“BATTLE BOB” DEAD

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12169, 20 June 1925, Page 5

“BATTLE BOB” DEAD

FAMOUS AMERICAN SENATOR PRESIDENTAL 'CANDIDATE. Australian and M 7. Cable Association WASHINGTON. June 18. Senator Robert Marion La Follette died to-day, at the age of 70, of heart weakness following bronchial asthma. Senator La Follette started life on a Wisconsin farm, and climbed his way through most of the State offices to become a Senator of the United States, which office he held for 20 years. He reached the climax of his career last year when he entered the Presidential campaign, polling five million votes against Mr Coolidge and Mr Davis as an Independent, for which he was later ousted from the Republican Party and deprived' of seniority honours. Since then his health has gradually failed, and it is believed that his strenuous campaign hastened his end. Senator La Follette was the instigator of the sensational Teapot Dome investigation. It was said of Mr La Follette that he always barked with and for the bottom dog, and that he thrived on protest. He was not known as “Battle Bob” for nothing. Eight years ago he was the best-hated man in the United States, being then derided for his opposition to America’s participation in the World War. and called a pro-German and a pacifist.