Editing Wisconsin (section)

===20th century===
[[File:Suffragists campaigning in Wisconsin, June 7, 1916.jpg|thumb|[[Women's suffrage in Wisconsin|Suffragists]] campaigning, 1916. Wisconsin was among the earliest states to ratify the [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Nineteenth Amendment]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Suffrage 2020 Illinois|url=https://suffrage2020illinois.org/|access-date=January 16, 2021|website=Suffrage 2020 Illinois|language=en}}</ref>]]

The early 20th century was also notable for the emergence of [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]] politics championed by [[Robert M. La Follette]]. Between 1901 and 1914, Progressive Republicans in Wisconsin created the nation's first comprehensive statewide [[Partisan primary|primary election]] system,<ref>{{cite book|title=The American direct primary: party institutionalization and transformation in the North |last=Ware|first=Alan|year=2002|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|location=Cambridge, England|isbn=978-0-521-81492-8|page=118}}</ref> the first effective [[workers' compensation|workplace injury compensation]] law,<ref>{{cite web|last=Ranney|first=Joseph|title=Wisconsin's Legal History: Law and the Progressive Era, Part 3: Reforming the Workplace|url=http://www.wisbar.org/AM/TemplateRedirect.cfm?template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=35854|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120918150059/http://www.wisbar.org/AM/TemplateRedirect.cfm?template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=35854|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 18, 2012|access-date=March 13, 2010}}</ref> and the first state [[income tax]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Stark|first=John|year=1987|title=The Establishment of Wisconsin's Income Tax|journal=Wisconsin Magazine of History|volume=71|issue=1|pages=27–45|url=http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/wmh/id/36669|access-date=January 31, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202080527/http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/wmh/id/36669|archive-date=February 2, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> making taxation proportional to actual earnings.

During [[World War I]], due to the neutrality of Wisconsin and many of its [[Republican Party of Wisconsin|Republicans]], [[Progressivism in the United States|Progressives]], and [[Conservatism in the United States|Conservatives]], including [[German Americans|Germans]] and [[Nordic and Scandinavian Americans|Scandinavians]] who were a significant proportion of the state's population, Wisconsin gained the nickname "Traitor State", which was used by many "hyper patriots."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cary |first=Lorin Lee |date=1969 |title=The Wisconsin Loyalty Legion, 1917–1918 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4634484 |journal=The Wisconsin Magazine of History |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=33–50 |jstor=4634484 |issn=0043-6534 |access-date=February 2, 2024 |archive-date=February 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202010328/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4634484 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 10, 2012 |title=Expression Leads to Repression |url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS3418 |access-date=February 1, 2024 |website=Wisconsin Historical Society |language=en |archive-date=April 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401193504/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=N:4294963828-4294963805&dsRecordDetails=R:CS3418 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Falk |first=Karen |date=1942 |title=Public Opinion in Wisconsin during World War I |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4631476 |journal=The Wisconsin Magazine of History |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=389–407 |jstor=4631476 |issn=0043-6534 |access-date=February 2, 2024 |archive-date=February 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202010329/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4631476 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=August 21, 2013 |title=ODD WISCONSIN: State denounced as 'traitor' in 1917 |url=https://lacrossetribune.com/courierlifenews/lifestyles/odd-wisconsin-state-denounced-as-traitor-in-1917/article_6c65843a-0ad5-11e3-8caa-001a4bcf887a.html |access-date=February 2, 2024 |website=La Crosse Tribune |language=en |archive-date=February 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202010329/https://lacrossetribune.com/courierlifenews/lifestyles/odd-wisconsin-state-denounced-as-traitor-in-1917/article_6c65843a-0ad5-11e3-8caa-001a4bcf887a.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

As the war raged on in Europe, [[Robert M. La Follette]], leader of the anti-war movement in Wisconsin, led a group of progressive senators in blocking a bill by president [[Woodrow Wilson]] which would have armed merchant ships with guns. Many Wisconsin politicians such as [[Emanuel L. Philipp]] and [[Irvine Lenroot]] were accused of having divided loyalties.<ref>''The History of Wisconsin 1914–1940'' by Paul W. Glad, 1990. State Historical Society of Wisconsin, p.309-310.</ref> Even with outspoken opponents to the war, at the onset of the war many Wisconsinites would abandon neutrality. Businesses, labor and farms all enjoyed prosperity from the war. With over 118,000 going into military service, Wisconsin was the first state to report for the national drafts conducted by the [[United States Armed Forces|U.S. military]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 3, 2012 |title=World War I |url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS422 |access-date=February 2, 2024 |website=Wisconsin Historical Society |language=en |archive-date=February 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202010329/https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS422 |url-status=live }}</ref> As governor, Philipp was successful in combating [[Anti-German sentiment|anti-German hysteria]] in the state.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-08-08 |title=Philipp, Emanuel Lorenz 1861 - 1925 |url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS11743 |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=Wisconsin Historical Society |language=en}}</ref>

