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USA South Athletic Conference

The USA South Athletic Conference (formerly the Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference or the Dixie Conference) is an intercollegiate athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Member schools are located in North Carolina and Virginia.

History
The Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was founded in 1963 as a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) with the philosophy that participation would be strictly amateur, so no athletic financial aid or scholarships would be awarded by its affiliate institutions. The six charter members were Charlotte College, College of Charleston, Methodist College, North Carolina Wesleyan College, St. Andrews Presbyterian College, and Lynchburg College. In 1973, when the National Collegiate Athletic Association divided into a three-division format, the Dixie Conference left the NAIA and moved into the non-scholarship NCAA Division III.

On June 30, 2003, the conference changed to its name to the USA South Athletic Conference.

During the 2010–11 school year, changes to the membership of the USA South were announced. Three colleges announced plans to join the USA South Conference beginning in the 2012–13 season while one departed the league. Piedmont College, LaGrange College, and Maryville College joined the Great South Athletic Conference on July 1, 2012.

Shenandoah University left the USA South on the above date, to become a full member of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), a league in which it held associate membership in several sports.

Christopher Newport University left the USA South after the 2012–13 season to join the Capital Athletic Conference in all sports except for football which remained a USA South affiliate member through the 2015 season.

On May 10, 2012, Covenant College and Huntingdon College announced plans to leave the Great South and join USA South Athletic Conference beginning in the 2013–14 season.

On May 6, 2015, the USA South announced that Agnes Scott College, Salem College, and Wesleyan College would leave the Great South Athletic Conference and join the USA South beginning in the 2016–17 school year. The conference announced the future arrival of three more schools during the 2015–16 school year. First, it announced on December 9, 2015, that Brevard College, transitioning from the NCAA Division II South Atlantic Conference to Division III, would join for 2017–18 and beyond. Then, on May 4, 2016, two more incoming members were announced: Berea College, nearing completion of a transition from the NAIA to Division III, and Pfeiffer University, transitioning from the Division II Conference Carolinas to Division III. Both joined in 2017–18 as well.

On June 27, 2017, Ferrum College, a conference member since 1988, announced that it would leave for the Old Dominion Athletic Conference after the 2017–18 school year.

On December 11, 2019, the USA South announced the addition of Southern Virginia University who joined in the 2021–22 academic year.

Later changes to the USA South membership came on March 8, 2021, when Averett University revealed its intention to leave the USA South and join Ferrum College in the ODAC as a full member in the 2022–23 academic year, and on November 22, when Belhaven University, then a member of the American Southwest Conference, was at first accepted for membership in the conference also for 2022–23.

On February 18, 2022, the USA South Conference presidents announced a restructuring of the conference, resulting in all of its members outside North Carolina and Virginia—Agnes Scott, Berea, Covenant, Huntingdon, LaGrange, Maryville, Piedmont, and Wesleyan—leaving the USA South to form the new Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS) for the 2022-23 academic year. They were joined by incoming member Belhaven. CCS members sponsoring football, men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, and women's golf remain in the USA South as associate members for those sports.

