Lafollett. It is a glorious service. This service for the country. The call comes to every citizen. It is an unending struggle to make and keep government representative. Bob lafollett is probably the most important political figure in Wisconsin History and one of the most important in the history of the 20th century in the United States. He was a reforming governor. He defined what progressivism is. He was one of the first to use the term progressive to selfidentify. He was United States senator who recognized who is recognized by his peers in the 1950s as one of the five greatest senators in american history. He was an opponent of world war i, stood his ground advocating for free speech. Above all, Bob Lafollett was about the people. After the civil war, america changed radically from a nation of Small Farmers and small producers and small manufacturers, and by the 1870s and 1880s, 1890s, we had concentrations of wealth. We had concentrations of wealth, we had growing inequality, and we had concerned about the influence of money in government. The United States senators were elected by legislators. There were huge sums of money going to those campaigns, there was corruption, and you had a group of individuals who were looking for a way to change the status quo. And around 1900, the idea of progressivism coalesced. You had reformers nationwide looking at, how did we get into this problem, and what can we do about that . Progressives were especially interested with changing systems. They were concerned that the game was fixed so that the big money folks, the corporations, the specialinterest were going to be able to get their way. They werent advocating but theyty of result, wanted everyone at the same starting line. Lafollette when on to the United States congress as a member of the house of representatives and was a rather conventional congressman, voted along the party line, but in the early 1890s, something happened to boblafollette that change him. Changed him. In 1891, he was called into the office of his the senator republican u. S. Senator and sawyer involved in a locked case, which was going to be tried by lafollettes brotherinlaw. Sawyer offered lafollette a retainer for legal advisers. Heres 50. You will get more if the case comes out right. Lafollette said, im being bribed here, and got up and walked out. His brotherinlaw excused himself from the case. The story started making the rounds. Lafollette alienated himself from the rest of the Republican Party establishment. According to lafollettes own story, thats when the insight hit him, this is what politics right now is about. Its about money. Its about those who can afford to buy justice and those who can afford to buy offices. And he believed the system needed to be reformed. So he spent the later part of the 1890s giving speeches all over wisconsin. If you wanted a speaker for your club, or your group, Bob Lafollette would give a speech. He went to county fairs. He went to ever kind of event that you could imagine and built a reputation for himself. By 1900, he was ready to run for governor, advocating on behalf of the people on two issues. One, the direct primary, no more selecting candidates at conventions. Two, stop the interests, specifically the railroads. Wisconsin farmers were dependent on railroads setting prices, and they believed those prices were being fixed through collusion as the major railroads agreed on those prices. Railroads gave out free passes to legislators. It was like a free pass was like getting a free rental car. That is the way you got around, the railroad. So if you gave a free pass to every member of the legislature, it would look kindly on you. You are getting Free Transportation from them. So lafollette ran on that, and through the connections he made throughout the state and speaking, through the data he gathered about who would likely support him, he won that nomination. Lafollette was opposed by the conservative Republican Legislature and didnt get the legislation that they wanted. He tried again in 1902 and was elected governor, and he was still being blocked by the stalwart republicans. In 1904, he went on the campaign trail against members of his own party. He started reading roll calls at meetings, who voted against regulating railroads . Who voted against the direct primary . 1904 was the tremendous victory for Bob Lafollette, because he not only won reelection, but he won enough of this progressive his progressive supporters in the legislature. The other thing that lafollette was successful in doing as he believed in a referendum, recall is he believed in a referendum, recall, and initiative. And he was able to get the legislature to agree that a primary bill would be passed, but only if it was passed by referendum. Lafollette, when he campaigned, he distributed literature on one side of it supporting Bob Lafollette, and the other side was a reminder to vote yes on a referendum. So he would use his Campaign Machinery to campaign for both the cause and the man. At the time, Bob Lafollette at the time Bob Lafollette was governor, of United States senators were still being elected by the same legislature. One of the progressive reforms progressives all over the country advocated for was the direct election of senators. In 1905, a Senate Position opened up in wisconsin, and Bob Lafollette announced that he was going to run for senator, but he was not going to resign his position as governor