Portal:Wisconsin/Selected biography/5

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"Fighting Bob" La Follette during his 1924 presidential campaign.

Robert M. La Follette, Sr. (June 14, 1855 – June 18, 1925) (also known as "Fighting Bob" La Follette) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Congressman, the 20th Governor of Wisconsin from 1901 - 1906, and Senator from Wisconsin from 1905 - 1925 as a Republican He ran for President of the United States as the nominee of his own Progressive Party in the 1924 elections, carrying Wisconsin and 17% of the national popular vote. He is best remembered as a proponent of Progressivism, and vocal opponent of railroads, bossism, World War I, and the League of Nations. In 1957, a Senate committee selected La Follette as one of five of their greatest Senate predecessors. A 1982 survey of historians that asked them 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 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.”