Robert Marion La Follette (1855-1925), governor of Wisconsin and U.S. senator, was one of the leading Progressive reform politicians of his day.

Robert M. La Follette was born June 14, 1855, on a frontier farm in Dane County, Wis. As a teenager, he farmed for several years before entering the University of Wisconsin. He graduated in 1879 and was admitted to the bar in 1880. In the same year, despite the disapproval of Republican political bosses, he was elected Dane County district attorney. Four years later La Follette successfully sought a seat in Congress, again over the opposition of his party's local leadership. Nevertheless in his three terms in Congress (1855-1891) he voted with the regular Republicans on most issues. He returned to law practice after his defeat in 1890.

A turning point in La Follette's political career came the next year, when a party stalwart offered him what he interpreted as...