until his reforms were passed. So he was successfully elected senator, stayed in wisconsin for the first nine or 10 months of his term, and not until the legislature adjourned after passing his program, that he resumed his seat in washington d. C. Seat in washington, d. C. In 1906. That began a 20 year period of service in the United States senate. Bob lafollette was tryingto repeat on the National Level trying to repeat on the National Level some of his successes in wisconsin. Lafollettes message of politics had to change, because he was dealing with persuading a majority of 96 senators to support his position. Lafollette was a master tactian. Tactitian. On the state level, he was able to gather data on who would support him and who needed to make contact. He was a master of the senate. Bob lafollette to use the Bob Lafollette used the filibuster to stop legislation that he felt was harmful. He was recognized in the u. S. Senate as a leader of a small group of progressives there whose votes were needed by the majority to pass legislation. Lafollette was a republican, as were most progressives in the u. S. Senate, and that group of votes that he controlled allowed him to negotiate in terms of Bob Lafollette spreading progressive ideas nationally he used two techniques. One started a magazine called magazine. S great at promoting lafollettes name in that magazine still exist today. And that magazine still exist today. Secondly, bob loved the public but if you want to speaker bob would go anywhere in the nation to speak. He did this partly because he was not an independently wealthy man. He needed income for speaking. But he would go to chautauqua and various events to spread his word, and he started getting progressive candidates in the Democratic Party. Woodrow wilson, getting elected, the governor of new jersey as a progressive, Teddy Roosevelt nationally was viewed as a progressive, with the kind of trust busting he was interested in doing. Against monopolies, child labor, there were reformers around the nation who were concerned about the use of children in factories and eliminated those. Bob lafollette opposed war. He voted for Woodrow Wilson in 1916, even though Bob Lafollette was a republican, he voted for wilson, because he believed in wilsons pledge to keep the United States out of the war. In naples in 1917, Woodrow Wilson asked congress to declare war on germany. Bob lafollette was one of only six United States senators to oppose that war. He was concerned that only munitions makers, profiteers, would benefit from that as the people would suffer the loss of loved ones in the military. He was concerned that the government was not telling the people the full cost of the war. His principal concern was the suppression of civil liberties. In 1917, Congress Passed a bill called the espionage act. That bill didnt have anything to do with espionage. It was not about spying, it was about suppressing opposition to the war. Newspapers could be shut down, and were shut down as a result of that. People were jailed for their criticism of the war, and Bob Lafollette believed the bill of rights was not repealed because the United States was at war. An event on september 20, 1917 was a critical turning point for lafollette. He gave a speech in st. Paul minnesota, and at that meeting, Bob Lafollette was critical of the war effort. He said, we have grievances against germany, but those grievances are not sufficient to go to war. The Associated Press reported him as saying we have no grievances against germany. That news story created a national uproar. In wisconsin, 90 of the faculty of the university of wisconsin signed a round robin petition opposing lafollette. There were calls in an investigation in the United States to expel Bob Lafollette and there were threats on his life. Lafollettes point was, i didnt say this, but the war hysteria that went on, that is the explanation that didnt carry much weight because he did oppose the war. It was not until mid1819 that Associated Press apologized for their error. And it wasnt until 1919 that the United States senate cleared his name and said there are no grounds for expelling lafollette. And lafollettes fame and the respect that he has comes from his stance was civil liberties, when he was one of the few people in the country speaking out on behalf of of the right of the people to exercise their freespeech rights for the constitution. Under the constitution. Te, i think, was interested in being president from the very beginning. In 1908, Bob Lafollette, United States senate only two years, throws his hat in the ring. Bob lafollette thinks he would be a good candidate and he was an unsuccessful candidate to be nominated as president at the Republican National convention. 