Suzanne La Follette
Encyclopedia
Suzanne Clara La Follette (June 24, 1893 – April 23, 1983) was an American
journalist and author who advocated for libertarian feminism in the first half of the 20th century. As an editor she helped found several magazines. She was an early and ardent feminist and a vocal anti communist.
prominent La Follette family
. Her father was U.S. Congressman William La Follette
; her brothers were politician William Leroy LaFollette, Jr.
and Chester La Follette
, a painter. Author Mimi LaFollette Summerskill
was her niece.While living in Washington D.C. with her family, Suzanne worked in her father's Capitol Hill office as well as that of his cousin Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr.
As a young woman still in college, she observed many of the great political and intellectual debates of the time at the home shared by the two LaFollette families.
, and her colleagues John Chamberlain
, Priscilla Buckley (sister to conservative editor William F. Buckley, Jr.
) and Helen Tremaine, can be found in the article "Suzanne La Follette: The Freewomen" by Sharon Presley
.
La Follette was active in the League of Equal Opportunity, a feminist organization that, unlike the larger National Women's Party, opposed not just sex-based minimum wage legislation, but all such legislation. She explained her opposition to such laws in Concerning Women. Her economic views, like those of her mentor Albert Jay Nock
, were libertarian but influenced by Henry George
.
She had been interested in Russia since the revolution of 1917 and had been in contact with many exiles, including former president, Alexander Kerensky
In the 1930s, LaFollette served on the Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky
, also known as the "Dewey Commission
" as secretary to its chairman, philosopher John Dewey
. La Follette wrote the summary of the Committee's findings after holding an investigative meeting in Mexico
where Trotsky was in exile (and later murdered by an agent of Joseph Stalin
). Many of the committee's members, like La Follette, Carlo Tresca
and Dewey, were not Trotskyists, but consisted of anti-Stalinist
socialists, progressives
and liberals
She worked on the literary journal The Freeman
both as a contributor and as assistant to the editor, Albert Jay Nock
, and she later founded a revival of the magazine, called "The New Freeman" in 1932 which lasted only fifteen months. In the early 1950s, she served as a managing editor
of yet another revival of Nock's journal, the libertarian
periodical The Freeman
, with John Chamberlain
and Henry Hazlitt
serving as executive editors. In that role, she came into periodic conflict with Hazlitt due to her "sometimes strident way of expressing herself" on behalf of Senator Joseph McCarthy
. It is this magazine which is widely considered to be an important forerunner to the conservative National Review
, founded by William F. Buckley, another journal for which she was also an early contributor and managing editor.
However, La Follette was not a traditional conservative. In the 1950s, there was no outlet for libertarian thought so she joined forces with conservatives, who at that time were closer to libertarians than any other group. In the interview conducted by Presley in 1980, her colleague, John Chamberlain
stated that she was a libertarian, not a conservative. Her feminist views in fact often clashed with the conservative point of view. Based on an interview with Buckley, as reported in the "Freewoman" profile, Presley states, for example, that "in 1964, when the New York Conservative Party, of which she was a co-founder, came out in favor of anti-abortion
laws, she demanded that her name be dropped from the Party's letterhead - and it was."
and along the Snake River
. She grew up in the wide open spaces of the American West. Her grandfather, John Tabor
, was a 49er, having crossed the plains to California
after service in the Mexican-American War. Her father, William La Follette
, had first come to the Washington Territory
as a 16 year old from Indiana
. By the turn of the century he was one of the largest growers and shippers of fruit in the Inland Empire.. Along with her older siblings, Suzanne began her formal studies at Washington State University
in Pullman, Washington
where her family had moved into a large house her father had built near the college. When William La Follette was elected to Congress in 1910, she moved with her family to the nation's captital and finished her studies there, graduating from Trintity College(Trinity Washington University
) in 1915.
had purchased in Mount Pleasant, Washington, D.C.. Debate and conversation were encouraged at the dinner table and a steady stream politicians, writers, labor leaders, professors and other opinion makers engaged in policy and political arguments late into the evening.
. Her brother, Chester La Follette
's art studio was upstairs from her apartment on the tenth floor. During the 1920's she spent four years as an editor for the Freeman working as a deputy to Albert Jay Nock
editing and writing. When the magazine folded, she turned her talents to writing, producing award winning poetry as well as two books on very different subjects. In Concerning Women, she broke new ground as she analyzed feminism from the perspective of economic equality. Her former mentor, Nock, found the book to be brilliant and original. In Art in America she produced a monumental survey of American art from colonial times to the twentieth century. The art historian, Walter Pach
wrote the introduction.
