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Sen. Robert La Follette was one of the leading opponents of U.S. participation in World War I. He saw it largely as a scheme to bring more money and power to corporate interests whose power he had fought so hard to rein in. In April of 1917, as the U.S. prepared to enter the war, La Follette gave this speech on the floor of the Senate against U.S. entry into the war. We present three slightly different versions of it: the first as recorded in the Congressional Record, the second as it was separately issued by the government at the time, and finally as a pamphlet put out by the Progressive Party 20 years later. La Follette's opposition to the war brought him fierce rebuke. He was targeted for censure by the Senate, denounced as a traitor in the media, and ostracized by his friends in Washington.Citation
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