Wisconsin Progressive Party

The Wisconsin Progressive Party (1934–1946) was a political third party that briefly held a major role in Wisconsin politics under the two sons of the late Robert M. La Follette. It was on the political left wing, and it sometimes cooperated with the New Deal.

History

Background and formation

The Party was the brainchild of Philip La Follette and Robert M. La Follette, Jr., the sons of 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. Journalist John Nichols argues that the 1924 platform that Robert La Follette Sr., ran on:

"taxing the rich, cracking down on Wall Street abuses, empowering workers to organize unions, defending small farmers, breaking up corporate trusts, strengthening public utilities — fueled a resurgence of left-wing populist movements across the upper Midwest: the Non-Partisan League of North Dakota, the Farmer-Labor Party of Minnesota and the Progressive Party of Wisconsin."

The formation of the Wisconsin Progressive Party was held on May 19, 1934, at Fond du Lac City, Fond du Lac County, William T. Evjue served as chairmen during the founding convention.

Buoyed by popular discontent with both major parties, the La Follette brothers were successful in their bids, and the party saw a number of other victories in the 1934 gubernatorial election. In 1935, a faction within the party formed the Farmer-Labor Progressive Federation, after which the party was victorious in the 1934 state Senate elections and won 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.

Progressive governance

Following the re-election of Philip, he took a far different tone for his second term than he had for his first. In his second inaugural address he stressed the need for reform in more concrete terms, advocating for an increase in executive power and calling for increased spending towards schools and wages despite a projected $9 million dollar shortfall in the budget.

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"), 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.

1938

In an attempt to take the success of the Wisconsin Progressive Party to the national level the National Progressives of America (NPA) was founded in 1938, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Philip sought a return to the policy of the "old days" in which

"our country did not pay people to remain idle or to do unproductive work. We gave everyone an opportunity to do wealth-creating work. If they did not take that offer, they could sink or swim as they pleased. Today we have idle resources, and also idle people.... Again we must provide every able-bodied man and woman with a real opportunity for wealth-creating work at decent hours and at decent pay. Then, let us return to the principle that he who is able and does not work—well, then, at least he shall not live at the expense of his neighbor."

Ralph Immell was appointed as the National Progressive's National Director, Immell would go on to state:

"The next decade holds the most critical chapter of American history. it will unfold the story of the eclipse of the two major political parties in America in the struggle of our people to beat off the unwanted European doctrines of Communism, Fascism, and Nazism, and the unworkable European doctrine of pure socialism. We all should be too concerned with the insecurity and want amid plenty to smugly stand by and not play what part we can in the drive of the National Progressives of America to make America once again the land of opportunity and security for every child and man."

By the 1938 elections, the divisions in the state Progressive Party had grown even more wide, and while the La Follette brothers remained neutral, they privately supported their ally Ekern over the more radical Amlie in the Senate primary that year, and their lack of endorsement exacerbated tensions between both sides, with supporters of Amlie threatening to leave the party over it. With ongoing scandals and accusations of authoritarianism, the progressive party succumbed to a united Democratic and Republican front in 1938 which swept most of them out of office, including In the 1938 Wisconsin gubernatorial election Philip lost re-election to Julius P. Heil.

1939–1946

As one of the Senate's leading isolationists, Robert helped found the America First Committee in 1940 to oppose Roosevelt's foreign policy and denounce risk of U.S. entry into World War II. Soon Philip found himself working alongside figures such as Charles Lindbergh, which led some to assume he had shifted towards more conservative politics.

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.

Dissolution

By 1946, the Wisconsin Progressive Party had all but collapsed, barely qualifying for major party status after the 1944 elections. Over the years the party became factionalized between the support of a rural electorate that was in the middle of ideologically shifting from progressivism to conservatism and the urban left-wing. While Philip La Follette had desired for the party to continue on, after being advised to stay out of the 1946 convention, the Party voted to dissolve itself, voting 284 to 131 to rejoin the Republican Party.

Aftermath

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.[citation needed] 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

Federal

U.S. Senators

• Robert M. La Follette, Jr., Senator, 1935–1946 (served as a Republican 1925–1935)

U.S. Representatives

• Thomas Ryum Amlie, U.S. Representative from Wisconsin's 1st congressional district (1935–1939)
• Gerald J. Boileau, U.S. Representative from Wisconsin's 7th congressional district (1933–1939)
• John C. Brophy, U.S. Representative from Wisconsin's 4th congressional district (1947–1949)
• Bernard J. Gehrmann, U.S. Representative from Wisconsin's 10th congressional district (1935–1943)
• Merlin Hull, U.S. Representative from Wisconsin's 9th congressional district (1935–1946)
• Harry Sauthoff, U.S. Representative from Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district (1935–1939, 1941–1945)
• George J. Schneider, U.S. Representative from Wisconsin's 8th congressional district (1935–1939)
• Gardner R. Withrow, U.S. Representative from Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district (1931–1939)

State

Executive branch officials

• Theodore Dammann, Secretary of State of Wisconsin, (1935–1938) (served as a Republican 1927–1935)
• Herman Ekern, Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin, (1937–1938)
• Henry Gunderson, Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin, (1936–1937)
• Ralph Immell, Adjutant General of Wisconsin (1923–1946)
• Philip La Follette, Governor of Wisconsin, (1934–1938)
• Solomon Levitan, State Treasurer of Wisconsin, 1937–1938 (served as a Republican 1923–1932)
• Orland Steen Loomis, Attorney General of Wisconsin, 1937–1938; elected Governor in 1942 but died before taking office

County officials

• Herbert J. Steffes, Milwaukee County District Attorney (1936–1940)

