Senator William E. Borah: The Maverick or the Coward?
An Analysis of the Career of William Borah
Senator William Borah is perhaps one of the most famous politicians to hail from Idaho, serving as her Senator for longer than any who have succeeded him. “The Lion of Idaho” as he was called entered Washington D.C. as one of the first Senators from the Gem State and brought its people’s voices to the national level. He served in the Senate from the Progressive Era under Taft’s Presidency until his death during the early years of the Second World War, spending much of that time on the Foreign Relations Committee. Since his death there have been great efforts to paint him in either black or white, all hoping to answer this question: was William Borah the unyielding and driven progressive, the last of a long line of forward-thinking Republicans, or was he a self-centered, weak individual who gave up too easily? The truth lies somewhere between these extremes, and any attempt to characterize him as just one of these extremes is both futile and disingenuous.
His tenure in the Senate can be split easily into three distinct segments, a distinction that is necessary considering he served for 33 years. The first of these segments begins with his election in 1906, follows the presidency of Taft, and ends with the election of Woodrow Wilson in 1912. Next is his time from 1912, through World War One, ending with the Great Depression and the 1932 election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The final segment of his time in office begins in 1932, details his involvement during the onset of World War Two, and ends with his death in 1940. In considering his achievements and failures in all three of these segments, a clearer picture will be painted of the controversial man.
Early Life and Career
While information regarding Borah’s early life is sparse, it is known that he was born in rural Illinois and spent his childhood there. He would eventually leave to study at the University of Kansas earning a law degree. Soon after he moved to Boise where he began to practice law, and quickly become one of the most renowned lawyers in the emerging state.
Borah would first run to join Idaho’s Senate delegation in 1902, but due to senators being selected by the state legislature, he was unsuccessful. In 1906 he earned a position in the Senate, a position he would hold for the remainder of his life. He defeated Fred Dubois, a Silver Republican when he first joined the Senate, Dubois quickly switched his party to become a Democrat. Dubois in himself is quite an interesting figure in politics who is deserving of his own analysis.
The Haywood Trial
After Borah was elected but before he would leave for Washington D.C, the freshman senator would take part in a trial that would no doubt shape the rest of his life and career in the Senate, the Haywood Trial. He would be responsible for the prosecution of several men with ties to the assassination of Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg.
Governor Steunenberg often found himself at odds with the Western Miner’s Federation, a group these men were a part of. These men, however, had not taken part in the murder but were accused of conspiring to make it happen. The Western Miner’s Federation had supposedly hired Harry Orchard to assassinate the Governor for his stances. Harry Orchard would eventually be captured and plead guilty to the murder, and he received a death sentence that was eventually commuted to life in prison.
The Haywood Trail, however, ended with the conspirators being acquitted, much to the dismay of Borah who was reportedly not in the courtroom when the final verdict was delivered. Along with the political stances he may have taken from this trial, it elevated Borah to a level above any soon-to-be Senator. Most importantly, what became clear was his belief in fighting for what was right, something that he would cling to for his tenure. Evidence of this is found no better than in his own closing argument:
“I saw Idaho dishonored and disgraced. I saw murder—no, not murder, a thousand times worse than murder; I saw anarchy wave its first bloody triumph in Idaho. And as I thought again I said ‘Thou living God, can the talents or the arts of counsel unteach the lesson of that hour?” No, no. Let us be brave, let us be faithful in this supreme test of trial and duty... But you never had a duty imposed upon you which required more intelligence, more manhood, more courage than that which the people of Idaho assign to you this night in the final discharge of your duty”
The First Term
Soon after Borah would travel to D.C with his wife in order to begin his first term in the Senate. His first term would be unique in several ways, most first-term senators would not give their first speech on the floor for several years, but Borah was selected to speak by President Theodore Roosevelt. While the recognition is no doubt an honor, the content of the speech leaves a smudge on his supposedly progressive reputation. Borah spoke in defense of Roosevelt’s dismissal of over 200 African-American soldiers in the Brownsville Affair, an incident later discovered to be purely the result of racially motivated accusations. This defense of Roosevelt would begin a relationship between the two politicians that would culminate in the 1912 Presidential election.
