Robert M. La Follette represented his home state of Wisconsin in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1885 to 1891, as governor from 1901 to 1906, and in the U.S. Senate from 1906 until his death in 1925. Throughout much of his adult life, La Follette was known as “Fighting Bob,” and the appellation was most apt. He was admittedly by nature combative and suspicious. At the same time, he was an indefatigable researcher who could often intimidate opponents with mounds of supporting data. On April 4, 1917, in his Speech Opposing War with Germany, he addressed the Senate when it met to vote on President Woodrow Wilson’s call for a declaration of war.