Wisconsin Progressive Party Explained

Country:the United States
Wisconsin Progressive Party
Leader:Philip La Follette
Robert M. La Follette, Jr.
National:National Progressives of America (1940 - 1946)
Split:Republican Party (in part)
Democratic Party (in part)
Colors:Green
Colorcode:Green

The Wisconsin Progressive Party (1934–1946) was a political party that briefly held a dominant role in Wisconsin politics.[1]

History

The Party was the brainchild of Philip La Follette and Robert M. La Follette, Jr., the sons of the famous Wisconsin Governor and Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr. The party was established in 1934 as an alliance between the longstanding "Progressive" faction of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, led by the La Follette family and their political allies, and certain radical farm and labor groups active in Wisconsin at the time.[2] Buoying off of popular discontent with both major parties, the La Follette brothers were both successful in their bids, and the party saw a number of other victories as well in the 1934 and 1936 elections, notably winning several U.S. House seats and a majority of the Wisconsin State Senate and Wisconsin State Assembly in 1936. In 1936 it was informally allied with the New Deal coalition and supported the reelection of President Franklin Roosevelt.[3]

Their grip on power proved short-lived: they succumbed to a united Democratic and Republican front in 1938 which swept most of them out of office, including Philip La Follette. The party effectively collapsed when Philip went off to serve in the Pacific War during World War II. During La Follette's absence, the party failed to formulate a coherent party platform and instead opted to criticize the governor at the time, Julius P. Heil.

Orland Steen Loomis was the last Progressive to be elected Governor of Wisconsin, in the 1942 election. He died, however, before his inauguration as governor. Robert La Follette Jr. held on to his Senate seat until 1946, when the party decided to disband itself. Robert La Follette ran for re-election that year as a Republican rather than a Progressive, but was defeated in the Republican primary by Joe McCarthy.

Cooperation with the Socialists

During its heyday, the Progressive Party usually did not run candidates in the Socialists (known as the "sewer socialists") stronghold of Milwaukee. There were strong ideological differences between the two movements as the two aligned with differing national parties. (Socialist State Representative George L. Tews said during a 1932 debate on unemployment compensation and how to fund it argued for the Socialist bill and against the Progressive substitute, stating that a Progressive was "a Socialist with the brains knocked out"),[4] when both faced opposition from the conservative major parties. During the period from 1939 on, the Progressives and the Socialists of Milwaukee sometimes made common cause, with Socialist legislators caucusing with the minority Progressives. In 1942, Socialist Frank P. Zeidler, later to be elected mayor of Milwaukee, was the nominee on the Progressive party line for State Treasurer of Wisconsin.

The last politician to hold office from the Wisconsin Progressive Party nationally was Merlin Hull, a U.S. Representative from Wisconsin, elected as a Progressive in 1944. (Hull continued to be re-elected on the Republican ticket, and served until his death in 1953.)

Officeholders from the Wisconsin Progressive Party

Federal office

U.S. Senators
U.S. Representatives

State office

Executive branch officials
County officials
State Senators
State Assemblymen

Electoral history

Wisconsin state offices

GovernorLieutenant governorAttorney general
YearNominee
  1. votes
% votesPlaceNotesYearNominee
  1. votes
% votesPlaceNotesYearNominee
  1. votes
% votesPlaceNotes
1934Philip La Follette373,093Elected1934Henry Gunderson313,6822nd of 71934Fred M. Wylie303,3872nd of 7
1936573,724Re-elected1936465,918Elected1936Orland Steen Loomis394,252Elected
1938353,3812nd of 51938George A. Nelson313,0662nd of 51938316,6572nd of 4
1940Orland Steen Loomis546,4362nd of 51940Anton M. Miller411,0552nd of 41940Otto F. Christenson367,0092nd of 4
1942397,664Elected1942Henry J. Berquist256,8512nd of 51942William H. Dieterich205,7302nd of 5
1944Alexander Otto Benz76,0283rd of 51944Clough Gates79,0683rd of 4194484,9893rd of 4
Secretary of stateTreasurer
YearNominee
  1. votes
% votesPlaceNotesYearNominee
  1. votes
% votesPlaceNotes
1934Theodore Dammann419,249Re-elected1934Albert C. Johnson302,6392nd of 6
1936601,638Re-elected1936Solomon Levitan457,942Elected
1938391,1502nd of 51938368,7072nd of 5
1940Adolph W. Larsen332,5052nd of 41940Frank Zeidler382,2372nd of 4
1942John H. Kaiser196,2872nd of 51942Albert C. Johnson215,9952nd of 5
1944Adelaide Woelfel12,6814th of 4194473,4513rd of 4
Wisconsin SenateWisconsin Assembly
ElectionLeaderVotesSeatsPositionControlElectionLeaderVotesSeatsPositionControl
No.ShareNo.±No.ShareNo.±
1934N/A137,54432.10%
112nd1934Jorge W. Carow304,80434.09%
451st
1936Walter J. Rush242,63142.00%
51st1936Jorge W. Carow437,91638.73%
11st
1938154,89135.00%
52nd1938Paul Alfonsi
122nd
1940212,63132.09%
52nd1940N/A
72nd
194285,80625.18%
2nd1942N/A
123rd
194447,8958.81%
13rd1944N/A
73rd

Wisconsin federal offices

U.S. SenateU.S. House of Representatives
YearNominee
  1. votes
% votesPlaceNotesElectionLeaderVotesSeatsPositionControl
1934Robert M. La Follette Jr.440,513Re-elected1934George J. Schneider334,34537.76%
71st
1936No seat up1936George J. Schneider479,26342.69%
1st
1938Herman Ekern249,2092nd of 61938George J. Schneider330,82336.26%
52nd
1940Robert M. La Follette Jr.605,609Re-elected1940N/A469,06336.96%
12nd
1942No seat up1942N/A185,11424.72%
13rd
1944Harry Sauthoff73,0893rd of 51944N/A104,3779.01%
13rd

See also

Notes

  1. http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/thisday/index.asp?day=19&month=5 On This Day in Wisconsin History; On This Day: May 19
  2. http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=3648 Wisconsin Progressive Party
  3. William E. Leuchtenburg, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-1940 (1963) p. 190.
  4. Kaveny, Edward T. "$10,000,000 Tax: Assembly Passes Compromise Bill by 73 to 15 Vote" Milwaukee Sentinel January 6, 1932; p. 1, cols. 7-8

Further reading