Still in his first term, Borah would play a key role in passing two new constitutional amendments, the 16th and 17th. When Taft planned to pass a bill involving tariffs, progressives in the Senate, Borah included, hoped to attach an income tax bill to it. Taft refused the addition believing that it would be struck down by the Supreme Court. Because of this, Borah decided to repackage the bill as a constitutional amendment to allow the federal government to impose an income tax. In the midst of the Progressive Era, the amendment quickly passed through the legislatures of the states to be enacted in 1913. The 17th Amendment was less tied to Borah, but his influence allowed for it to be passed through Idaho’s legislature. In a movement that would ultimately be self-serving. The new amendment would remove the state legislature’s ability to select senators, rather they would be elected by the people of the state. Whether he knew it or not, he had done away with the election system that had led to his only loss and established himself an easy path to victory for the remainder of his career.
The onset of the 1912 Republican Presidential Primary seemed like a simple choice for Senator Borah, he had often had his disagreements with Taft and he had no such qualms with Roosevelt. As a result, he would initially announce his support for Roosevelt. When it became clear that Taft’s control over the party would lead to his victory, Borah gave Roosevelt little support. Roosevelt asked Borah to chair a meeting of his up-and-coming Progressive Party, but Borah refused to abandon the Republican Party. This moment would drive a wedge between the two politicians for the remainder of their careers. When Roosevelt visited Boise as a part of his campaign, he suggested in his speech that Borah was partially responsible for his loss.
A summation of Borah’s early career cannot be easily described. He became a nationally renowned figure in just his first term, wrote progressive amendments, and gained comradery with a President, all of which would be significant accomplishments for any Senator, let alone a freshman. Yet at the same time, these achievements were muddled by his other actions. He is hailed as a champion of progressivism but he was often held back by his own stubbornness. Borah undercut his own progressive agenda by being unwilling to support Theodore Roosevelt, losing a powerful friendship in the process.
Woodrow Wilson, World War 1, and the Irreconcilables
With the election of Woodrow Wilson, it was clear that he would conduct his votes no differently with the new President. He remained ever stubborn and quoted Abraham Lincoln by repeating, "Entertain no compromise; have none of it". This speech would come in perhaps the most notable moment of his career and earned him the nickname “The Great Opposer”.
World War 1 and the years leading up to it would test one of Senator Borah’s most staunch stances, his belief in isolationism. William Borah had earned himself an appointment to the coveted Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a position he would hold for most of his career. Prior to World War 1 though, the issue of Latin America had reached the table, beginning in Mexico
The Mexican Revolution
Not long before Woodrow Wilson would be inaugurated, a successful revolution in Mexico would overthrow the regime of dictator Porfirio Diaz. The country seemed poised to begin the progressive reform necessary to reemerge from this dictatorship; however, situations would quickly become more complicated. Biographer James Maddox put it best when he said "Vast amounts of the nation’s resources lay in the hands of Americans and Europeans who cared less for Mexican aspirations” (1970, p.4). In addition to the opposition of foreigners, Mexican aspirations were at odds with one of the most powerful institutions in the country, the Church. Francisco Maduro, the man who had led the revolution, would not live to find whether or not he could lead the country forward through this crisis, as he would die of gunfire in February of 1913.
Several weeks later, President Wilson would be inaugurated making the revolution his problem. Soon thereafter, Mexico would fall into the hands of Victoriano Huerta during a coup. This yielded mixed results across America. Those with business interests in the Mexican economy tended to favor the rise of Huerta, seeing him as a more stable power when compared to the revolutionary ideas of Maduro. Henry Cabot Lodge, the Senator from Massachusetts even said that he wished Huerta would do, “sufficient throat-cutting to restore the peace” (1970, p.5). Though Lodge would eventually become an ally to Borah, they found themselves at odds in this instance. Borah believed the coup was barbaric and against the will of the people of Mexico. In this stance, he would find an ally in the President. When Wilson announced that he would not be recognizing the new government in Mexico, William Borah stood behind him.
Non-recognition was as far as Senator Borah was willing to go though; he was less than pleased when President Wilson demanded that Victoriano Huerta must hold elections while not being a candidate. Borah was still a staunch isolationist saying that the President had, “announced a policy the inevitable logic of which was war with Mexico” (1970, p.6). It was clear that, although Borah was willing to support progressive causes, he often abandoned the issue at action due to another one of his stances.
