En: Robert M. "Fighting Bob" La Follette

Robert M. "Fighting Bob" La Follette

Brother, Robert M. "Fighting Bob" La Follette, Sr. (1855-1925) Brother, Lawyer, Politician, Governor, U.S. Senator, known as "Fighting Bob"

1894 Member of Madison Lodge No.5 1897 Robert McCoy Commandery No.3, K.T. 1897 Received 32° AASR in Wisconsin. 1902 Member of Tripoli Shrine Temple of Milwaukee.

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.

He was the Governor of Wisconsin, and was also a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (1906 to 1925).

In 1909 he established La Follette's Magazine which gave him a forum for his views on both national and state topics.

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.

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.

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.

His portrait hangs in the Senate lounge as one of five most outstanding senators in American history. His statue looks down in Statuary Hall of the federal Capitol as Wisconsin's greatest son.