In the 1930's she organized a new version of the Freeman, won a Guggenheim Fellowship
for study of the fine arts, lectured at the Art Students League of New York
, and traveled to Mexico
as a member of the Dewey Commission
. La Follette served as secretary to its chairman, the philosopher John Dewey
and wrote the summary of the Commission's findings after conducting investigations in Mexico where Trotsky was in exile (soon after he was murdered by a Russian agent).
In the 1940's and during World War II
Suzanne worked as director of foreign relief programs for the American Federation of Labor
, focusing her efforts on keeping communists out of the American labor movement. She maintained her close relationship with Alexander Kerensky
and other Russians she had befriended through the years.
Suzanne returned to editing in the 1950s when she and a number of old colleagues, including John Chamberlain
and Henry Hazlitt
produced a new version of The Freeman. In her final editorial effort she became the founding managing editor of the magazine William Buckley
founded in 1955, The National Review. She retired from this post in 1959 at the age of sixty-six.
Still politically active In the 1960's she was one of the founders of the New York Conservative Party. She ran for congress in 1964 and lost.
In her 2004 book, Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary: Completing the Twentieth Century, Susan Ware described the many intellectual gifts that made Suzanne such a force among the New York intelligencia for so many decades. Suzanne was...."a rigorous opponent of government intervention. She was a very beautiful woman, with a hilarious sense of humor, a grammatical stickler . . . a feminist . . . generous and warm-hearted, recalled William F. Buckley Jr., who knew her in later years."
and New York City after more that fifty years. She returned to the West Coast settling in Palo Alto, not far from the Stanford University
campus. Many of her LaFollette relatives had moved to the area and she spent her final years surrounded by family and old friends. She is interred in Colfax, Washington
with other family members.
"It is necessary to grow accustomed to freedom before one may walk in it sure-footedly."
"No one who has not known the inestimable privilege can possibly realize what good fortune it is to grow up in a home where there are grandparents."
"When one hears the argument that marriage should be indissoluble for the sake of children, one cannot help wondering whether the protagonist is really such a firm friend of childhood."
"What its children become, that will the community become."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist and author who advocated for libertarian feminism in the first half of the 20th century. As an editor she helped found several magazines. She was an early and ardent feminist and a vocal anti communist.
Family
She was born in Washington state into the politicallyAmerican politics
American politics is an area of study within the academic discipline of political science. It is primarily, but not exclusively, studied by researchers in the United States...
prominent La Follette family
La Follette family
The La Follette family is a family of politicians from the United States. Below is a list of members:*Robert M. La Follette, Sr. , District Attorney of Dane County, Wisconsin 1880-1884; U.S. Representative from Wisconsin 1885-1891; delegate to the Republican National Convention 1896, 1904; Governor...
. Her father was U.S. Congressman William La Follette
William La Follette
William Leroy La Follette was a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Washington. He represented the 3rd District from 1911 to 1915, and the 4th District from 1915 to 1919....
; her brothers were politician William Leroy LaFollette, Jr.
William Leroy LaFollette, Jr.
William LeRoy "Roy" LaFollette Jr. was a political figure and lawyer. He served in the Washington House of Representatives in the State Legislature. He was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Whitman County several times...
and Chester La Follette
Chester La Follette
Robert Chester La Follette, was an American painter. His portrait of his cousin Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr. hangs in the Senate Reception Room of he United States Capitol...
, a painter. Author Mimi LaFollette Summerskill
Mimi LaFollette Summerskill
Miriam LaFollette "Mimi" Summerskill was an educator, author, political activist, and vineyard owner.-Early Years and Education:Mimi was the eldest of four children...
was her niece.While living in Washington D.C. with her family, Suzanne worked in her father's Capitol Hill office as well as that of his cousin Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr.
Robert M. La Follette, Sr.
Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" La Follette, Sr. , was an American Republican politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was the Governor of Wisconsin, and was also a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin...
As a young woman still in college, she observed many of the great political and intellectual debates of the time at the home shared by the two LaFollette families.