As tensions in Mexico and Latin America as a whole continued, Borah warned of the ever-growing possibility that the United States might take this as a chance to expand its influence. When the President said that the United States had no interest in expansion, Borah said:
“That is what we said while taking New Mexico and California, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines”
It is important to recognize, that while he held these stances of self-governance, they were held in front of a racist backdrop. Borah believed that only the Anglo-Saxon race was capable of partaking in the complexities of a republican government. He believed that the native populations of these countries would only become subjects under American rule.
The Onset of World War 1
When the boots of German soldiers began to move across Belgian soil in 1914, Latin American international politics fell to the back of the minds of most Americans. Eventually earning the name “World War”, the American people, President Wilson, and William Borah saw this as just the opposite of that; they viewed this as a conflict that would begin and end in Europe. Throughout the early years of the war, Borah would continue to stress that the American focus should remain on their issues in Latin America, rather than those across the Atlantic Ocean.
Borah would initially stand with the President when the latter banned munitions selling to any of the warring powers as well as refusing loans to the Allies. Quickly though, Wilson would prove to Borah that he was not committed to these practices when he made credits available to England and France.
The 1916 Presidential Election
Around 1915, Republican Party insiders were beginning to see Borah as a potential candidate for the presidency. The party was still divided after the 1912 election, so they would need a candidate who could bring the Bull-Moose dissidents back into the fold without angering the “Old Guard” of the party. Eventually, he would fall out of consideration due to most of the Old Guard seeing him as too similar in policy to Theodore Roosevelt. Borah and Roosevelt would patch their relationship following 1912, though Borah often used Roosevelt simply as a means to push back against the establishment of the Republican Party. The Bull-Moose party would collapse when the primary seemed lost, leaving its supporters scattered, many of whom would fall into the corner of Democratic President Woodrow Wilson.
Borah, as always, stood strongly with the Republican Party, supporting Charles Evans Hughes by campaigning for him. It must have felt like a betrayal when, despite his efforts, Idaho would cast her electoral votes for Woodrow Wilson.
The United States Joins the War
Germany’s announcement that she would not restrict submarine warfare made it clear that William Borah’s hope for neutrality was fading rapidly. He would vote in favor of the declaration of war, but in a short speech made it clear that he wanted to make sure that this was only a war in defense saying:
“I join no crusade, I seek or accept no alliances”
As American involvement became more clear he was heavily critical. He disdained the idea of having any sort of alliance with the British or French and spoke out strongly when documents regarding its possibility began circulation. When American troops began to land in Europe; however, Borah’s messaging more closely resembled support of the war than anything critical. He began to demand the war continue until discussions could occur in Berlin for peace.
Irreconcilable
Peace, however, would become the greatest point of contention as the war’s end neared. When William Borah read the Treaty of Versailles presented by President Wilson he believed the actions against the new Weimar Republic to be vindictive and feared they would be the end of the new government entirely. He feared that Wilson was quickly falling to the demands of the British government. In response to the Treaty and the actions of the President, a league of like-minded individuals would form in the Senate, The Irreconcilables.
The Irreconcilables were a group in staunch opposition to the type of peace that Wilson desired to bring to the war. The most critical members of this coalition would be Senate Majority Leader Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts, Senator Hiram Johnson of California, and, of course, Senator William Borah of Idaho. Throughout the discussions about the Treaty, Lodge would often write in compromises that Borah and Johnson would refuse to agree with. Borah stood to his ever-consistent ideal of entertaining no compromise.
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William Borah would then give the Speech that defined his career at the closing debate on the reservation which Borah thought would be adopted with the Treaty, the one that has made sure that he will not be forgotten in the annals of history. In this speech, he famously said in response to taunts calling the Irreconcilables “Little Americans” by saying:
“Leave us the word American, keep that in your presumptuous impeachment, and no taunt that can disturb us… leave us the consolation and pride which the term American still imparts”
Two separate votes in the Senate later and the Treaty along with the League of Nations were rejected. Borah was widely accepted by his contemporaries to be the most responsible for the defeat of the bill. Senator Albert Beveridge of Indiana wrote to Borah saying, “Nobody deserves more credit than you do for the victory”. Vice President Marshall also wrote to Borah in response to his speech, “May a mummy say that you almost galvanized him to life” (1961 p. 164).
