Good morning, Whitewater
There’s a
Common Council meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. The agenda is available online. (It’s a pdf but not a useful, searchable text pdf like other City of Whitewater agendas.)
On this date in 1934, the Wisconsin Historical Society recalls the anniversary of a step toward bigger government, intrusion in commercial and private life, and less individual choice —
“Wisconsin Progressive Party Formally Organized” —
On this date Wisconsin’s Progressive Party was formally organized near 30 E. 2nd St. in Fond du Lac. It had begun as a “progressive” movement within the Wisconsin Republican Party more than 30 years before, and under leaders such as Robert M. LaFollette its list of achievements brought national attention to Wisconsin.
By the 1930s, a new generation of policy makers, many of whom had been trained under progressive Republicans, were advocating for reforms as part of Democrat Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs (see our page on the Wisconsin roots of Social Security for an example). At the same time, a new generation of Republicans such as Walter Kohler were advocating their own solutions to the nation’s problems. The heirs of the LaFollette tradition organized a third party, the Wisconsin Progressive Party, to keep alive the traditions they valued.
[Source: History Just Ahead: A Guide to Wisconsin’s Historical Markers, edited by Sarah Davis McBride]
From our elementary schools today, there’s a choir concert in the high school auditorium at 1:30 p.m. and again at 7 p.m.