1912 was the year that lafollette thought would be his year. He sounded out Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy said, im not to be running. Bob lafollette was going to be the leader of the progressives, challenging William Howard taft for the republican nomination. After anticaste forces start developing in some strength, roosevelt changes his mind and throws his hat in the ring. Lafollette is outraged at this. Hes not going to support roosevelt at the convention and takes his fight to the convention. And William Howard draft gets the nomination and Teddy Roosevelt runs as an independent on the progressive ticket. Progressive bull moose ticket. He did finally run for president on his own progressive ticket in 1924. Lafollette looked at the two parties, davis and the democrats, coolidge and the republicans, who said both of these are conservative parties. Neither of them are running on progressives on reform issues. And he created a thirdparty that ran with burton wheeler, a democrat as his Vice President , and lafollette for president. It was poorly funded. They had about 250,000 to spend nationally, compared to about 4 million that the republicans had and about 2 million democrats had. Lafollette relied on his own speechmaking ability. His old speechmaking ability. One should have a patriotic duty to build at least a part of his life into the life of his country. And amazingly, lafollette got about 17 of the vote nationally. In that election. That was, at the time, the second the second best run of a thirdparty. Only Teddy Roosevelts Progressive Party exceeded that. He carried only was comes in. He came in second in 10 other states, and that was lafollettes last hurrah running for president in 1924. The lafollette name has magic in wisconsin. The two sons went ahead and created that Third Political party, the Progressive Party, in wisconsin, and attempted to take the party nationally in 1938, carrying on the issues that old bob fought for, which were important in the context of the 1930s. So you saw things like unemployment compensation, and you saw many of the ideas being found in the new deal that emerged out of wisconsin. Franklin roosevelt delivered patronage in wisconsin through wisconsins progressives rather than the Wisconsin Democratic party. And that idea continued right down through bronson lafollette, the Third Generation descendent many of the ideas that he fought for are still open issues. He called for the direct election of president s as opposed to the use of the electrical electoral college. Wanted popular review of judicial decisions, being able to overturn Supreme Court decisions. Referendums on calling war. That the United States would not be able to go to war except in an defensive fashion without appropriate referendum. Some of those ideas are still being debated today. Governmentsy the that obey and protect its ranks. Citizenship is not enough. Men must be aggressive for what is right. Bob la follettes time in the Charles Curtis served as the 31st Vice President and broke ground as the first of native american descent. I came to know Charles Curtis after moving to topeka, and i am actually a resident historian at the cemetery where he is buried. I came to know more about the story and the more i found out, the more fascinating he became and the more i realized how on told how on told his history is. The only Vice President of American Indian lineage or ancestry, and he deserves a lot more than that. I have been doing some Curtis Research for 20 years and it has gotten more serious in the last couple years. His journey has become more remarkable to me in the last couple of years as i realize exactly what he did. He was born on in north topeka. He was born during the territorial period. Osage my french osage, french descent. Ancestors are passengers on the mayflower. That of hay is made of when he is a candidate. He has the indian on one side, the pilgrims on the other. A great pr piece. What makes them so remarkable i think, is the fact that he is a mixed blood growing up at the makes it very difficult. And he somehow, i think by sure force of his personality, makes all of that an advantage. One historian said that he blamed he played the indian card when it worked and played the white card when it worked. I think it oversimplifies his experience and i think it is unfair to him. I think he chose the whitemans world. He says that, that is his word, because of his experience. It is unfortunate that society forced that choice on him, but it most certainly did. Charles curtiss family, his mothers family operated the fairy that went from north topeka to the south side of the thats river the ferry went from north topeka to the south side of the kansas river. He does not come from a poor family, but they are a people of means. His mother has an allotment of land as a part of her mixed Indian Heritage, so he always has means. Dieshe when his mother when he is only three years old, he goes to live with his indian grandmother on the reservation. Then, he goes down there and lives with them, and so he grows up with an indian identity. He talks about his childhood as being idyllic. He was playing with bows and arrows and fishing and hunting, so it is a great life. The turning point came in 1868. He is only eight years old. The cheyenne, uncharacteristically, pretty far east to attack the call to attack. It turns into a standoff. But it is an incredible show of force for cheyenne. To to walk tocted topeka to alert the authorities that the cheyenne have attacked the. Some say that he came with his uncle, but charles spoke english. Andpoke french, kaw, english. He comes and tells general crawford that the cheyenne have attacked, and i think a lot of this is due to the influence of his grandmothers, but his white grandmother said that is enough, you will come live with us and live a civilized life. His indian grandmother agrees. When the kaw tribe is being , ord to the indian nations the indian territory of what is now oklahoma, he really wants to go with them. That is 1873. He is 13. Frenchindian grandmother says no, you have to make somethin