Borah had stepped to center stage and became perhaps the most famous Senator of the time, but his great victory came at a cost. Borah’s involvement with the Irreconcilables had cost him. By many of the members of Congress and, crucially, the members of his party Borah was seen as unruly, disagreeable, and too stubborn for his own good. That last sentiment would continue to prove true when a new amendment would reach the Senate.
Women’s Suffrage
Women’s suffrage had been adopted in Idaho in 1896, a policy position he had supported, but when the topic reached the Senate in the form of an amendment to the constitution, he strongly opposed it. The amendment would reach the Senate eight times, and Borah would join the “No” votes every single time. In the 7th vote, Borah voted “No” just as the amendment was defeated by one vote. Borah became one of the eight Republicans to vote against it the final time, again proving to the party that he was disagreeable. It is difficult to reconcile that the progressive “Lion of Idaho” would vote to keep such a precious right from the people outside of his home state. It is at times like this when Borah’s stubbornness seems to be simply for the sake of it, rather than for him actually disapproving so strongly.
A Quick Personal Hiatus
William Borah was unique in some regards in that he never had any children, with his wife that is. Borah is known to have had only one child with Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter, Alice Roosevelt. One might imagine that this affair had to be kept secret, but on the contrary, most of Washington D.C. was aware of it. When she gave birth to her only daughter, Paulina, many in D.C. had taken to calling Paulina “Aurora ‘Borah’ Alice”. Apparently, Alice had even considered naming her daughter Deborah as in De-Borah. William Borah’s wife Mary McConnell, was a socialite in D.C. and was likely unbothered by the relationship of which she was no doubt aware.
Before the Depression
His public life under Harding and Coolidge went by without too many bumps. Borah would regularly fight in support of recognizing the new Bolshevik government in Russia. The death of Henry Cabot Lodge left Borah the senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, so he was appointed to chair it.
The middle of his career was certainly the most tumultuous. William Borah would be a staunch defender of isolationism, the front of a huge movement, and would find himself at odds with the progressive reforms being pushed at the time. Perhaps the most important conclusion of this era was that Borah, in the Republican Party’s eyes, was tarnished and risky.
The Depression, FDR, and World War 2
During the 1928 Republican Primary, Borah had initially supported Ohio Senator Frank Willis, but when Willis died during the campaign, he fell in line behind Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover. He retained that level of support until disagreements emerged involving the event that would ultimately come to define Hoover, The Great Depression.
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The Great Depression
The Great Depression had not had a large impact on the Senator himself; he had little investments to speak of. He spent much of the beginning of the Depression plagued with an illness and campaigning to be reelected to the Senate, but after a long break and his reelection in 1930, Borah was back at it. Borah stood his ground when the Hawley-Smoot Tariff came to the floor, voting against it with just 12 other Republicans. In 1931 a 25 million dollar relief bill entered Congress. House leaders declared that they would not let the bill pass. In response, Borah delivered another famous speech stating that his opponents had argued
"That for the Government to feed this woman and her sick children would destroy her self respect and make a bad citizen of her. Does anyone believe it? It is a cowardly imputation on the helpless. I resent it and I repudiate it"
In 1932 Borah considered challenging Hoover for the nomination, and he was the star candidate according to the Western Republicans who opposed Hoover. Borah decided against it ultimately, citing the Republican Establishment’s hegemony over the South in the primary. He is quoted saying:
“The renomination would be asking (The Republican Party) to be sent to the cemetery”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Landslide
Ultimately Borah had been correct, nominating Herbert Hoover once again caused the Republican Party to lose nearly everything. It cost William Borah his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but he retained much of his respect due to it never having been a product of his party. He supported President Roosevelt, helping to pass Glass Steagall by creating a compromise that could make it past a Filibuster. His long fight to have the USSR was finally delivered on by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The 1936 Primary
In 1936 William Borah finally decided it was time to throw his hat into the ring for president. Borah was one of only 25 Republican Senators left in the Senate, so he believed he could reforge the Republican Party outlined by his progressive policies. Borah easily won in most primary votes, but he struggled with delegates, due to most of the party leaders opposing him. He won the majority of delegates in only one state, Wisconsin, with the endorsement of Robert M. LaFollette Jr. When Alf Landon won the nomination, Borah refused to endorse him.