State Senators

• George Engebretson, state senator from the 2nd district (1937–1939)
• Harold Groves, state senator from the 26th district (1935–1937)
• George Hampel, state senator from the 6th district (1937–1945)
• Michael F. Kresky, Jr., state senator from the 2nd district (1937–1939)
• Joseph E. McDermid, Wisconsin State Senate, 1935–1941
• Oscar S. Paulson, Wisconsin State Senate, 1937–1940
• Elmer Peterson, Wisconsin State Senate, 1943–1947
• Edwin Myrwyn Rowlands, Wisconsin State Senate, 1935–1937
• Herman J. Severson 1934–1938 (also served as a Republican
• Fred W. Zantow, Wisconsin State Senate, reelected on the Progressive ticket, 1934; died before he took office (served as a Republican 1931–1934

State Assemblymen

• Paul Alfonsi, Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly 1937–1939, Wisconsin State Assembly 1933–1941, 1959–1971
• William H. Barnes, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1935–1940
• Lyall T. Beggs, Wisconsin State Assembly 1941–1947
• Bernard E. Brandt, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1935–1936
• Laurie E. Carlson, Wisconsin State Assembly 1937–1942
• Jorge W. Carow, Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly 1935–1936, Wisconsin State Assembly 1929–1936
• John F. Dittbrender, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1939–1940
• George Engebretson, Wisconsin State Senate, 1938 (served as a Republican 1933–1937)
• William R. Foley, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1943–1944
• Oliver H. Fritz, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1937–1939
• John R. Fronek, 1934–1933 (served as a Republican)
• William P. Groves, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1935–1937
• Hjalmer S. Halvorsen, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1934–1937
• James C. Hanson, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1934–1940 (served as a Republican 1917–1934)
• Peter A. Hemmy, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1935–1940
• Martin H. Herzog, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1939–1940
• Arthur A. Hitt, 1934–1939
• Ernst J. Hoesly, 1934–1939
• John E. Johnson, Wisconsin State Assembly
• Arthur D. Kelly, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1934–1939 (served as a Republican 1933–1934)
• Dougald D. Kennedy, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1937–1941
• Edward H. Kiefer, Wisconsin State Assembly 1937–1940 (served as a Socialist 1911–1914, 1931–1936)
• Felix A. Kremer, (Wisconsin State Assembly) 1937–1938
• Chester A. Krohn, Wisconsin State Assembly 1941–1942
• Claud H. Larsen, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1939–1940
• Tom Lomsdahl, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1935–1937
• James S. Mace, Wisconsin State Assembly 1939–1940
• Robert McCutchin, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1943–1944 (served as a Republican 1947–1951)
• Earl Mullen, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1943–1946 (served as a Republican 1947 –1949)
• Carl J. Peik, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1939–1940
• Adam F. Poltl, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1935–1936
• Ben Rubin, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1937–1942 (served as a Socialist 1931–1932)
• Herbert C. Schenck, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1935–1940
• Harry W. Schilling, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1935–1937 (served as a Republican 1947–1951)
• Frank D. Sheahan, Wisconsin State Assembly 1941–1942, 1945–1946
• Reno W. Trego, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1937–1940
• Harry P. Van Guilder, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1937–1942
• Otto A. Vogel, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1935–1936 1939–1940 1943–1948
• Casper D. Waller, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1943–1946
• Frank Weinheimer, Wisconsin State Assembly 1941–1942
• Herman B. Wegner, Wisconsin State Assembly, 1934–1944 (served as a Socialist 1933–1934)
• George J. Woerth, Wisconsin State Assembly 1935–1939

Electoral history

Wisconsin state offices

Wisconsin federal offices

See also

• Political party strength in Wisconsin
• La Follette family
• Progressive Era
• Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party
• Third party (United States)

Notes

Further reading

• Backstrom, Charles Herbert. "The Progressive Party of Wisconsin, 1934-1946" (PhD. Dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 1956. 0018371).
• Beck, Elmer A. The Sewer Socialists: A History of the Socialist Party of Wisconsin, 1897–1940. Fennimore, WI: Westburg Associates, 1982.
• Brye, David L. "Wisconsin Scandinavians and Progressivism, 1900-1950." Norwegian-American Studies 27 (1977): 163–193.
• Glad, Paul W. The History of Wisconsin, Volume V: War, A New Era, and Depression, 1914–1940. (State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1990). pp. 398–565.
• Gosnell, Harold F., and Morris H. Cohen. "Progressive Politics: Wisconsin an Example." American Political Science Review 34#5, (1940), pp. 920–35.
• Johnson, Roger T. Robert M. LaFollette, Jr. and the Decline of the Progressive Party in Wisconsin (The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1964).
• Kasparek, Jonathan. Fighting Son: A Biography of Philip F. La Follette. pp. 125–249.
• McCoy, Donald R. "The Formation of the Wisconsin Progressive Party in 1934." The Historian 14.1 (1951): 70–90.
• Miller, John Edward. "Governor Philip F Lafollette, the Wisconsin Progressives, and the New Deal, 1930–1939," (PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin - Madison; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 1973. 7321167).
• Rosenof, Theodore. "The Political Education of an American Radical: Thomas R. Amlie in the 1930's." Wisconsin Magazine of History (1974) 56#1: 19–30
• Schmidt, Lester Frederick. "The Farmer-Labor Progressive Federation: The Study of a 'United Front' Movement Among Wisconsin Liberals, 1934-1941" (PhD Dissertation, University of Wisconsin—Madison; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 1955. 0201215.)
• "Progressive Party, Wisconsin." Encyclopedia of American History. Answers Corporation, 2006. Answers.com 26 February 2009.