Philip La Follette

Philip Fox La Follette (May 8, 1897 – August 18, 1965) was an American politician. He was the 27th Governor of Wisconsin from 1931 until 1939.

Early life
La Follette was born in Madison, Wisconsin, to Wisconsin Congressman, Governor, and U.S. Senator Robert M. La Follette Sr., and Belle Case La Follette. The second son, and third child of the couple at the time, he was siblings with Robert Jr. and Fola La Follette. Though in 1899 his parents had another daughter named Mary. During his youth, La Follette enjoyed a relatively middle class upbringing. Due to his father's political prominence, his childhood often had political influences. This often meant he would get to hear his father address the legislature, or debate in Congress. La Follette also often accompanied his father on campaign, which helped give him an idea of what it took to campaign in the field.

At home, Robert Sr. would often include his family in political discourse. Due to their young age, the children often did not understand the political situation around them, but they still increasingly absorbed the information they took in and, over time, began to develop and contribute their own ideas. It was in his youth that La Follette met and befriended many of the figures he would turn to in his later gubernatorial career and attempted presidential bid.

In 1919 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Wisconsin Madison and in 1922 a Bachelor of Laws degree.

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1924 United States presidential election
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Dane Country District Attorney
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1926 Wisconsin gubernatorial election
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1928 Wisconsin gubernatorial election
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1928 United States presidential election
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1930
Main article: 1930 Wisconsin gubernatorial election Despite the competency of Ekern, his inability to properly campaign, compounded with his tendency to focus on matters outside of the state rather than within it, led many Progressives to worry about the 1930 election. Many worried it would be a repeat of the mistakes of 1926, where a Stalwart was able to claim victory over a divided Progressive caucus. Worried that the caucus might face gridlock between Henry Huber, John W. Reynolds, or Solomon Levitan, among others, all eyes eventually turned to La Follette and his family, though he had up to that point declined to announce his candidacy. By the end of 1929 La Follette had made his mind up and finally announced his candidacy for the upcoming primary, much to the displeasure of John Blaine and the Stalwart faction of the party. Following his announcement many Progressives endorsed his candidacy.

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1932
Main article: 1932 Wisconsin gubernatorial election

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1934
Main article: 1934 Wisconsin gubernatorial election

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Governor-elect
After his electoral victory was declared, La Follette quickly went to work to develop a state program. First, he needed to assess the financial situation of the state. Under the rules established in the Executive Budget Act, the governor-elect was required to hold budget hearings prior to assuming office. La Follette issued a request to all departments to submit budget proposals and provide an explanation of costs and services prior to the hearings. Simultaneously he began working with the Progressives in the legislature to divide responsibilities for research and drafting measures. La Follette intended to prepare all the bills which aligned to his elected platform before the first meeting of the legislature, forging a closer relationship between the executive and legislative branches than had existed in years. Harold Groves, an economist for the University of Wisconsin and member of the state assembly, worked to write up tax bills, while Senator Orlando Loomis worked to draft amendments to the Corrupt Practices Act.

Tenure
Aware of his radical reputation, La Follette arranged meetings with business leaders and other non-governmental officials to seek advice and to reassure them he would not overly disturb their activity within the state. During his meetings, he discussed plans to eliminate grade crossings with the presidents of railroads in operation in the state and the banking and financial situation with bank presidents. Both sets of meetings were successful and highly cordial, and La Follette looked forward to a productive legislative session and widespread public support for his policy proposals.

By the time La Follette was inaugurated on January 5, the economic situation in the state had further deteriorated and, having recently concluded his conferences with business and economic leaders, spoke clearly on the difficulties ahead in his inaugural address:"As a state and a nation we have astounded the world in production. Our energy and brains have shown the world how to produce the necessities and luxuries of life in sufficient quantities to satisfy the needs of all our people; but in the midst of abundance of agricultural and industrial production we have want and suffering. Unless we can solve the problems of the distribution of this abundance–unless we can stop hunger and hardship in all this plenty, we will be the actors in the greatest tragedy of human history."On January 7, La Follette met with a group of railroad executives and reached an agreement whereby their companies would pay 40% of the cost of constructing railroad overpasses, while the state government would pay for the other 60%. On January 15, La Follette addressed the legislature and outlined his upcoming administration's agenda. In addition to the program to eliminate grade crossings, he called for revisions to the income tax system and highway construction program, a new labor code, and a program for public power. He also proposed two programs for government reform, the first being the creation of an executive council, which would be made up of representatives to the assembly, senators, and citizens appointed by the governor. The council would serve to represent varying interests throughout the state–business owners, organized labor, consumers–to research economic issues such as unemployment and a loss of purchasing power as well as to advise the governor. The second program was a reform to Wisconsin election law which would reform the state partisan primaries and the general into a singular top-two primary where, if no candidate received an outright majority, the top two vote-getters would advance to the general, and if a candidate won an outright majority, they would win the primary and election outright. The following day, La Follette's allies began introducing these bills into the legislature and his message garnered much praise from state newspapers.

La Follette's message to the legislature outlined his proposals. Many tangentially dealt with the Depression and were designed to streamline government and make it more responsive to the public will, though, issues originally key to his campaign such as chain banking and direct relief to the unemployed were deferred to a later date. Overall, the reaction to his message was surprisingly positive. Stalwarts, concerned that La Follette would become highly confrontational, respected his "sincerity" and "scholarly-ness" in his opening address. While nominally conservative newspapers had a positive reception to his address.

While La Follette hosted frequent conferences with them, his Progressive allies began to advance their program in the legislature. It seemed to many that the Progressives would be successful, and newspapers around the state lauded the fact that for the first time in a decade the governor and the legislature were fundamentally in agreement on major issues. In the assembly, Progressives held a wide majority, and in the senate they too held a majority thanks to the swing votes of some sympathetic Stalwarts and three socialist Senators.

In the early months of the administration, the situation between the executive and legislative was quite harmonious. As the legislature began scheduling hearings on Progressive bills and reached out for outside expert opinion. La Follette sent copies of the Public Power Bills to university professors, and arranged meetings with Wisconsin manufacturers.

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1936 United States presidential election
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1940 United States presidential election
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Later life
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Personal life
Much like his father, La Follette often found himself overworking and neglecting his own health.

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Frontier thesis
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Wisconsin idea
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Family
La Follette married Isabel Bacon (1898-1973) in 1923. They had three children: Robert (c. 1927), Judith (c. 1929), and Sherry (c. 1936).

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