==== 1930s - 1950s ====
The progressive [[Wisconsin Idea]] also promoted the statewide expansion of the University of Wisconsin through the [[UW-Extension]] system at this time.<ref>{{cite book|last=Stark|first=Jack|chapter=The Wisconsin Idea: The University's Service to the State|title=The State of Wisconsin Blue Book, 1995–1996|location=Madison|publisher=Legislative Reference Bureau|year=1995|pages=99–179|oclc=33902087|chapter-url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/WI/WI-idx?type=article&did=WI.WIBlueBk1995.i0009&id=WI.WIBlueBk1995&isize=L|access-date=January 31, 2017|archive-date=October 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017001801/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/WI/WI-idx?type=article&did=WI.WIBlueBk1995.i0009&id=WI.WIBlueBk1995&isize=L|url-status=live}}</ref> Later, UW economics professors [[John R. Commons]] and Harold Groves helped Wisconsin create the first [[unemployment compensation]] program in the United States in 1932.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Nelson|first=Daniel|year=1968|title=The Origins of Unemployment Insurance in Wisconsin|journal=Wisconsin Magazine of History|volume=51|issue=2|pages=109–21|url=http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/wmh/id/31447|access-date=January 31, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202080531/http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/wmh/id/31447|archive-date=February 2, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> Other [[Wisconsin Idea]] scholars at the university generated the plan that became the New Deal's [[Social Security Act]] of 1935, with Wisconsin expert [[Arthur J. Altmeyer]] playing the key role.<ref>Arthur J. Altmeyer, "The Wisconsin Idea and Social Security." ''Wisconsin Magazine of History'' (1958) 42#1: 19–25.</ref>
[[File:LaFollette-Philip-Announces-380428.jpg|thumb|Governor [[Philip La Follette]] announces formation of the [[National Progressives of America]], April 28, 1938.]]
After Robert La Follette died, his two sons, [[Philip La Follette]] and [[Robert M. La Follette Jr.|Robert La Follette, Jr.]], assumed control of the Wisconsin Republican Party after a brief period of intraparty factional disputes. Following in their father's footsteps, they helped form the [[Wisconsin Progressive Party]], in many ways a spiritual successor to the party La Follette founded in 1924. The party surged in popularity during the mid-1930s during the moderately conservative [[Albert G. Schmedeman|Schmedeman]] administration, and gained President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s support. Much of the new party's support owed to the personalities leading it, and the support of Roosevelt and progressive Democrats. The party saw success across Wisconsin's elected offices in the state and Congress. The party eventually declined as Philip, engulfed in scandal and accusations of [[authoritarianism]] and fiscal irresponsibility, lost reelection a final time in [[1938 Wisconsin gubernatorial election|1938]] to [[Julius P. Heil]]. Philip then left electoral politics and joined [[World War II]] in the Pacific theater. The [[National Progressives of America]], an organization Philip had hoped would precede a national realignment, then faltered. The Wisconsin Progressives began to tear themselves apart as La Follette's absence led to vicious intraparty fighting that ultimately led to a vote to dissolve itself.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kasparek |first=Jonathan |title=Fighting Son: A Biography of Philip F. La Follette |publisher=[[Wisconsin Historical Society]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-87020-353-4}}</ref>

In World War II's immediate aftermath, Wisconsinites were divided over issues such as creation of the [[United Nations]], support for the European recovery, and the growth of the [[Soviet Union]]'s power. But when [[Iron Curtain|Europe divided into Communist and capitalist camps]], and with the Progressive Party's collapse, Robert La Follette, Jr. rejoined the Republican Party of Wisconsin to run in the 1946 Senate election. He was narrowly defeated by [[Joseph McCarthy]] in the [[1946 United States Senate election in Wisconsin|Republican primary]]. After the [[Chinese Communist Revolution]] succeeded in 1949, public opinion began to continue move toward support for the protection of democracy and capitalism against Communist expansion.<ref name=":3">A Short History of Wisconsin By Erika Janik page 149</ref>

==== 1960s - 1990s ====
[[File:Swing bridge, Superior, Wisconsin (cut).jpg|thumb|In the 20th century, [[Superior, Wisconsin|Superior]] was a major hub for shipping iron ore across the Great Lakes via [[lake freighter]]s.]]{{Expand section|It needs additional history during the cold war from the 1960s and up to the 1990s|date=April 2025}}
Wisconsin took part in several political extremes in the mid to late 20th century, ranging from the [[McCarthyism|anti-communist]] crusades of Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] in the 1950s to the radical antiwar protests at UW-Madison that culminated in the [[Sterling Hall bombing]] in August 1970. The state undertook [[welfare reform]] under Republican Governor [[Tommy Thompson]] during the 1990s.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tommy Thompson: Human Services Reformer|website = [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=122179&page=1|date=September 4, 2004|access-date=March 13, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110130132917/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=122179&page=1|archive-date=January 30, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> The state's economy also underwent further transformations towards the close of the 20th century, as heavy industry and manufacturing declined in favor of a [[service economy]] based on medicine, education, agribusiness, and tourism.