Phil La Follete was one of the state's most prominent politicians and even a national figure, yet few people remember him today outside of Wisconsin.
And there aren't all that many who conjure up the name of Phil when they consider the La Follete legacy.
In his book, "Fighting Son," Jonathan Kasparek recounts and analyzes the times and challenges of all of the La Folletes, but focuses his research on Phil, the son of "Fighting Bob" and brother of Robert M. La Follete, Jr., even if the latter inherited more his father's legacy as he took his place as a U.S. Senator.
Phil La Follette was used to living in the shadows of other men, not just only his father and brother, but Franklin D. Roosevelt as well.
Phil La Follette's efforts to bring what was then known more distinctly as a "progressive" view point onto the national stage were dwarfed by FDR's own New Deal initiatives. And following Fighting Bob's World War I anti-war example, Phil staked out the anti-war ground during WWII, opening himself up for considerable criticism.
In a recent interview, Kasparek, an historian who now teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha, said he wanted to more deeply explore Phil La Follette's life than had been done in other books.
He certainly accomplishes that. Initially written as a doctoral dissertation and later expanded and honed, the book deeply details the young La Follette's life from cradle to political gave.
Such treatment is both a benefit and a curse. While it is written in order to be used as a source and guide for historians and could be a supplementary text in a college history course, it may be too rich in detail for most readers seeking a more casual and airy read.
There is the usual employment of letters between family members that are primary sources for the work, along with newspaper and magazine accounts. These are the methods that many highly-read historians often use to try to flesh out characters from history and give them a voice. David McCullough uses it well and Nancy Unger, in her recent book on the older La Follete, also employs that technique successfully.
But in fairness to Kasparek, it is not an easy task to make readers believe they can still hear voices in the present tense that have been silent for many decade. Kasparek explained he wanted to explore Phil La Follette's distinguished career as a district attorney and governor.
"I was really interested in getting a more complete picture of his life," Kasparek said of Phil La Follette. "I found out that his childhood was the key to understanding him, growing up where politics was what they did ... a nine to five job their entire life."
La Follette served as governor of the state from 1931 to 1933 and 1935 to 1939, elected from the Progressive Party of Wisconsin founded by his father.
He lost in an unprecedented bid for a third term in 1938 but then tried to extend his party across the country, as the National Progressive Party of America, believing that FDR would not seek a third four-year term as president.
But Roosevelt successfully sought reelection and essentially trumped La Follette's plans. Meanwhile, the anti-war La Follette nevertheless joined the U.S. Army, serving on the staff of another man with Wisconsin ties, Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
When the fighting stopped for Phil, he returned to Wisconsin but eschewed politics for business.
Kasparek was also fascinated by the young La Follette's dedication to the Progressive ideals of his father and willingness to try to adopt "those ideas of the 1890s and make them fit into the Great depression of the 1930s, with a very different set of circumstances."
The author said he was struck by how patriotic people were in those days yet how that patriotism not only tolerated dissent from government philosophies and programs, but even encouraged and embraced diverse opinions.
"Phil La Follette said you can be both patriotic and be critical," said Kasparek. "But since the 1950s, criticism of government has come to be perceived as unpatriotic. Liberals today have to come to grips with that. That is really what Phil wanted to impress on people. He wanted to encourage young people to get into public life with that spirit."
Kasparek also sees another lesson for young politicians and government leaders that surfaces in his book.
"Phil La Follette said Progressives are people who adopted a certain approach," he said. "They would identify a problem, do thorough research, and then figure out how to address that in a democratic fashion."
They did not shoot from the hip as so many politicians from both sides of the spectrum do today.
Kasparek acknowledges his book requires the focus of the reader to get through its 261 pages. And the inevitable problem with any such effort must be its inability to take us back to the sights and sounds of those days, when the La Follettes traveled the country speaking to large gatherings of people who had no TV, and often no motion pictures or even radio.
Their oratory and righteous fury could pack a chautauqua-style tent event to capacity for many hours.
While it might be hard to believe that could happen in the 21st century, the book makes for an interesting trip to the times when Wisconsin was the crucible for new political thought and optimistic that its leaders could transform those concepts into a national program.
