Robert M. La Follette

"Fighting Bob" redirects here. For the United States Navy rear admiral Great White Fleet commander, see Robley Dunglison Evans. For the American evangelist and political figure, see Robert P. Shuler.

For Robert M. La Follette, Sr.'s son, the Wisconsin senator, see Robert M. La Follette, Jr.

Robert M. La Follette
United States Senator from Wisconsin
In office January 2, 1906 – June 18, 1925
Preceded by	Joseph V. Quarles
Succeeded by	Robert M. La Follette, Jr.
20th Governor of Wisconsin
In office January 7, 1901 – January 1, 1906
Lieutenant	Jesse Stone James O. Davidson
Preceded by	Edward Scofield
Succeeded by	James O. Davidson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 3rd district
In office March 4, 1885 – March 4, 1891
Preceded by	Burr W. Jones
Succeeded by	Allen R. Bushnell
Personal details
Born	Robert Marion La Follette (1855-06-14)June 14, 1855 Primrose, Wisconsin
Died	June 18, 1925(1925-06-18) (aged 70) Washington, D.C.
Political party	Republican Progressive
Spouse	Belle Case La Follette
Children	Fola La Follette, Robert M. La Follette, Jr., Philip La Follette, Mary La Follette
Alma mater	University of Wisconsin–Madison
Signature

Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" La Follette, Sr. (June 14, 1855 – June 18, 1925) was an American Republican (and later a Progressive) politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was the Governor of Wisconsin, and was also a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (1906 to 1925). He ran for President of the United States as the nominee of his own Progressive Party in 1924, carrying Wisconsin and 17% of the national popular vote.

His wife Belle Case La Follette and sons Robert M. La Follette, Jr. and Philip La Follette led his political faction in Wisconsin into the 1940s. La Follette has been called "arguably the most important and recognized leader of the opposition to the growing dominance of corporations over the Government" and is one of the key figures pointed to in Wisconsin's long history of political liberalism.

He is best remembered as a proponent of progressivism and a vocal opponent of railroad trusts, bossism, World War I, and the League of Nations. In 1957, a Senate Committee selected La Follette as one of the five greatest U.S. Senators, along with Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, and Robert A. Taft. A 1982 survey asking historians to rank the "ten greatest Senators in the nation's history" based on "accomplishments in office" and "long range impact on American history," placed La Follette first, tied with Henry Clay. Robert La Follette is one of five outstanding senators memorialized by portraits in the Senate reception room in US Capitol. One of America's top schools for public affairs, located at the University of Wisconsin-Madison bears his name.

Early life

Robert M. La Follette's college yearbook photo, 1879

La Follette was born in a log cabin in the Town of Primrose, Wisconsin, just outside New Glarus, to Josiah La Follette and Mary Ferguson (widow of Alexander Buchanan). His paternal great-grandfather, Joseph La Follette, was born in France, emigrated to New Jersey, fought in the American Revolutionary War, led his family through the Cumberland Gap to Kentucky, and crossed the Ohio River into Indiana with his son, Jesse LaFollette. Joseph married Phoebe Gobel, whose family came to the Massachusetts Colony from England in the 1630s. Jesse's sons, Josiah and Harvey La Follette, moved to Primrose, where they established farms and participated in local government.

La Follette grew up in rural Dane County, Wisconsin. The death of his father in 1856 and the subsequent bad relationship with his stepfather made it a difficult childhood. Following the death of his stepfather, his mother sold the family farm and moved to nearby Madison. He began teaching school for tuition money for the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he was "a very mediocre student who enjoyed social activities."

At the school, he was deeply influenced by University president John Bascom on issues of morality, ethics and social justice. La Follette studied oratory and, during his senior year, won a major Midwestern oratorical competition. He graduated in 1879.

La Follette met Belle Case while attending the University of Wisconsin, and they married on December 31, 1881, at her family home in Baraboo, Wisconsin. She became a leader in the feminist movement, an advocate of women's suffrage and an important influence on the development of La Follette's ideas. La Follette attended law school briefly and passed the bar in 1880.

Political career

Soon after obtaining his law license, he won the Republican nomination to the general election for Dane County District Attorney and went on to win the seat in 1880. After two terms, he went on to be elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he served for three terms. There he was noted for championing Native and African-American rights. His opposition to patronage and his support for a protective tariff helped secure his appointment to the Ways and Means Committee headed by William McKinley, where he helped draft the Tariff Act of 1890 (McKinley Tariff).

