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"FIGHTING BOB" LA FOLLETTE, PART II

© John S. Cooper

La Follette continued to oppose the war, the draft and any bills authorizing money for such matters. Once we were in the war, however, he ended his opposition to bills to support the troops. He felt that the war was wrong, but we could not abandon our boys in the trenches. During the war, there were even calls for his impeachment, but no action was ever taken. After the war, La Follette opposed the Versailles Treaty and the League of Nations. He also opposed U.S. participation in the World Court.

By the time his Senate seat was up for election in 1922, most of his unpopular stands during the war had been more or less forgotten. The debates over the League of Nations made his opposition seem more acceptable. He was easily re-elected, winning with a more than 3-to-1 margin. Once again, he was at the head of the progressive movement. His call for investigation into the Teapot Dome scandals also added to his reputation for integrity in government.

In 1924, both major parties nominated a conservative. The newly formed Progressive Party nominated La Follette. The party was made up of progressives and liberals from both major parties. They agreed on La Follette as their presidential candidate, but nothing else. They could not even agree on a running mate for “Fighting Bob” so they let him choose his own. He chose fellow Senator Burton Wheeler of Montana.

The Republicans pictured La Follette as a radical and the Republican slogan was “Coolidge or chaos.” Coolidge won in an electoral landslide. La Follette carried only Wisconsin, but came in second in a number of western states, and managed to win 16.56% of the popular vote. With the exception of Teddy Roosevelt in 1912 (who was only technically a third party candidate), no independent had ever done so well in an election (with the exception of former Presidents running for re-election). La Follette was making plans to capitalize on his electoral accomplishment and create a new party to continue the progressive fight. As a result, he was expelled from the Republican Party in the Senate and stripped of his seniority. But there would be no new party and no next election fight. The next year, La Follette died at the age of seventy.

La Follette would probably not have made a good President. He saw every issue as a crusade. Those who opposed him became personal enemies. He did not see that someone who opposed you today might be a valuable ally tomorrow on another issue. His nickname “Fighting Bob” was appropriate. But the President has to bring various groups with varying viewpoints together. La Follette was not capable of this kind of leadership. He would have been miscast as President.