Body of Work
Her full-length book, Concerning Women, broke ground in the 1920s, but went out of print for a second time after a 1972 reprint in the Arno Press American Women series. In 1973, an excerpt entitled "Beware the State" was included in "The Feminist Papers," an anthology edited by Alice Rossi. A short biography of La Follette, based on interviews with her grandniece Maryly Rosner, her brother Chester La FolletteChester La Follette
Robert Chester La Follette, was an American painter. His portrait of his cousin Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr. hangs in the Senate Reception Room of he United States Capitol...
, and her colleagues John Chamberlain
John Chamberlain (journalist)
John Rensselaer Chamberlain was an American journalist, historian of business and the economy, and literary critic, dubbed "one of America’s most trusted book reviewers."-Early life:...
, Priscilla Buckley (sister to conservative editor William F. Buckley, Jr.
William F. Buckley, Jr.
William Frank Buckley, Jr. was an American conservative author and commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, and was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His writing was noted for...
) and Helen Tremaine, can be found in the article "Suzanne La Follette: The Freewomen" by Sharon Presley
Sharon Presley
Sharon Presley is an American libertarian and individualist anarchist feminist, writer, activist, and retired professor of psychology. She was also co-founder and former co-proprietor of Laissez Faire Books, which was once regarded as the largest libertarian bookstore.- Academic career :Presley...
.
La Follette was active in the League of Equal Opportunity, a feminist organization that, unlike the larger National Women's Party, opposed not just sex-based minimum wage legislation, but all such legislation. She explained her opposition to such laws in Concerning Women. Her economic views, like those of her mentor Albert Jay Nock
Albert Jay Nock
Albert Jay Nock was an influential United States libertarian author, educational theorist, and social critic of the early and middle 20th century.- Life and work :...
, were libertarian but influenced by Henry George
Henry George
Henry George was an American writer, politician and political economist, who was the most influential proponent of the land value tax, also known as the "single tax" on land...
.
She had been interested in Russia since the revolution of 1917 and had been in contact with many exiles, including former president, Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky was a major political leader before and during the Russian Revolutions of 1917.Kerensky served as the second Prime Minister of the Russian Provisional Government until Vladimir Lenin was elected by the All-Russian Congress of Soviets following the October Revolution...
In the 1930s, LaFollette served on the Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
, also known as the "Dewey Commission
Dewey Commission
The Dewey Commission was initiated in March 1937 by the "American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky." It was named after its Chairman, John Dewey...
" as secretary to its chairman, philosopher John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
. La Follette wrote the summary of the Committee's findings after holding an investigative meeting in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
where Trotsky was in exile (and later murdered by an agent of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
). Many of the committee's members, like La Follette, Carlo Tresca
Carlo Tresca
Carlo Tresca was an Italian-born American newspaper editor, orator, and labor organizer who was a leader of the Industrial Workers of the World during the decade of the 1910s. Tresca is remembered as a leading public opponent of fascism, stalinism, and Mafia infiltration of the trade union movement...
and Dewey, were not Trotskyists, but consisted of anti-Stalinist
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
socialists, progressives
Progressivism in the United States
Progressivism in the United States is a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century and is generally considered to be middle class and reformist in nature. It arose as a response to the vast changes brought by modernization, such as the growth of large...
and liberals
She worked on the literary journal The Freeman
The Freeman
The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty is one of the oldest and most respected libertarian journals in the United States. It is published by the Foundation for Economic Education . It started as a digest sized monthly study journal; it currently appears 10 times per year and is a larger-sized magazine. FEE...
both as a contributor and as assistant to the editor, Albert Jay Nock
Albert Jay Nock
Albert Jay Nock was an influential United States libertarian author, educational theorist, and social critic of the early and middle 20th century.- Life and work :...
, and she later founded a revival of the magazine, called "The New Freeman" in 1932 which lasted only fifteen months. In the early 1950s, she served as a managing editor
Managing editor
A managing editor is a senior member of a publication's management team.In the United States, a managing editor oversees and coordinates the publication's editorial activities...
of yet another revival of Nock's journal, the libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
periodical The Freeman
The Freeman
The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty is one of the oldest and most respected libertarian journals in the United States. It is published by the Foundation for Economic Education . It started as a digest sized monthly study journal; it currently appears 10 times per year and is a larger-sized magazine. FEE...