At 35 years old, Robert La Follette lost his seat in the 1890 Democratic landslide. Many factors contributed to his loss, one of which included the Bennett compulsory-education bill posed by the Republican-controlled state legislature in 1889. Because the bill required major subjects in schools to be taught in English, it formed a large divide in Wisconsin both racially and ethnically within the foreign Catholic and Lutheran communities. Furthermore, the McKinley Tariff La Follette had previously supported affected the Republican demise in Congress as well. Despite the unpopularity of his views at the time, however, Congressman La Follette successfully championed the rights of minorities against prejudice.

After his defeat for a fourth term in the House, La Follette returned to Madison to begin a private law practice and spend more time with his wife and four children. In the early 1890s, he began to believe that much of the Republican Party had abandoned the ideals of its antislavery origins and become a tool for corporate interests. In his home state, he was convinced industry and railroad interests had too much sway over the party. To counter this, La Follette began building an independent organization within the party that stressed voter control.

It was not until 1891 when La Follette’s passion as reformer began due to the alleged bribe made to him by state Republican leader, Senator Philetus Sawyer. Senator Sawyer bribed La Follette in order to influence a court case against former state officials. Outraged from the corruption and power within politics Robert La Follette stated,“Nothing else ever came into my life that exerted such a powerful influence upon me as that affair. It was the turning point, in a way, of my career. Sooner or later I probably would have done what I did in Wisconsin. But it would have been later. It would have been a matter of much slower evolution. But it shocked me into a complete realization of the extremes to which this power that Sawyer represented would go to secure the results it was after.”

This incident marked the beginning of his rage against powerful influences, such that he contributed the next six years into creating a Republican bloc known as Insurgents in “support of other party members (Scandinavians, dairy farmers, young men, disgruntled politicians) with grievances against the stalwart faction.”

The Insurgents stressed the need for more direct voter control and championed consumer rights. The Insurgents' call for reform gained more support after the Panic of 1893 shook up the economic, class, and ethnic assumptions held by most Americans.

In 1894, the Insurgents began to openly challenge the Stalwarts for leadership of the Republican Party. The Insurgents' Nils Haugen sought the party nomination for governor in 1894, and La Follette followed in 1896 and 1898. His speeches decrying the sway of big business (especially the railroads) and his call for a more direct democracy (including direct election of nominees in party primaries) drew ever larger crowds.

In 1900, La Follette formed a coalition that temporarily disrupted the Stalwart hold on the nomination process. After securing the nomination, he "traveled to sixty-one counties, gave 216 speeches and spoke to 200,000 people." He gave many of his campaign speeches (which often lasted over three hours) from the back of a buckboard wagon. He won the 1900 race for governor by 100,000 votes.

Governor of Wisconsin

La Follette addressing a large Chautauqua assembly in Decatur, Illinois, 1905.

From 1901 until 1906, La Follette served as Governor of Wisconsin. During his first term, he proposed to set up a railroad commission, imposed an ad valorem tax on the railroad companies, and established a direct primary system. The Stalwarts blocked his agenda, and he refused to compromise with them.

During this time he also completed and published the ten-volume The Making of America.

During the 1904 elections, the Stalwarts organized to oppose La Follette's nomination and moved to block any reform legislation. La Follette began working to unite insurgent Democrats to form a broad coalition. He did manage to secure the passage of the primary bill and some revision to the railroad tax structure.

When the legislative session concluded, La Follette traveled throughout Wisconsin reading the "roll call"; that is, he read the votes of Stalwart Republicans to the people in an effort to elect Progressives. During this campaign, La Follette gained national attention when muckraking journalist Lincoln Steffens began to cover his campaign.

With the press coverage and his successful re-election, La Follette rose to become a national figure. His message against "vast corporate combinations" attracted more journalists and more progressives.

As governor, La Follette championed numerous progressive reforms, including the first workers' compensation system, railroad rate reform, direct legislation, municipal home rule, open government, the minimum wage, non-partisan elections, the open primary system, direct election of U.S. Senators, women's suffrage, and progressive taxation. He created an atmosphere of close cooperation between the state government and the University of Wisconsin in the development of progressive policy, which became known as the Wisconsin Idea. The goals of his policy included the recall, referendum, direct primary, and initiative. All of these were aimed at giving citizens a more direct role in government.

