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La Follette, Robert Marion (1855-1925), American ‘Progressive ‘politicia n:b at Primrose, Wisconsin, graduating from the State University in 1879 and practising law before being elected to the House of Representatives, where he sat from 1885 to 1891 as a Republican. By the end of the century he had built up a reputation as a courageous fighter against corruption in his state and against the railway and timber interests which dominated its economy. From 1900 to 1904 he was Governor of Wisconsin, and was returned to the Senate in Washington in 1906, remaining a Senator for the rest of his life. He was a vigorous liberal reformer in domestic affairs, becoming nationally respected for his Seaman’s Act in 1915, which gave the Merchant Marine a basic charter of rights for conditions of employment as well as providing a code of safety measures. Over foreign affairs La Follette was isolationist, opposing America’s entry into the First World War and the League of Nations. The scandals of the Republican era under HARDING alienated La Follette from his party. In alliance with some socialist groups he founded in 1924 a Progressive Party. He stood for the presidential election, with Senator Wheeler from Montana as his running-mate, and put forward a programme of radical change, including nationalization of water resources and railways, relief to farmers, and cuts in income tax. The sitting Republican President, COOLIDGE, polled nearly sixteen million popular votes, the Democrat candidate (John W.Davis, 1873-1955, a Wilsonian lawyer) had over eight million, while La Follette gained nearly five mil lion, but only carried his home state. He died soon afterwards, his tradition of liberal reform and strict isolationism being maintained by his son and namesake as a ‘progressive Republican’ Senator from 1925 to 1947. R.Hofstadter: The Age of Reform (New York, 1963); K. C.Mackay: The Progressive Movement of 1924 (New York, 1947). La Guardia, Fiorello Henry (1882-1947), Mayor of New York City: born in New York of Jewish Italian parentage, graduated from New York University in 1910, served in Italy in 1917-18 as a Major with the US Army Air Force, commanding a bomber squadron. He sat, as a Republican, in the House of Representatives after his return from Italy until 1921 and again from 1923 to 1933. He was respected as a reformer and a progressive, and in 1933 received some Democratic backing for his bid to become New York City’s Mayor. La

Guardia served as a colourful and energetic Mayor from 1933 to 1945: he introduced housing schemes, projects to protect work, and the first major American civil defence system against long-range bombing. He countered the external exuberance of the New Yorkers with awareness of poverty in the slum areas. He became Director of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) in 1946-‘Ticker tape ain’t spaghetti,’ he reminded the UNRRA commission in New York in March 1946. His ten years of mayoralty had, however, left him exhausted, and he died suddenly on 20 September 1947. He is commemorated by the name of one of New York’s airports. T.Kessner: Fiorello la Guardia and the Making of Modern New York (New York, 1989). Lange, David Russell (1942-), New Zealand Prime Minister: born near Auckland, where he completed his university education as a lawyer, subsequently serving as a barrister for the underprivileged in the city. He was elected Labour MP for Mangere in 1977, showing such parliamentary skill that he was deputy party leader in 1979 and leader four years later. He won the General Election of July 1984 on an anti-nuclear policy over defence, subsequently strengthening contact with other Pacific nations anxious to create a nuclear-free zone in their waters. He was re-elected in 1987 but frequent bouts of ill-health forced him to resign in 1989. V.Wright: David Lange, PM, a profile (Wellington, 1984); G.W.Rice (ed.): The Oxford History of New Zealand (2nd edn Auckland, 1992). Lansbury, George (1859-1940), British Labour leader from 1932 to 1935: born near Lowestoft in Suffolk, and active for many years in seeking improved social conditions in the East End of London. He was returned as Labour MP for Bow and Bromley in 1910, but resigned in 1912 in order to stand again on a ‘votes for women’ platform, though without success. His natural pacifism made him oppose the First World War. In 1919 he founded the Daily Herald as a democratic socialist newspaper and edited it until 1923. He returned to the Commons in 1922 and remained an MP until his death. In 1929 he attained Cabinet rank as First Commissioner of Works under MACDONALD, but he opposed the decision to form a National Government during the financial crisis of 1931. He was very popular in London, not least because of his opening up of London’s parks for games and his encouragement of the plan to provide the Serpentine with a bathing station. Lansbury was the only member of the former Cabinet who remained in the Labour Party and kept his seat at the 1931 General Election, and he therefore led the party during the four following difficult years, assisted by ATTLEE. His idealistic Christian socialism pleased constituency members but puzzled many trade unionists, notably BEVIN. Lansbury resigned as leader, in favour of Attlee, after the Labour Party Conference of 1935, but he retained a personal following. His desire for a relaxation of tension led him, in April 1937, to visit HITLER in Germany, even though he loathed the basic assumptions of Nazi belief. G. Lansbury: My Life (1928), My Quest for Peace (1938); R. Postgate: Life of George Lansbury (1951); B.Holman: Good Old George (1990).