Robert Marion La Follette, Jr. (February 6, 1895 – February 24, 1953) was an American senator from Wisconsin from 1925 to 1947, the son of Robert M. La Follette, Sr., the brother of Philip La Follette, and the brother-in-law of the playwright George Middleton.

Early life and career

La Follette was born in Madison, Wisconsin. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1913 to 1917, but did not graduate due to an illness. This same illness prevented him from serving in the military during World War I. He served as private secretary to his father between 1919 and 1925. He married Rachel Wilson Young in 1930, and they had two sons, Joseph Oden and Bronson Cutting.

Senate

La Follette was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate on September 29, 1925, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his father. "Young Bob," as he was called, was a champion of organized labor. He gained national prominence between 1936 and 1940 as chairman of a special Senate investigating committee, commonly called the La Follette Civil Liberties Committee, which exposed the surveillance, physical intimidation and other techniques used by large employers to prevent workers from organizing.

He was chairman of the Committee on Manufactures in the 71st and 72nd Congresses. He supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt and most New Deal legislation until the passage of the 1938 naval expansion bill.

He was reelected as a Republican in 1928. With his brother Philip, he formed the Progressive Party in 1934, and for a time the party was dominant in Wisconsin. He was reelected with the Progressive Party in 1934 and 1940. The Progressives later dissolved, and La Follette returned to the Republican Party in 1946. La Follette was considered the Senate's leading isolationist and helped found the America First Committee. He helped draft and passage of the Congressional Reorganization Act of 1946, which modernized the legislative process in Congress.

Defeat

He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection as a Republican in 1946. He ran a conservative campaign against the United Nations and was critical of Stalin, but ended up losing to Joseph McCarthy in the Republican primary by about 5000 votes. After the election La Follette claimed that Communists in the labor unions had contributed to his defeat.

Later life and suicide

After his defeat by McCarthy, he was a foreign aid advisor to the Truman administration.

In a February 8, 1947 Collier's Weekly article, La Follette reported his experience with infiltration of Communists onto Congressional Committee staffs. The Venona project materials revealed four agents of Soviet intelligence which had served on his Civil Liberties Subcommittee, including the Chief Counsel, John Abt.

On February 24, 1953, La Follette was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Washington, D.C. On September 9, 1953, John Lautner testified before McCarthy's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and revealed he knew of Communists who had served on La Follette's subcommittee. Some historians believe that La Follette killed himself out of fear of being called by McCarthy; others believe he succumbed to anxiety and depression, which plagued him for much of his life. He is interred at Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison, Wisconsin, and is survived by his son, Bronson La Follette.

Awards and honors

The University of Wisconsin awarded La Follette an honorary LL.D. degree in 1938. He also received Collier's Magazine award for outstanding public service in 1946.

References

External links

• Robert M. La Follette, Jr., Dictionary of Wisconsin History, Wisconsin Stae Historical Society
• "La Follette suicide linked to fear of McCarthy" 17 May 2003 Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
• Matusow, Harvey "The FBI, and the Justice Department: Becoming a Government Informer-witness in the McCarthy Era"
• La Follette at the Dictionary of Wisconsin History
• Maney, Patrick, "Joe McCarthy's First Victim", Virginia Quarterly Review, Summer 2001
• Youngs, William, American Realities, Sixth Edition Volume 2, Eastern Washington University, 2006.