Wisconsin magazine of history: Volume 42, number 3, spring, 1959

              Lenroot, La Follette,
and the Campaign of 1906
by Padraic M. Kennedy
AT NOON ON New Year's Day, 1906, Lieu- -'-*- tenant Governor James 0. Davidson was inaugurated to complete Robert M. La Fol- lette's unexpired third term as governor of Wisconsin. At a simple ceremony in Madison, Senator-elect La Follette presented his heir to Chief Justice John B. Cassoday, who admin¬ istered the oath of office.
Later that afternoon, several hundred dis¬ tinguished citizens and state officials thronged the executive chambers to pay their respects to the new governor and to say farewell to the old. It was a festive gathering. The cham¬ bers were gaily decorated with cut flowers, ferns, and American flags. Guests milled about, exchanging pleasantries and seasonal greet¬ ings. The Norwegian-born Davidson, tall and pordy with grand sweeping black moustachios, and the striking, tousle-haired La Follette cut handsome figures in their dress clothes as they cordially shook hands with the callers, "who were equally friends" of them both.^
To all outward appearances it was a warm and harmonious occasion. But already well- laid plans were afoot to unseat Davidson as governor at the expiration of his term; and only the politically naive were unaware that a first-rate primary fight was in the making.
TT WAS early in the summer of 1905 that -*- Governor La Follette had first broached to his close a.ssociates the idea of promoting Irvine L. Lenroot as his successor. In January, a scant three weeks after having been sworn in for his third term. La Follette had been elected by the State Legislature to fill an im¬ pending vacancy in the iJ. S. Senate. But anx¬ ious to see the progressive legislative program he had outlined for the state more fully en¬ acted, "Fighting Bob" had deferred assuming his new office for almost a year.^ In the inter¬ val, he had given a great deal of thoughl as to who was the proper person to continue his work in Wisconsin.
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Socier>'s Iconographii ( niii,ii(Mis
Governor James 0. Davidson fin bowler), with unidentified friends, circa 1907.
As second-in-command. Lieutenant (Gover¬ nor Jim Davidson was the obvious candidate. He had often held the reins of state when La Follette was off on the Chautauqua circuit, and, moreover, would automatically serve the remaining year of the governor's term when he left for Washington. Custom and seniority, if nothing else, made him the leading con¬ tender for the Republican nomination for the following year. The fifty-two-year-old David¬ son had won four successive campaigns for state-wide office, twice serving as state treasur¬ er and twice, having run at La FoUette's insist¬ ence, as lieutenant governor. Earlier, during three terms in the State Legislature, the im¬ migrant storekeeper had established himself as a "pioneer reformer" by introducing bills to tax telephone and telegraph, express, and sleeping-car companies. "Yim" had many friends throughout the state and enjoyed the almost solid support of his Norwegian country¬ men, who made up the largest single bloc in the progressive coalition.'^
Nonetheless, despite a personal fondness for "Yim," La Follette had strong reservations about the prospect of his continuing as gov¬ ernor. If the reforms that had been won in Wisconsin after years of struggle were to con¬ tinue and the new legislation to be enforced, La Follette felt that his own brand of skdlful,
' Milwaukee Free Press, January 2, 1906.
- Belle C. and Fola La Follette, Robert M. La Fol¬ lette (New York, 1953), I, 189, 194-195, 197-198.
" Robert S. Maxwell, La Follette and the Rise of tlie Progressives in Wisconsin (Madison, 1956), 82- 84; Herbert Felix Margulies, "Issues and Politics of Wisconsin Progressivism, 1906-1920," (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin, 1955), 32, 66.
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