The Wisconsin Idea promoted the idea of grounding legislation on thorough research and expert involvement. To implement this program, La Follette began working with University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty. This made Wisconsin a "laboratory for democracy" and "the most important state for the development of progressive legislation". As governor, La Follette signed legislation that created the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library (now Bureau) to ensure that a research agency would be available for the development of legislation.

Nominates self for US Senate

The first item on the agenda for Wisconsin's 1905 legislature was to elect a Senator. La Follette nominated himself and was confirmed by the State Senate. He kept serving as Governor and left Wisconsin's U.S. Senate seat unfilled until January 1, 1906, when he resigned to join the U.S. Senate. He publicly proclaimed this unusual action was done to ensure that his 1904 platform was enacted in Wisconsin.

Senator

La Follette, Sr. making a radio speech shortly before his death.

La Follette spent the remainder of his life, from January 2, 1906, until his death in 1925, serving in the US Senate. While in the Senate, he strongly opposed American involvement in World War I and campaigned for child labor laws, social security, women's suffrage, and other progressive reforms. He opposed the prosecution of Eugene V. Debs and other opponents of the war and played a key role in initiating the investigation of the Teapot Dome Scandal during the Harding Administration.

A brilliant orator given to periodic bouts of "nerves," La Follette made many enemies over the years, particularly for his opposition to American entry into World War I and his defense of freedom of speech during wartime. Teddy Roosevelt called him a "skunk who ought to be hanged" when he opposed the arming of American merchant ships. Mississippi Senator John Sharp Williams said he was "a better German than the head of the German parliament" when he opposed the Wilson Administration's request for a declaration of war in 1917.

In 1906, when La Follette went back to Washington, D.C., the American economy had changed due to an increasing number of mergers that consolidated financial power in fewer hands. Senators Nelson Aldrich and John C. Spooner were widely seen as representing the interests of these fiscal elite. Journalist David Graham Phillips wrote a series of articles decrying corruption and subservience to corporate interests within the body entitled Treason of the Senate.

As the conservative leader, Aldrich was able to limit the effectiveness of La Follette and his Insurgents by placing them on insignificant committees. In response, La Follette took every chance to demand consumers' rights. When Congress adjourned, he went on a national speaking tour where he "read the roll" to expose senators he felt had voted against consumers. The tour added much to his national following.

Returning to the capital, he was viewed as the leader of the Progressives. He joined with Jonathan Dolliver, Albert Cummins, and others to form a fairly formal group. They were often joined by muckraking journalists such as Steffens, Phillips, and Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis to discuss issues and strategies to limit conservative power in the legislature and the judiciary. To expand this forum, he began publishing La Follette's Weekly Magazine in 1909.

La Follette believed his fears about the American economy were confirmed during the Bankers' Panic of 1907. La Follette opposed Aldrich's proposal (which had been created with the aid of financiers such as Paul Warburg). He saw the plan to issue $500 million in emergency currency backed in part by railroad bonds as an effort to establish economic centralization and crush free institutions. La Follette's troubles in the Senate worsened when fellow Progressive Theodore Roosevelt did not seek another term and William Howard Taft became President.

Opposition to American involvement in World War I

In 1909 LaFollette was the founder of LaFollette's Weekly (later LaFollette's Magazine) — a publication which continues in the 21st Century as The Progressive.

Perhaps one of the most notable positions of Senator La Follette was his opposition of American entry into World War I and, failing that, his critique of the wartime policies of President Woodrow Wilson. Historian Thomas Ryley summarizes the common feeling at the time saying, "More than any of the other objectors to war, he remained a symbol of opposition to the conflict and to Wilsonian policies for prosecuting it." La Follette had cautiously supported most of Wilson's domestic program, but by 1916 he was becoming increasingly critical of the president's foreign policy.

LaFollette believed the reputation of America would suffer: "When we cooperate with those governments, we endorse their methods; we endorse the violations of international law by Great Britain; we endorse the shameful methods of warfare against which we have again and again protested in this war."

In many people's eyes during 1917 and 1918, La Follette was the most hated man in the country, for insisting that America had no business in the war and had been led into it by lies and trickery.