, with John Chamberlain
John Chamberlain (journalist)
John Rensselaer Chamberlain was an American journalist, historian of business and the economy, and literary critic, dubbed "one of America’s most trusted book reviewers."-Early life:...
and Henry Hazlitt
Henry Hazlitt
Henry Stuart Hazlitt was an American economist, philosopher, literary critic and journalist for such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, The American Mercury, Newsweek, and The New York Times...
serving as executive editors. In that role, she came into periodic conflict with Hazlitt due to her "sometimes strident way of expressing herself" on behalf of Senator Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
. It is this magazine which is widely considered to be an important forerunner to the conservative National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
, founded by William F. Buckley, another journal for which she was also an early contributor and managing editor.
However, La Follette was not a traditional conservative. In the 1950s, there was no outlet for libertarian thought so she joined forces with conservatives, who at that time were closer to libertarians than any other group. In the interview conducted by Presley in 1980, her colleague, John Chamberlain
John Chamberlain (journalist)
John Rensselaer Chamberlain was an American journalist, historian of business and the economy, and literary critic, dubbed "one of America’s most trusted book reviewers."-Early life:...
stated that she was a libertarian, not a conservative. Her feminist views in fact often clashed with the conservative point of view. Based on an interview with Buckley, as reported in the "Freewoman" profile, Presley states, for example, that "in 1964, when the New York Conservative Party, of which she was a co-founder, came out in favor of anti-abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
laws, she demanded that her name be dropped from the Party's letterhead - and it was."
Early Years and Education
Suzanne La Follette was born on a ranch in eastern Washington State, the fourth of seven children of a pioneer family that owned large wheat and fruit farms in the rolling hills of the PalousePalouse
The Palouse is a region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of southeastern Washington, north central Idaho and, in some definitions, extending south into northeast Oregon. It is a major agricultural area, primarily producing wheat and legumes...
and along the Snake River
Snake River
The Snake is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...
. She grew up in the wide open spaces of the American West. Her grandfather, John Tabor
John Tabor
John Bayless Tabor "J.B." was a 49er who crossed the plains to California shortly after the discovery of gold. He later settled in the Washington Territory and was one of the founders of Whitman County where he served as a County Commissioner. He had large holdings of fruit orchards and wheat...
, was a 49er, having crossed the plains to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
after service in the Mexican-American War. Her father, William La Follette
William La Follette
William Leroy La Follette was a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Washington. He represented the 3rd District from 1911 to 1915, and the 4th District from 1915 to 1919....
, had first come to the Washington Territory
Washington Territory
The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 8, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington....
as a 16 year old from Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
. By the turn of the century he was one of the largest growers and shippers of fruit in the Inland Empire.. Along with her older siblings, Suzanne began her formal studies at Washington State University
Washington State University
Washington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...
in Pullman, Washington
Pullman, Washington
Pullman is the largest city in Whitman County, Washington, United States. The population was 24,675 at the 2000 census and 29,799 according to the 2010 census...
where her family had moved into a large house her father had built near the college. When William La Follette was elected to Congress in 1910, she moved with her family to the nation's captital and finished her studies there, graduating from Trintity College(Trinity Washington University
Trinity Washington University
Trinity Washington University, founded in 1897 by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, is a Roman Catholic university located in Washington, D.C. across from Catholic University of America and the Dominican House of Studies...
) in 1915.
Washington D.C.
While completing her college education, Suzanne was involved with many of the great events of the day. She worked in her father's congressional office as well as the office of their cousin Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr.. For much of that period the two LaFollette families lived together in a large home that William La FolletteWilliam La Follette
William Leroy La Follette was a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Washington. He represented the 3rd District from 1911 to 1915, and the 4th District from 1915 to 1919....
had purchased in Mount Pleasant, Washington, D.C.. Debate and conversation were encouraged at the dinner table and a steady stream politicians, writers, labor leaders, professors and other opinion makers engaged in policy and political arguments late into the evening.
New York City
After her father left Congress. she moved to New York City where she lived and worked for the next fifty years. She lived for most of this period in the Chelsea HotelHotel Chelsea
The Hotel Chelsea, also known as the Chelsea Hotel, or simply the Chelsea, is a historic New York City hotel and landmark, known primarily for its history of notable residents...
. Her brother, Chester La Follette
Chester La Follette
Robert Chester La Follette, was an American painter. His portrait of his cousin Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr. hangs in the Senate Reception Room of he United States Capitol...
