w ii Wo • ABSTRACT Robert Marion La Follette, leading American progres­ sive, Governor of Wisconsin for three terms, and U. S. Senator from 1905 to 1925, was selected by the 1957 Senate as one of five of its greatest members throughout this country’s history. In light of Ij.s subsequent praiseworthy reputation and of the popular support he maintained during most of his career, the reason for his publicly denounced "anti-war" stance in 1917 has remained a mystery to many critics. Viewing the stance as a break-away from his previous beliefs, historians have tagged him as pacifistic, ignorant, or demagogic in his approach to the war. This study was designed to investigate elements in La Follette's life and speaking which could clarify the motivation for his Senate speeches from April 4 to October 6 in 1917. Research on this topic was devoted to an in-depth investigation of La Follette's entire speaking career. Texts of the speeches he gave during his life, editorial writings presented in La Follette's Magazine, and the personal papers of La Follette, members of his family, and close friends, all located in the Wisconsin State Histori­ cal Society Archives, were studied. Reactions were discovered in accounts by his contemporaries and the newspapers of the day. A wide cross-section of secondary sources, as critical and historical judgments, was taken into consideration. A great deal of emphasis was directed, of course, at the wartime period. The examination of La Follette's speaking career revealed that he had formulated an individualized theory of progressivism to which he remained true throughout his life. This credo consisted of three interlocking and interdependent tenets: 1) that the Constitution, as the law of the land, must be given paramount authority in judging all political matters; 2) that the will of the people constituted the spirit of the Constitution and must be heeded for a representative government to function effectively; and 3) that the public can make proper decisions only if well-informed on the facts of any issue. The application of this philosophy, termed La Fol- lettism, to his wartime Senate speeches confirmed La Follette's consistent adherence to the three tenets. The issue of war was secondary to a defense of his constitutionally-based theory. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION .................... 1 Background of La Follette's political career ................ .......... 1 Statement of problem . ........ .. 9 Review of literature on La Follette.......... 10 Historical reactions to La Follette's wartime rhetoric ............................ 13 Argument and methodology of study ....... 19 "GUIDED BY THE PATTERN OF THE PAST" . ........... 24 Public reaction to La Follette immediately prior to war declaration speech .......... .. 24 Motivation of La Follette's war­ time rhetoric found in progressive ideology .............. ........ 28 Progressivism defined . ................... 37 La Follettism defined ......................... 44 Constitutionalism . .................. 44 Will of the people . ................. 5 3 Educated electorate.............. .. 54 "IN THE WORLDS DARKEST HOURS" ............ 59 "Stand back of the President" issue ...... 60 Minority participation . ............... 65 Denial of the people's voice . ............... 67 iv Rebuttal of Wilson's war message ....... 70 Historical summation of events leading to war ............................... 77 Public reactions ..... .................. 79 "POWER IN THE PEOPLE SUPREME" . ................. 8 3 Inaccuracy of labels for La Follette's wartime rhetoric ............................. 8 4 Pacifism ............................... 84 Ignorance of foreign policy/isolationism .................. 87 Loyalty to constituency/ political expediency .......... 94 La Follettism embodied in April 4, 1917 speech ......................... 99 Constitutionalism .................... 102 Power in the people ..................... 110 Facts.......... 117 "never Abandon'the fight".......................... 123 La .Follettism vs. Conscription, April 27, 1917.............. 124 La Follettism vs. War Profits, August through September, 1917 . 129 La Follettism for Free Speech October 6, 1917 . .. .... • 138 REVIEW AND CONCLUSIONS .............. .. 147 BIBLIOGRAPHY........ ........................ 159 I CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Even in death, Robert Marion La Follette remained true to the spirit embodied in the two final lines of his beloved W. E. Henley poem, which ends, "I am the master of my fate;/ I am the captain of my soul."'*" Ironically, while the news of La Follette's death spread throughout the nation on that hot summer day of June 18, 1925 and eulogies commemorating his illustrious career blossomed from almost every town hall and village church, the one epitaph which most appropriately embodied his lifelong contribution to the nation was penned by La Follette himself. For, in the top drawer of his senate chamber desk, written on a small scrap of paper just prior to the illness which ended his career and life, La Follette had left his legacy in the few scribbled words, "I would be remembered as one who in the ^Robert M. La Follette, La Follette1s Autobiography (Madison, Wisconsin: Robert M. La Follette Company, 1911), p. 194. Hereafter referred to as Autobiography. The final three stanzas of William Ernest Henley's poem, "Invictus," which La Follette often used for inspirational courage, since they so well depict his career and mission, are as follows: "Out of the night that covers me,/ Black as the pit from pole to pole,/ I thank whatever gods there be/ For my unconquerable soul./ In the fell clutch of circum­ stance/ I have not winced nor cried aloud;/ Under the bludgeoning of chance,/ My head is unbowed./ It matters not how strait the gate,/ How charged with punishment the scroll,/ I am the master of my fate,/ I am the captain of my soul." 2 world's darkest hours kept a clear conscience and stood to 2 the end for the ideals of American Democracy." Certainly that single epitaph does not adequately reflect the scores of more eloquently-phrased eulogies which were given in La Follette's honor during that sad­ dening month. Those eulogies, like most others given at the deaths of great statesmen and politicians, attested to 3 La Follette's grandest political triumphs and successes. But, in his own way and in those few words, La Follette had mapped the most fitting reminder of his career. A future generation would select La Follette, along with Clay, Calhoun, Webster, and Taft, as one of the five greatest 4 United States Senators in American history. Yet La Follette himself wanted the American nation to remember this one period when he stood almost alone against the nation for principles he would never compromise. 2 Belle Case La Follette and Fola La Follette, Robert M. La Follette (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1953), II, 1174. Hereafter referred to as R.M.L. 3 For more information regarding the extensive eulogies concerning La Follette's death see two cartons labeled La Follette Eulogies located in the Wisconsin State Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin. Contained in these cartons are press clippings, editorials, and speeches pre­ sented throughout the nation following the death of Senator La Follette. 4 On April 30, 1957, Senator John F. Kennedy, as chairman, Special Committee on the Senate Reception Room, announced the above five outstanding senators pursuant to Senate Resolution 145, 84th Congress. For further details consult Holmes Alexander, The Famous Five (New York: The Bookmailer, 1958). 3 The more elaborate eulogies lauding La Follette's triumphs were not without merit. On the contrary, a retro­ spective view of his long career in government reveals illustrious political success. Labeled by historian George Mowry as "one of the very fathers of progressivism," La Follette first cast his hat into the political arena at the age of twenty-nine, when, with almost no staff, funds, or party support, he successfully overthrew the Republican "boss system" in Wisconsin and was elected as the youngest 5 member of the U.S. Congress in 1885. It was a victory which by today's standards would be analogous to an unknown Democrat winning a party seat in Cook County against the wishes of Mayor Richard Daly. Yet, it was only a small signal of the things to come for La Follette. By 1901, for example, La Follette had firmly entrenched his name in state and national political circles with the struggle for Governorship of Wisconsin which saw "Fighting Bob" and his progressive cohorts emerging from six straight years of defeat at the polls to secure the place of leadership in the Governor's mansion. La Follette 5 For more information about La Follette's long struggle against the "boss" system, see Autobiography, especially chapters 2-6. Also consult Edward Doan, The La Follettes and the Wisconsin Idea (New York: Rinehart, 1947). For those interested in a contemporary description of Wisconsin's political system at the time of La Follette's progressive movement, the Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin newspapers, particularly The Milwaukee Free Press, are extremely helpful. 4 wasted no time in making up for these temporary setbacks. In less than two terms as Governor, he made his