Philip La Follette

Philip La Follette (1925)

Philip Fox La Follette (born May 8, 1897 in Madison , Wisconsin , †  August 18, 1965 ibid) was an American politician and from 1931 to 1933 and again from 1935 to 1939 governor of the state of Wisconsin.

Early years

Philip La Follette was the son of the United States Senator and Governor of Wisconsin, Robert M. La Follette . During the First World War he was a lieutenant in the US Army . After the end of the war, he continued his education with a law degree at the University of Wisconsin . After his exams and his admission to the bar in 1922, he was able to work as a lawyer.

In 1924, La Follette was appointed District Attorney in Dane County for one year . He then taught law himself at the University of Wisconsin before winning the Republican Party's nomination for governor in 1930 . He managed to beat the incumbent governor Walter Kohler in the primary elections . After he had won the subsequent actual gubernatorial election against the Democrat Charles E. Hammersley, he was introduced to his new office on January 5, 1931.

First term as governor

The focus of his first two-year term in office was the global economic crisis , which was approaching its climax at precisely this time. In spite of all attempts by the governor, he was unable to bring about a turnaround in this area. That was not to change until 1933 and with the help of federal policy under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal . La Follette launched an employment program in these two years, accelerated the expansion of the road and motorway network and introduced a law on unemployment benefits. State supervision of banks and energy supplies has also been improved. Due to the lack of success in combating the economic crisis, La Follette lost in the 1932 Republican primary against Kohler, who was in return for his defeat, which he suffered two years earlier. However, Kohler then lost the actual election against the Democrat Albert G. Schmedeman .

Second and third terms

After his defeat in the 1932 Republican primary, La Follette resigned on January 2, 1933 and passed it on to his successor Schmedeman. At the same time, he broke away from the Republicans and formed a third party he called the Wisconsin Progressive Party . This party quickly became very popular in Wisconsin. In 1934 she nominated La Follette as her top candidate for that year's gubernatorial election. After his election victory, La Follette Schmedeman was able to oust him from this office again. After re-election in 1936, he was able to serve as governor between January 1935 and January 1939. During this period, the economy slowly recovered from the major depression. La Follette conducted many of the New Deal measures in Wisconsin, some even before they were generally implemented at the federal level. This also included some laws introducing social security. In 1938 he failed in an attempt to be elected governor for another term. This time he was defeated by the Republican Julius P. Heil .

Another résumé

La Follettes' attempt to establish its Progressive Party at the federal level failed in the late 1930s. Politically, he was a supporter of isolationism. Similar to his father, who at the time opposed the participation of the USA in World War I, he was against the entry of the United States into World War II . After the war began, he rejoined the army and served on General Douglas MacArthur's staff . In 1948 he supported the unsuccessful presidential election campaign. Philip La Follette was President of Hazeltine Electronics from 1955 to 1959 . He was married to Isabel Bacon, with whom he had three children.

Web links

• La Follette in the database of the National Governors Association (English)
• Online biography (English)
• Philip La Follette in the database of Find a Grave (English)