's art studio was upstairs from her apartment on the tenth floor. During the 1920's she spent four years as an editor for the Freeman working as a deputy to Albert Jay Nock
Albert Jay Nock
Albert Jay Nock was an influential United States libertarian author, educational theorist, and social critic of the early and middle 20th century.- Life and work :...
editing and writing. When the magazine folded, she turned her talents to writing, producing award winning poetry as well as two books on very different subjects. In Concerning Women, she broke new ground as she analyzed feminism from the perspective of economic equality. Her former mentor, Nock, found the book to be brilliant and original. In Art in America she produced a monumental survey of American art from colonial times to the twentieth century. The art historian, Walter Pach
Walter Pach
Walter Pach was an artist, critic, lecturer, art adviser, and art historian who wrote extensively about modern art and championed the cause of modern art...
wrote the introduction.
In the 1930's she organized a new version of the Freeman, won a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
for study of the fine arts, lectured at the Art Students League of New York
Art Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...
, and traveled to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
as a member of the Dewey Commission
Dewey Commission
The Dewey Commission was initiated in March 1937 by the "American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky." It was named after its Chairman, John Dewey...
. La Follette served as secretary to its chairman, the philosopher John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
and wrote the summary of the Commission's findings after conducting investigations in Mexico where Trotsky was in exile (soon after he was murdered by a Russian agent).
In the 1940's and during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Suzanne worked as director of foreign relief programs for the American Federation of Labor
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
, focusing her efforts on keeping communists out of the American labor movement. She maintained her close relationship with Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky was a major political leader before and during the Russian Revolutions of 1917.Kerensky served as the second Prime Minister of the Russian Provisional Government until Vladimir Lenin was elected by the All-Russian Congress of Soviets following the October Revolution...
and other Russians she had befriended through the years.
Suzanne returned to editing in the 1950s when she and a number of old colleagues, including John Chamberlain
John Chamberlain (journalist)
John Rensselaer Chamberlain was an American journalist, historian of business and the economy, and literary critic, dubbed "one of America’s most trusted book reviewers."-Early life:...
and Henry Hazlitt
Henry Hazlitt
Henry Stuart Hazlitt was an American economist, philosopher, literary critic and journalist for such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, The American Mercury, Newsweek, and The New York Times...
produced a new version of The Freeman. In her final editorial effort she became the founding managing editor of the magazine William Buckley
William F. Buckley, Jr.
William Frank Buckley, Jr. was an American conservative author and commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, and was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His writing was noted for...
founded in 1955, The National Review. She retired from this post in 1959 at the age of sixty-six.
Still politically active In the 1960's she was one of the founders of the New York Conservative Party. She ran for congress in 1964 and lost.
In her 2004 book, Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary: Completing the Twentieth Century, Susan Ware described the many intellectual gifts that made Suzanne such a force among the New York intelligencia for so many decades. Suzanne was...."a rigorous opponent of government intervention. She was a very beautiful woman, with a hilarious sense of humor, a grammatical stickler . . . a feminist . . . generous and warm-hearted, recalled William F. Buckley Jr., who knew her in later years."
California
In the 1970's, Suzanne sold her Bucks County farm and left the Chelsea HotelHotel Chelsea
The Hotel Chelsea, also known as the Chelsea Hotel, or simply the Chelsea, is a historic New York City hotel and landmark, known primarily for its history of notable residents...
and New York City after more that fifty years. She returned to the West Coast settling in Palo Alto, not far from the Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
campus. Many of her LaFollette relatives had moved to the area and she spent her final years surrounded by family and old friends. She is interred in Colfax, Washington
Colfax, Washington
Colfax is the county seat of Whitman County, Washington, United States.The population was 2,805 at the 2010 census.It is situated amidst wheat-covered hills in a valley at the confluence of the north and south forks of the Palouse River. U.S...
with other family members.
Quotes
"Until economic freedom is attained for everybody, there can be no real freedom for anybody.""It is necessary to grow accustomed to freedom before one may walk in it sure-footedly."
"No one who has not known the inestimable privilege can possibly realize what good fortune it is to grow up in a home where there are grandparents."
"When one hears the argument that marriage should be indissoluble for the sake of children, one cannot help wondering whether the protagonist is really such a firm friend of childhood."
"What its children become, that will the community become."