From the beginning, La Follette opposed taking any side in World War I. He was a leader in filibustering the Armed Ship bill, which would have authorized the President to arm merchant vessels. In his speech opposing the measure, La Follette pointed out that its main supporter was a subsidiary of the International Mercantile Marine Company, which had been formed in England. In his eyes this bill would have had American gunners answering to English ship owners who "take their orders from the British Admiralty. Hence we, professing to be a neutral nation, are placing American guns and American gunners practically under the orders of the British Admiralty."

La Follette's opposition to the measure caused President Wilson to name him as part of "A little group of willful men, representing no opinion but their own...." Most media outlets condemned La Follette in editorials and political cartoons (some of which mockingly portrayed him as receiving the Iron Cross).

La Follette's staunch position against joining the war caused Senator John Sharp Williams to label him "pro-German, pretty near pro-Goth, and pro-Vandal." He was denounced in press editorials and political cartoons. After America joined the war, La Follette was a leader of the opposition to military conscription, the Espionage Act, and the President's measures to finance the war.

On August 11, 1917, he introduced a War Aims resolution that called on the US to "declare definitely its strategic goals, to condemn the continuation of the war for the purposes of territorial annexation, and to demand that the Allies restate their peace terms immediately." This position was attacked by both the press and public officials.

On September 20, 1917, he addressed the Non-Partisan League convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to discuss war taxation. Responding to an audience question, he said that while America had "suffered grievance... at the hands of Germany," they were not sufficient to provoke war. "I say this, that the comparatively small privilege, of the right of an American citizen to ride on a munitions loaded ship flying a foreign flag, is too small to involve this government in the loss of millions and millions of lives!!" He insisted that the President knew there was ammunition on the RMS Lusitania but had not prevented Americans from boarding it. After much audience cheering, he then defended free speech during wartime and received a standing ovation after his conclusion.

Despite the existence of three stenographic reports of the address, the Associated Press misquoted La Follette claiming he had said, "we had no grievance against Germany" and that he argued the sinking of the Lusitania was justified. The AP also portrayed the meeting as disloyal. La Follette was characterized as treasonous by speakers and editors across the nation.

La Follette, Sr.'s former residence in Washington, D.C.

Historian David Thelen reports that after the St. Paul speech La Follette "became the main focus of official and vigilante campaigns to suppress antiwar spokesmen." Many organizations sent resolutions to Congress calling for his expulsion, including the influential Minnesota Public Safety Commission presentation made to the Senate on September 29, 1917. La Follette asked for the Senate to schedule time to allow him to make an address in response to the charges of disloyalty and sedition.

His address was scheduled for October 6, 1917. His opponents in Congress manipulated the schedule so they could speak after him and not allow for any rebuttal. The public, sensing drama, packed the viewing galleries, and the majority of Senators made sure they were present to hear all the speech. Upon taking the floor, La Follette read in an unemotional detached manner a speech he had prepared defending free speech in wartime. Upon his conclusion there was a spontaneous outburst of applause that had to be gaveled into order. This speech is hailed as "a classic argument for free speech during time of war".

After the speech, senators Frank B. Kellogg (Minn.), Joseph Taylor Robinson (Arkansas), and Albert B. Fall (N.M.) in turn attacked La Follette's position on the war. Senator Robinson was a combative and fiercely partisan defender of Wilson and the Democratic Party. His speech "synthesized the scattered attacks on La Follette that had been filtering in for seven months...as the speech progressed, he became more agitated and abusive. The virulence of Robinson's attack shocked the floor and galleries into complete silence."

A United Press correspondent described Robinson's speech as "the most unrestrained language that ever has been heard in the Senate." La Follette sat motionless in his chair, even when Robinson began shaking his fist at him. Near the conclusion of his speech, Robinson violated the custom of the Senate and addressed his colleague directly, pointing at La Follette and shouting, "I want to know where you stand." La Follette was not allowed to take the floor to refute the other Senators before adjournment, though Senator Fall allowed him a brief statement (whereupon he announced he was prepared to substantiate everything he said in St. Paul and desired the chance to rebut the charges being made against him by his fellow senators). Throughout the rest of his time in the Senate, his opponents used procedural maneuvers to ensure he never was allowed to address charges of disloyalty again.

La Follette's opposition to US entry into World War I caused a break between him and his academic friends. He built a new base of support among anti-war German Americans.

La Follette's son, Philip La Follette, later opposed U.S. entry into World War II, but after war was declared served as an Army Officer.

