Belle Case La Follette

Belle Case La Follette
Belle Case La Follette circa 1905
Born	Belle Case (1859-04-21)April 21, 1859 Summit, Wisconsin, United States
Died	August 18, 1931(1931-08-18) (aged 72) Washington D.C., United States
Education	University of Wisconsin-Madison University of Wisconsin Law School
Occupation	Lawyer and women's suffrage activist
Spouse(s)	Robert M. La Follette, Sr. (m. 1881–1925)
Children	Fola La Follette, Robert M. La Follette, Jr., Philip La Follette and Mary La Follette

Belle Case La Follette (April 21, 1859 – August 18, 1931) was a lawyer and a women's suffrage activist in Wisconsin, United States. La Follette worked with the women's peace party during World War I. At the time of her death in 1931, the New York Times called her "probably the least known yet most influential of all the American women who had to do with public affairs in this country".

She is best remembered as the wife and helpmate of Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette—a prominent Progressive Republican politician both in Wisconsin and on the national scene—and as co-editor with her husband of La Follette’s Weekly Magazine.

Belle Case was born on April 21, 1859 in Summit, Juneau County, Wisconsin. Her parents were Unitarian of English and Scottish descent. She attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1875 to 1879 and, upon graduation, taught high school in Spring Green and junior high school in Baraboo. One of her students in Baraboo was John Ringling, of whom she later wrote "... when John read a long account -- interrupted with giggles from the school -- of the side shows he and other boys had been giving every night, I lectured him and drew the moral that if John would put his mind on his lessons as he did on side shows, he might yet become a scholar. Fortunately the scolding had no effect."

She married her former classmate at the University, Robert Marion La Follette Sr., on December 31, 1881. The ceremony was performed by a Unitarian minister and by mutual agreement, the word “obey” was omitted from the marriage vows. Their first child, Flora Dodge La Follette, always called “Fola,” was born on September 10, 1882. Fola married the playwright George Middleton on October 29, 1911.