(ISSN 0043-6534) WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY The State Historical Society of Wisconsin • Vol. 80, No. 4 • Summer, 1997 THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OFWISCONSIN GEORGE L. VOGT, Director Officers GLENN R. COATES, President RICHARD H. HOLSCHER, Treasurer GERALD D. VISTE, First Vice-President GEORGE L. VOGT, Secretary PATRICIA A. BOGE, Second Vice-President THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN is both a state agency and a private membership organization. Founded in 1846—two years before statehood—and char­ tered in 1853, it is the oldest American historical society to receive continuous public funding. By statute, it is charged with collecting, advancing, and disseminating knowledge ofWisconsin and ofthe trans-Allegheny West. The Society serves as the archive ofthe State of Wisconsin; it collects all manner of books, periodicals, maps, manuscripts, relics, newspapers, and aural and graphic materials as they relate to North America; it maintains a museum, library, and research facility in Madison as well as a statewide system of historic sites, school services, area research centers, and affiliated local societies; it administers a broad program of historic preservation; and publishes a wide variety of historical materials, both scholarly and popular. MEMBERSHIP in the Society is open to the public. /ndiVirftia/membership (one person) is $27.50. Senior Citizen Individual membership is $22.50. Family membership is $32.50. Senior Citizen Family membership is $27.50. ,Su/»/>ort!>zj^ membership is $100. Sustaining membership is $250. A Patron contributes $500 or more. Li/i?membership (one person) is $1,000. MEMBERSHIP in the Friends of the SHSW is open to the public. Individual memhcrshx^ (one person) is $20. Family membership is $30. THE SOCIETY is governed by a Board of Curators which includes twenty-four elected members, the Governor or designee, three appointees ofthe Governor, a legislator from the majority and minority from each house, and ex officio, the President ofthe University of Wisconsin System, the President of the Friends of the State Historical Society, the Presidentof the Wisconsin History Foundation, Inc., and the Presidentof the Administra­ tive Committee of the Wisconsin Council for Local History. A complete listing of the Curators appears inside the back cover. The Society is headquartered at 816 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1488, at the juncture of Langdon and Park streets on the University ofWisconsin campus. The State Historical Museum is located at 30 North Carroll Street. A partial listing of phone numbers (Area Code 608) follows: General Administration 264-6400 Hours of operation 264-6588 Affiliated local societies 264-658.S Institutional advancement 264-6585 Archives reading room 264-6460 Library Circulation desk 264-6534 Contribution of manuscript materials 264-6477 Maps 264-6468 Development 264-6589 Membership 264-6587 Editorial offices 264-6461 Microforms reading room 264-6536 Fax 264-6404 Museum lours 264-6555 Film collections 264-6470 Newspaper reference 264-6531 Genealogical and general reference inquiries.. 264-65.S,') Picture collections 264-6470 Government publications and reference 264-652.5 Public information office 264-6586 Historic preservation 264-6500 School services 264-6579 Historic sites 264-6.586 Archives Division http://www.wisc.edu/shs-archives ON THE COVER: By about 1906, as this cartoon depicts, Robert M. La Follette was gaining a nationwide reputation as a trust-buster. An article on La Follette's early presidential aspirations begins on p. 258. WHi (X3) 51080 Volume 80, Number 4 / Summer, 1997 WISCONSIN ri846, MAGAZINE OF HISTORY Published quarterly by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Robert M. La Follette as Presidential Aspirant: 816 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1488. The First Campaign, 1908 258 Distributed to members as part of their dues. Individual member­ Herbert Margulies ship, $27.50; senior citizen individual, $22.50; family, $32.50; senior citizen family, $27.50; Wisconsin Economists supporting, $100; sustaining, and New Deal Agricultural Policy: $250; patron, $500 or more; life (one person), $1,000. Single The Legacy of Progressive Professors 280 numbers from Volume 57 forward are $5 plus postage. Microfilmed Jess Gilbert and Ellen Baker copies available through University Microfilms, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106. Communications should Book Reviews 313 be addressed to the editor. The Society does not assume responsi­ Book Review Index 326 bility for statements made by contributors. Periodicals postage paid at Madison, Wisconsin. Wisconsin Histor}' Checklist 327 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Wisconsin Magazine of History, Accessions 329 Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1488. Copyright © 1997 by the State Contributors 336 Historical Society ofWisconsin. The Wisconsin Magazine of History is indexed annually by the editors; Editor cumulative indexes are assembled PAUL H. HASS decennially. In addinon, articles are abstracted and indexed in America: History and Life, Historical Associate Editors Abstracts, Index to Literature on the JOHN O. HOLZHUETER American Indian, and the Combined KiMBERLY S. LITTLE (Interim) Retrospective Index to foumals in History, 1838-1974. Book Review Editor Photographs identified with WTIi CHRISTOPHER W. WELLS negative numbers are from the Historical Societv's collections. WHi(X31)4000 Robert M. LaFollette, Sr., in Washington in 1908. Photograph by WaldonFawcett. 258 Robert M. La Follette as Presidential Aspirant: The First Campaign, 1908 By Herbert Margulies OVERNOR ofWisconsin from 1901 to campaigns, giving particular attention, G 1906, then United States Senator un­ naturally, to those of 1912 and 1924.^ But til his death in 1925, Robert M. La Follette there was more to La Follette than presi­ was not content with these high offices. His dential ambition, and quite understand­ eye was on a greater prize: the White House. ably his biographers have not focused stead­ He ran for a presidential nomination, or fastly on the presidential theme. Thus, the for the presidency itself, or seriously con­ full scope of La Follette's presidential pur­ sidered one or the other of these efforts, in suit remains to be chronicled. One pur­ every election from 1908 through 1924, a pose of this article is to rectify the situation year before his death. In the words of histo­ with reference to the first campaign, for rian George H. Meyer, La Follette "sought the Republican nomination in 1908. the Presidency as persistently as any candi­ There is another purpose. Occasionally date in American history and honestly be­ La Follette's actions bore clearly and exclu­ lieved that the sole motive for his action sively upon the presidency. Much more of­ was selfless devotion to a cause."' ten, however, they were explicable in terms To be sure, biographers of "Fighting of a variety of motives. Given what is already Bob" have long been aware of his ambi­ known and generally acknowledged respect­ tions. They have described his presidential ing La Follette's presidential ambitions and his better-known presidential candidacies, one may reasonably look for the presiden­ ' George H. Mayer, The Republican Party, 1854- tial aspect in actions that served several pur­ 1966 (2nd ed. New York, 1967), 293. A friendly poses without questioning La Follette's sin­ contemporary of La Follette's, political scientist cerity about the non-presidential motives Frederick A. Ogg, remarked of La Follette, "He was over-ambitious to reach the Presidency." Ogg, "Rob­ for these actions. This matter is of some ert M. La Follette in Retrospect," in Current History, consequence. If presidential ambition was 33 (February, 1931), 685-691, in Roberts. Maxwell, an abiding and important consideration for ed.. Great Lives Observed: LaFollette (Englewood Cliffs, La Follette, then his entire career as gover­ Newjersey, 1969), 130-138, 136. A recent scholar nor and senator must be reexamined in agrees; see John J. L.Johnson, "A Rhetorical Analysis of Robert Marion La Follette as a Social Movement Leader and Presidential Aspirant, 1897-1924" (doc­ toral dissertation, Wayne State University, 1989), 2, ^ RobertM. LaFollette, LaFollette's Autobiography 76, 77. (Madison, 1913; 1960 ed.), 208-321. Copyright © 1997 by the State Historical Sociew ofWisconsin 259 All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. WTSCONSIN MAGAZINE Or HISTORY SUMMER, 1997 that light. Partly to illustrate the point, the presidential implications of a number of events leading to the 1908 nomination merit examination. As we shall see. La Follette's very first campaign, for the Republican presi­ dential nomination of 1908, was both more serious and more prolonged than histori­ ans and biographers have heretofore real­ ized. The 1908 race was the first of a series of presidential bids. La Follette made his stron­ gest try in the next nominating campaign of 1912, as he attempted to head the bur­ geoning progressive Republican forces against the unpopular incumbent, William Howard Taft. The belated candidacy of former president Theodore Roosevelt side­ tracked him, as La Follette bitterly re­ counted in his autobiography.^ La Follette even gave serious consider­ ation to a bid for the 1916 Republican nomi­ nation—a fact overlooked by biographers WHi(X3)51093 and historians.* On the surface, the year Charles W. Croiunhart, 1863-1930. seemed inauspicious for La Follette. Roosevelt had led some of the progressives was encouraged about his chances for nomi­ from the Republican party into a new