Presidential campaigns

With the campaign in high gear, "Fighting Bob" sat down for the cameras with AFL chief Samuel Gompers in September 1924.

In 1911, La Follette set up a campaign to mobilize the progressive elements in the Republican Party behind his presidential bid. Mentally and physically exhausted, enduring anxiety from an impending operation for his thirteen-year-old daughter who was suffering from tuberculosis, La Follette made a disastrous speech in February 1912 before a gathering of leading magazine editors that caused many to doubt his stability. Many of his supporters deserted him for Theodore Roosevelt At the highly charged Republican Convention, La Follette received 41 delegate's votes to eventual victor William Howard Taft's 561.

Embittered, La Follette opposed both Roosevelt and William Howard Taft in the 1912 election. When his former ally, Governor Francis E. McGovern, supported Roosevelt, La Follette broke with him, allowing the conservative Republicans under Emanuel Philipp to take control of Wisconsin in the decisive 1914 election. La Follette's forces were out of power in the state from 1912 to 1920.

In 1924, the Federated Farmer-Labor Party (FF-LP) sought to nominate La Follette as its candidate. The FF-LP sought to unite all progressive parties into a single national Labor Party.

However, after a bitter convention in 1923, the Communist-controlled Workers Party gained control of the national organization's structure. Just prior to its 1924 convention in St. Paul, La Follette denounced the Communists and refused to be considered for the FF-LP endorsement. With La Follette's snub, the FF-LP disintegrated, leaving only the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party.

Instead, La Follette formed an independent Progressive Party and accepted its nomination in Cleveland with Democratic Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana as his running mate. The American Federation of Labor, the Socialist Party of America, the Conference for Progressive Political Action and most of the former supporters of the FF-LP along with various former "Bull Moose" Progressives and midwestern Progressive movement activists then joined La Follette and supported the Progressive Party.

La Follette's platform called for government ownership of the railroads and electric utilities, cheap credit for farmers, the outlawing of child labor, stronger laws to help labor unions, more protection of civil liberties, an end to American imperialism in Latin America, and a referendum before any president could again lead the nation into war.

He came in third behind incumbent President Calvin Coolidge and Democratic candidate John W. Davis. La Follette won 17% of the popular vote, carried Wisconsin (winning its 13 electoral votes) and polled second in 11 Western states. His base consisted of German Americans, railroad workers, the AFL labor unions, the Non-Partisan League, the Socialist Party, Western farmers, and many of the "Bull Moose" Progressives who had supported Roosevelt in 1912. LaFollette's 17% showing represents the third highest showing for a third party since the American Civil War, only surpassed by Roosevelt's 27% in 1912 and Ross Perot's 19% in 1992. Following the 1924 election, the Progressive Party disbanded.

During the 1924 convention, LaFollette was filmed by Lee DeForest in DeForest's Phonofilm sound-on-film process, along with Franklin D. Roosevelt, John W. Davis, and Al Smith.

Death and legacy

La Follette with his wife and daughter in February 1924, the year of his third-party presidential campaign.

La Follette died in Washington, D.C., on June 18, 1925 of cardiovascular disease several months after the election. He was buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery on the near west side of Madison.

After La Follette's death, his wife, Belle Case La Follette, remained an influential figure and editor. Their sons Philip and Robert entered the political arena. By the mid-1930s, the La Follettes had reformed the Progressive Party on the state level in the form of the Wisconsin Progressive Party. The party quickly, if briefly, became the dominant political power in the state; all but one of Wisconsin's congressmen were Progressives. Fighting Bob's son, Philip La Follette, was elected Governor of Wisconsin. La Follette's other son, Robert M. La Follette, Jr., succeeded his father as Senator where he led the Progressive caucus composed of Progressive, Farm-Labor, American Labor, and various Republican and Democratic Party congressional representatives.

La Follette Jr. returned to the Republican Party in 1946, where he was defeated in the primary by Republican Joe McCarthy. His grandson Bronson La Follette served as Wisconsin's attorney general in the 1980s.

