Robert Junior Steps Into Dad's Shoes

The star of this week's Graphical History Tour is Robert Jr., the son and namesake of a famous father, following in Daddy's footsteps all the way to Washington, D.C.

Detail from "Politics Again Attracts Attention" by John McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, Sept. 15, 1925

Not a Kennedy.

Robert M. La Follette Jr. was 30 years old when he declared candidacy for the Senate seat of his late father, "Fighting Bob" La Follette. Called "Young Bob" to distinguish him from his namesake, he was just old enough to qualify for the Senate under the U.S. Constitution.

"Practicing Those 'Thunderous Footfalls'" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, Sept. 20, 1925

Skeptical political cartoonists naturally questioned the young man's qualifications to fill his father's shoes, even if they weren't fans of the elder La Follette when he was alive. I will give J.P. Alley (whose editorial cartooning shoes at the Commercial Appeal would later be filled by his son, Cal Alley) credit for the unique and unorthodox observation that "Radicals" had cause for concern.

"On to Washington" by Jesse Cargill for Central Press Assn., ca. Oct. 3, 1925

Outlook magazine expressed the more conventional view that

"During [Robert La Follette Sr.']s lifetime, he found an able lieutenant in his son, Robert M. La Follette, Jr.; and now that La Follette is regarded as his successor. This is partly because the younger La Follette has explicitly subscribed to the political beliefs of his father, but in no small measure because he has an engaging personality of his own."

"Young Independence Is On His Way" by (Louis T.?) Merrill in Beloit Daily News, Sept. 8, 1925

It wasn't just the senior La Follette's shoes that were too big for his son, according to this Wisconsin cartoonist; so were his reputation and his hat. Blaine, whose collar Merrill drew chained around Young Bob's neck, was Governor John J. Blaine, a Progressive Republican.

I haven't come across any other cartoons by Merrill; this cartoon originally appeared in the Beloit Daily News and was reprinted in a few other newspapers around the state. Louis Taylor Merrill was on the Daily News masthead as the newspaper's Editorial Writer, so my guess is that this cartoon was drawn by him or someone in his household. 

Maybe his son.

"It's The Old Familiar Touch" by Guy R. Spencer in Omaha World Herald, Sept. 17, 1925

Footwear notwithstanding, La Follette decisively won the September 15 primary over Roy P. Wilcox of Eau Claire, the Coolidge Republican candidate, and half a dozen other candidates.

"Where It Fades Out" by Daniel Fitzpatrick in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sept. 19, 1925

The general election two weeks later was universally expected to merely ratify the primary election results. La Follette received more votes in the open primary than all the other candidates put together. The Democratic candidate, William George Bruce, ran so poorly in the primary that under state election rules, he didn’t even qualify to appear on the September 29 ballot.

"La Follettes All Look Alike to Him" by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, Sept. 18, 1925

Head of the Republican National Committee Senator William Butler (R-MA) called upon Wisconsin Republicans not to back Young Bob.

"Regardless of the fact that Mr. La Follette is running under the Republican machinery, he supported a candidate and platform in the last national election opposed to the candidate and platform of the Cleveland convention, [Calvin Coolidge,] and the Republican committee will not support him in any event. I cannot look upon a man who opposes the candidate of a party and the principles of a convention as a Republican, whether he runs under the Republican machinery or not."

"Sort of a Beauty Spot to Her" by Chas Kuhn in Indianapolis News, Sept. 18, 1925

Following Senator Butler's lead, the Wisconsin Republican Party met to endorse an alternative to La Follette. Wilcox yielded to pressure from party leaders to withdraw in favor of former Lt. Governor Edward Dithmar of Baraboo. A telegram from Sen. Irvine Lenroot (R-WA) urged "Wilcox  should let Dithmar try in view of his poor showing in the primary" — in which Dithmar had not been a candidate.

"Weather Report" by Tom Foley in Minneapolis Daily Star, Sept. 29, 1925

The general election results were so pre-ordained that over the state line in Minneapolis, Tom Foley could confidently draw the above cartoon for the day of the vote. Young Bob La Follette carried every county in the state except for Rock County (which happens to include Beloit).

"The La Follette Estate" by Roy James in St. Louis Star, Oct. 1, 1925

Running nominally as an Independent, Dithmar finished a distant second to La Follette. Socialist John M. Work came in third, largely due to votes from Milwaukee (yet underperforming previous Socialist candidates there); Democrat Bruce, waging a write-in campaign, placed fourth.

Unsigned cartoon in Capital Times, Madison, Sept. 30, 1925

If there was a signature on this cartoon, the Cap Times cropped it out. Whoever drew it included Senators Butler and Lenroot among the "old guard" bowled over backward by "Young Fighting Bob" striding toward Progress — in reasonably sized shoes.

"Seeing Things in Wisconsin" by Ted Brown in Chicago Daily News, ca. Oct. 7, 1925

Editorial cartoonists never quite agreed on what animal should represent the Progressive Party. Some drew it as a goat, while others, seizing on the La Follettes' first name, drew it as a bobcat. Use of the Bull Moose to represent the Progressive Party had ended with the death of Theodore Roosevelt.

Robert M. La Follette Jr. may have run as a Republican, but Ted Brown agreed with the Stand Pat Republicans that La Follette was not purebred GOP.

"Don't I Look Like Dad" by Edward G. McCandlish in Washington Post, Oct. 5, 1925

Actually, doesn't he kind of look like a young Marlon Brando?

Cartoonist Edward McCandlish (1887-1946) had a varied career, authoring 21 children's books and designing toys; during World War I, he painted camouflage markings on military uniforms, that being how it was done back then. He was perhaps best known for his "Bootlegger's Map of the United States," which first appeared as a two-page spread in Washington Post on March 14, 1926. (News reports at his death state that the map first appeared in the Detroit Free Press, but I don't find it printed there until 1930, and then much smaller.) 

"It's Sink or Swim for Young Bob Now" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. Oct. 5, 1925

Young Bob would win reelection to the Senate as a Republican in 1928, and as a Progressive in 1934 and 1940, championing organized labor and supporting much of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, but also advocating isolationist foreign policies. He was defeated for reelection to a fourth full term in 1946 by a Wisconsin Republican you might have heard of.

Joseph R. McCarthy.