Borah was once again up for reelection in the Senate where he faced his first serious candidate, Idaho Governor Ben C. Ross. Democrat FDR won 63% of the vote in Idaho, a number that would be a death sentence for most Republicans. Nevertheless, Borah won reelection also with 63% of the vote.
Hitler and World War 2
Initially, Borah thought kindly of the new Chancellor Adolf Hitler, agreeing with his sentiment that the Treaty of Versailles had been too hard on Germany. Borah never spoke out against the Nazis and their mistreatment of Jewish people, though the true horrors of the Holocaust would not be uncovered until after Borah’s death. After the Munich conference when Germany gained territory from Czechoslovakia, Borah was only critical of England and France for putting such an offer on the table and deceiving Czechoslovakia.
Until now, I have yet to mention the moment that, if you know of him at all, you have likely come to associate Borah with. This instance came shortly after the Nazis led by Hitler invaded Poland in 1939. This caused Borah to infamously lament:
"Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler—all this might have been averted."
There is little I can do to explain this away and act as though this was anything but foolishly overconfident. Borah had planned a trip to Germany, one the German Embassy was willing to pay for, but ultimately Borah decided that it would reflect poorly on him. Soon thereafter the trip became entirely impossible as the United States began to evacuate its citizens from Europe.
Death
William Borah would not live to see America join the war, a move that would have tested his isolationist stances and perhaps even tarnished his reputation further. In January of 1940, Borah would die in his home in D.C. at 74. A funeral service would be held in the rotunda of the Idaho Capitol Building for six hours. In those ours over 23,000 people would attend, at a time when Boise’s population was only 26,000. Many mourned his death across the nation, and Raymond Clapper provided a voice to that mourning when he said:
"There are no fighters on the progressive side of the Republican Party—no men like Teddy Roosevelt... Borah was the last"
The Legacy of a Giant
Borah’s legacy, for the most part, was just that: the stubborn, valiant last of a dying breed of Progressive Republicans. At the same time, He was described by Theodore Roosevelt as “Entirely insincere”. H.L. Mencken called Borah “The Great Sham” for standing in the way of Progressive legislation. Ultimately, however, I believe that nobody puts it better than his biographer, Marian C. Mckenna when she described Borah as:
"An idealist, even a romantic. He fervently defended the idea of an innocent America, an America too much devoted to the principles stated in the Declaration of Independence, Washington's Farewell Address, Jefferson's First Inaugural, and the Gettysburg Address to risk a compromise of its faith and a coarsening of its character by active entanglement with the Old World.”
Borah’s romantic view of those early documents and speeches that defined America was often his greatest strength as well as his greatest weakness. They allowed him to fight for those ideals that the Founding Fathers had not fully realized. Borah stood his ground with the support of those things that contain the very essence of America, and with that support, he stood against what he deemed wrong, never backing down. But by standing with such ideas, he was held back; never fulfilling the progressive agenda and often standing directly in its way
There is no easy way to consider Borah, as someone from Idaho I cannot help but feel some level of pride learning of his accomplishments and prestige on a national level. He remains one of Idaho’s most famous political figures and is certainly the most internationally known, even if Frank Church is better known in the United States. William Borah is not accurately placed into a box of “good” or “bad”. He was just as much the progressive, strong-willed, and unyielding Lion of Idaho as he was the stubborn and egotistical man who held back progress. William Borah needs to be analyzed as one would analyze an antique vase, carefully. He need not be revered nor should there be any efforts to return to what he did, but he also should not be vilified. William Borah was neither the “maverick” nor “the coward”.
References
Grover, D. H. (1963). Borah and the Haywood Trial. Pacific Historical Review.
Maddox, R. J. (1970). William E. Borah and American Foreign Policy. Louisiana State University Press.
McKenna, M. C. (1961). Borah. University of Michigan Press.
Woman Suffrage Centennial. (n.d.). Senate.gov. Retrieved July 27, 2023, from https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/People/Women/Part_ TheLastTrench.htm#NWPAllenderMay1918
Nice work. Well written. I appreciate all of the effort.
Do Frank Church next!! Or the 2018 Idaho Medicaid expansion referendum!! Or the B-52s song!!