Wisconsin Goes to Washington Trivia Quiz

Answer: William Vilas

William Freeman Vilas (1840-1908) was the Secretary of Interior for Grover Cleveland from January 1888 to March 1889. He had previously served as Postmaster General in the Cleveland administration. In 1891, the state legislature of Wisconsin elected him to the Senate and he served one term.

Vilas was an attorney, and was a law professor at the University of Wisconsin before he entered government service. The Interstate Commerce Commission was established during Vilas' tenure at Interior. Vilas County in northern Wisconsin is named after him.

Answer: Julius Krug

Julius Albert Krug (1907-1970) was a Wisconsin native who graduated with a degree in engineering from the University of Wisconsin. His first major job was with the Tennessee Valley Authority, providing power to the rural south. He would later serve as head of the War Production Board (1944-45).

Harry Truman selected Krug as Secretary of the Interior in early 1946, and he served until December 1949. While Krug did protect the environment as Interior Secretary, he also helped create the Garrison Dam in North Dakota, which destroyed the lives of thousands of Native Americans.

Krug died in Knoxville, Tennessee in March 1970.

Answer: Melvin Laird

Melvin Laird was a Congressman (1953-1969) before Richard Nixon selected him to be Secretary of Defense. Laird had served on the Defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. Laird was elected to the State Senate when he was 23, and only 30 when he was elected to the House.

Vietnam occupied much of Laird's time as Secretary of Defense, and he led the efforts towards "Vietnamization", turning over the military aspects of the war to the South Vietnamese government. Laird left the Pentagon a week after Nixon's second inauguration. He served as a White Advisor through January 1974. Laird played a key role in making Gerald Ford Vice President and was considered as a VP pick when Ford became President.

Answer: Les Aspin

Les Aspin served 22 years in Congress (1970-1992) before Bill Clinton picked him as Secretary of Defense. During much of that time, Aspin had been on the Armed Services committee; he was chair from 1985 to 1992. Aspin was frequently critical of US military policy, but did support Ronald Reagan on the MX Missile and aid to the Contras in Nicaragua.

Clinton, who had never served in the military, selected Aspin due to his deep background as a military expert. Aspin resigned in December 1993 and was replaced by William Perry in February 1994. Aspin lived barely a year after, dying of a stroke in May 1995.

Answer: Donna Shalala

Shalala makes the list because she was serving as Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin when Clinton selected her as Secretary of HHS. Shalala (born 1941) is a native of Ohio. She was one of the first Peace Corps volunteers, serving in Iran. She got her PhD in Public Affairs from Syracuse University in 1970.

Shalala's first government service was in the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Carter Administration. She then went into academia, serving as President of Hunter College (1980-88) before moving to Wisconsin. Shalala was the first women to lead a Big Ten University.

She served all eight years of Clinton administration (1993-2001). She then moved to Miami and became President of the University of Miami. In 2018, Shalala ran for Congress in Miami and won; she was defeated for re-election in 2020.

Answer: Robert LaFollette

Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" LaFollette (1855-1925) is by far the most famous political figure in the history of Wisconsin. LaFollette began his political career as the District Attorney of Dane County at the age of 25. At 29, he was elected to the US House of Representatives, where he served three terms.

LaFollette ran for governor in 1894 and 1898 before finally winning in 1900. He was one of the most important reformers in state history, creating primary elections and overhauling the tax code. He won re-election in 1902 and 1904. In 1905, the state legislature appointed him to the US Senate.

LaFollette would serve three terms in the Senate (1906-1925).where he was a leading voice for political reform. He is probably best remembered for his opposition to the First World War, which almost got him expelled from the Senate.

LaFollette ran for President in 1924. He won his home state of Wisconsin, and finished second in 11 others, mostly in the western US. It was the third most successful Third Party run of the 20th Century. In retrospect, it may have been best that Fighting Bob didn't win, as he died in June 1925.

Answer: Joseph McCarthy

Joseph McCarthy (1908-57), the US Senator who gave his name to a political tactic, was best known for his investigations into Communist infiltration of the United States government. McCarthy's accusations were often baseless, and his rhetoric was highly demagogic.

McCarthy ran for the Senate in 1946, and defeated Robert M LaFollete, "Fighting Bob's" son. In February 1950, McCarthy gained national notice when he claimed there were Communists in the US State Department. Over the course of the next several years, he held high profile hearings that included accusations against President Truman and the US Army.

McCarthy's luck ran out in December of 1954, when the US Senate censured him 67-22. McCarthy's alcoholism would lead to his death at age 48 in May 1957.

Answer: Gaylord Nelson

Gaylord Nelson (1916-2005) was one of the leading environmentalists of the 20th Century. He created the idea of Earth Day. Nelson was born in Clear Lake. He got his law degree from the University of Wisconsin and served as a JAG during World War II.

Nelson served in the State Senate (1949-1959) before being elected Governor (1959-63). Nelson was elected to the Senate in 1962 and would serve three terms before being defeated in the Reagan landslide of 1980.

Following his government service, Nelson spent the next two decades on environmental work. The Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin is named after him. Much of the wilderness area in Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is also named after Nelson.

Answer: Russ Feingold

Russ Feingold (born 1953) spent a decade in the Wisconsin State Senate before becoming a US Senator in 1992. During his three terms, Feingold was a leading voice for campaign finance reform and constitutional rights. He teamed up with Senator John McCain (R-AZ) to pass major campaign finance reform legislation.

Feingold was the only member of the Senate to vote against the PATRIOT Act. He noted that we could turn the United States into a total surveillance state, and it would be easier to catch terrorists.
" But that probably would not be a country in which we would want to live. And that would not be a country for which we could, in good conscience, ask our young people to fight and die. In short, that would not be America," warned Feingold on October 25, 2001.

Feingold was defeated in 2010 by US Senator Ron Johnson, losing in the Tea Party avalanche.

Answer: Tammy Baldwin

Tammy Baldwin (born 1962) was the first openly gay member of the Senate, elected in 2012. Baldwin worked her way up the political ladder, as an alderperson and county supervisor, then as a state legislator before serving 14 years in the House of Representatives. She was 50 when she became a Senator, but had the greatest seniority in her class due to her service in the House.

Baldwin is one of the more outspoken progressives in the Senate. She was a fairly consistent supporter of the Obama administration, and a major opponent of the Trump administration. Wisconsin seemed to like her first term, as they re-elected her in 2018 with 55 percent of the vote (a blow-out in a purple state like Wisconsin).