William Edgar Borah served as a U.S. Senator from Idaho for six terms during the twentieth century. A prominent lawyer before entering politics, Borah prosecuted the alleged conspirators in the 1905 assassination of former Idaho governor Frank Steunenberg. As a senator, he was known for his progressive views and his desire to secure world peace.

Borah was born on June 29, 1865, near Fairfield, Illinois. He attended the University of Kansas until 1889. He contracted tuberculosis and dropped out of college and then studied law with a local lawyer. Borah was admitted to the Kansas bar in 1890 and started a law practice in Lyons, Kansas, but moved to Boise, Idaho, in 1891. He soon developed a lucrative practice representing mining and timber operators but his primary interest became politics. He lost a congressional race in 1896 and failed to secure the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in 1903.

In 1907 he prosecuted "Big Bill" Haywood...