His daughter, Fola, was married to the playwright George Middleton. His sister Josephine married Robert G. Siebecker, Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Memorials

• La Follette's cousin Chester La Follette painted the oval portrait that hangs in the Senate.
• La Follette is represented by one of two statues from Wisconsin in National Statuary Hall, also known as the Old House Chamber in the United States Capitol.
• The University of Wisconsin–Madison is home to the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs (formerly the Robert M. La Follette Institute of Public Affairs).
• The University of Wisconsin–Madison has dedicated a segment of an undergraduate residence hall, Adams Hall in the Lakeshore area, as La Follette House.
• The Robert M. LaFollette House, in Maple Bluff, Wisconsin, is a National Historic Landmark.
• Robert M. LaFollette High School in Madison, Wisconsin.
• A bust of La Follette resides in the rotunda of the Wisconsin Capitol.

Bibliography

Biographical

• Brøndal, Jørn, "The Ethnic and Racial Side of Robert M. La Follette," Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, (2011) 10(3): 340-353
• Burgchardt, Carl R., Robert M. La Follette, Sr.: The Voice of Conscience Greenwood Press. 1992; on his oratory, with selected speeches.
• Drake, Richard. The Education of an Anti-Imperialist Robert La Follette and U.S. Expansion (University of Wisconsin Press; 2013) 533 pages; celebration of his antiwar & anti-imperialist positions excerpt and text search
• Garraty, John A., "Robert La Follette: The Promise Unfulfilled" American Heritage (1962) 13(3): 76–79, 84–88. ISSN: 0002-8738 article.
• Hale, William Bayard (June 1911). "La Follette, Pioneer Progressive: The Story of "Fighting Bob", The New Master Of The Senate And Candidate For The Presidency". The World's Work: A History of Our Time. XXII: 14591–14600. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
• LaFollette, Belle C. and Fola La Follette. Robert M. La Follette 2 vols., (1953), detailed biography by his wife and his daughter
• Scroop, Daniel. "A Life in Progress: Motion and Emotion in the Autobiography of Robert M. La Follette," American Nineteenth Century History (March 2012) 13#1 pp 45–64.
• Thelen, David, Robert M. La Follette and the Insurgent Spirit. (1976). short interpretive biography.
• Thelen, David Paul, The Early Life of Robert M. La Follette, 1855–1884. (1966).
• Unger, Nancy C. Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer (2000), full-scale biography.

Specialty studies

• Brøndal, Jørn, Ethnic Leadership and Midwestern Politics: Scandinavian Americans and the Progressive Movement in Wisconsin, 1890–1914. (2004), on his ties with Scandinavian-American leaders.
• Buenker, John D., The History of Wisconsin. Volume IV The Progressive Era, 1893–1914 (1998), detailed narrative and analysis.
• Margulies, Herbert F., The Decline of the Progressive Movement in Wisconsin, 1890–1920 (1968), detailed narrative.
• Miller, Karen A. J., Populist Nationalism: Republican Insurgency and American Foreign Policy Making, 1918–1925 Greenwood Press, 1999.

Primary sources

• La Follette's autobiography, a personal narrative of political experiences, 1913.

See also

• Seamen's Act
• Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs

External links

• Template:Worldcat id
• Robert M. La Follette, Sr. Grave

Statements

• Free Speech and the Right of Congress to Declare the Objects of the War
• Statement of Robert La Follette, Sr. on Communist Participation in the Progressive Movement, 26 May 1924

Biographies

• Biography by John Nichols, at http://www.fightingbob.com
• United States Congress. "Robert M. La Follette (id: L000004)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Biography at Spartacus Educational
• Wisconsin Electronic Reader– Senator La Follette's picture biography
• Robert M. La Follette, Sr., Dictionary of Wisconsin History, Wisconsin State Historical Society
• Texts on Wikisource:
  • "La Follette, Robert Marion". Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). 1922.
  • "La Follette, Robert Marion". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.
  • "La Follette, Robert Marion". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.
  • "La Follette, Robert Marion". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.

Commemorative Government Initiatives on his Behalf

• Pub. L. 109–15 (text) (PDF), An Act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 215 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in Madison, Wisconsin, as the "Robert M. La Follette, Sr. Post Office Building"
• Pub. L. 109–110 (text) (PDF), Honoring the life of Robert M. La Follette, Sr., on the sesquicentennial of his birth
• S. 1174, A bill to authorize the President to posthumously award a gold medal on behalf of Congress to Robert M. La Follette, Sr., in recognition of his important contributions to the Progressive movement, the State of Wisconsin, and the United States
• S. 1175, Robert M. La Follette, Sr. Commemorative Coin Act