Chronological timeline

 * 1963 - The USA South was founded as the Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. It was a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Charter members included Charlotte College (now the University of North Carolina at Charlotte), the College of Charleston, Lynchburg College (now the University of Lynchburg), Methodist College (now Methodist University), North Carolina Wesleyan College (now North Carolina Wesleyan University), and St. Andrews Presbyterian College (now St. Andrews University), effective beginning the 1963-64 academic year.
 * 1966 - Greensboro College joined the Dixie Conference, effective in the 1966-67 academic year.
 * 1968 - The University of North Carolina at Greensboro joined the Dixie Conference, effective in the 1968-69 academic year.
 * 1970
 * UNC Charlotte and the College of Charleston left the Dixie Conference, effective after the 1969-70 academic year.
 * Virginia Wesleyan College (now Virginia Wesleyan University) joined the Dixie Conference, effective in the 1970-71 academic year.
 * 1972 - Christopher Newport College (now Christopher Newport University) joined the Dixie Conference, effective in the 1972-73 academic year.
 * 1973 - The Dixie Conference left the NAIA to join the Division III ranks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), effective in the 1973-74 academic year.
 * 1976 - Lynchburg left the Dixie Conference to join the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), effective after the 1975-76 academic year.
 * 1978 - Averett College (now Averett University) joined the Dixie Conference, effective in the 1978-79 academic year.
 * 1988
 * UNC Greensboro and St. Andrews Presbyterian left the Dixie Conference, effective in the 1987-88 academic year.
 * Ferrum College joined the Dixie Conference, effective in the 1988-89 academic year.
 * 1989 - Virginia Wesleyan left the Dixie Conference to join the ODAC, effective after the 1988-89 academic year.
 * 1992 - Shenandoah College (now Shenandoah University) joined the Dixie Conference, effective in the 1992-93 academic year.
 * 2000 - Chowan College (now Chowan University) joined the Dixie Conference, effective in the 2000-01 academic year.
 * 2003
 * Peace College (now William Peace University) joined the Dixie Conference, effective in the 2003-04 academic year.
 * The Dixie Conference was rebranded as the USA South Athletic Conference (USA South), effective in the 2003-04 academic year.
 * 2004 - Chowan left the USA South to join the NCAA Division II ranks as an NCAA D-II Independent, effective after the 2003-04 academic year. (Chowan would eventually join the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) in 2009.)
 * 2005 - Maryville College joined the USA South as an associate member for football, effective in the 2005 fall season (2005-06 academic year).
 * 2007 - Mary Baldwin College (now Mary Baldwin University) and Meredith College joined the USA South, effective in the 2007-08 academic year.
 * 2009 - Agnes Scott College and LaGrange College joined the USA South as associate members for women's lacrosse, effective in the 2010 spring season (2009-10 academic year).
 * 2012
 * Shenandoah left the USA South to join the ODAC, effective after the 2011-12 academic year.
 * Piedmont College joined the USA South (with LaGrange and Maryville adding the rest of their sports for full member status), effective in the 2012-13 academic year.
 * 2013
 * Christopher Newport left the USA South to join the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC), effective after the 2012-13 academic year.
 * Covenant College and Huntingdon College joined the USA South, effective in the 2013-14 academic year.
 * 2014 - Agnes Scott left the USA South as an associate member for women's lacrosse, effective after the 2014 spring season (2013-14 academic year).
 * 2016
 * Christopher Newport left the USA South as an associate member for football, effective after the 2015 fall season (2015-16 academic year).
 * Salem College and Wesleyan College joined the USA South (with Agnes Scott re-joining, but for all sports), effective in the 2016-17 academic year.
 * 2017 - Berea College, Brevard College and Pfeiffer University joined the USA South, effective in the 2017-18 academic year.
 * 2018 - Ferrum left the USA South to join the ODAC, effective after the 2017-18 academic year.
 * 2021 - Southern Virginia University joined the USA South, effective in the 2021-22 academic year.
 * 2022
 * In an amicable conference split, Agnes Scott, Berea, Covenant, Huntingdon, LaGrange, Maryville, Piedmont, and Wesleyan left the USA South at the end of the 2021–22 academic year to form the new Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS). With the CCS not sponsoring football, women's golf, or men's or women's lacrosse, all CCS members that sponsored those sports remained in the USA South as associate members.
 * At the same time, Averett left the USA South to join the ODAC.
 * Also at that time, Belhaven University joined the USA South as an associate member for football. Belhaven was initially slated to join for all sports, but was admitted to the CCS as a full member instead. The three other CCS members that sponsor football (Huntingdon, LaGrange, and Maryville) became USA South football associates. Huntingdon and non-football Piedmont also became associates in women's golf and men's and women's lacrosse; LaGrange also became an associate in men's lacrosse; and Maryville became an associate in women's golf.

Current members
The USA South currently has 10 full members, all private schools, with Meredith as the league's only secular institution.

 * Notes:

Associate members
The USA South has five associate members, all private and faith-based schools that are full CCS members. All became charter CCS members in the 2022 conference split. Belhaven had been announced as an incoming USA South member for 2022, but instead joined CCS.

Former members
The USA South has twenty former full members, all but four were private schools:

 * Notes:

Sports
The conference sponsors championships in the following sports:

Men's sponsored sports by school
Departing members are displayed in red.

Women's sponsored sports by school
Departing members are displayed in red.

title: USA South Athletic Conference


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Robert M. La Follette

Robert Marion La Follette Sr. (June 14, 1855 – June 18, 1925), was an American lawyer and politician. He represented Wisconsin in both chambers of Congress and served as the governor of Wisconsin from 1901 to 1906. A Republican for most of his life, he ran for president of the United States as the nominee of his own Progressive Party in the 1924 presidential election. Historian John D. Buenker describes La Follette as "the most celebrated figure in Wisconsin history".

Born and raised in Wisconsin, La Follette won election as the Dane County District Attorney in 1880. Four years later, he was elected to the House of Representatives, where he was friendly with party leaders like William McKinley. After losing his seat in the 1890 election, La Follette regrouped. As a populist he embraced progressivism and built up a coalition of disaffected Republicans. He sought election as governor in 1896 and 1898 before winning the 1900 gubernatorial election. As governor of Wisconsin, La Follette compiled a progressive record, implementing primary elections and tax reform.

La Follette won re-election in 1902 and 1904, but in 1905 the legislature elected him to the United States Senate. His populist base was energized when he emerged as a national progressive leader in the Senate, often clashing with conservatives like Nelson Aldrich. He initially supported President William Howard Taft, but broke with Taft after the latter failed to push a reduction in tariff rates. He challenged Taft for the Republican presidential nomination in the 1912 presidential election, but his candidacy was overshadowed by that of former President Theodore Roosevelt. La Follette's refusal to support Roosevelt alienated many progressives, and, though La Follette continued to serve in the Senate, he lost his stature as the leader of that chamber's progressive Republicans. La Follette supported some of President Woodrow Wilson's policies, but he broke with the president over foreign policy. During World War I, La Follette was one of the most outspoken opponents of the administration's domestic and international policies and was against the war.

With the Republican and Democratic Parties each nominating conservative candidates in the 1924 presidential election, left-wing groups coalesced behind La Follette's third-party candidacy. With the support of the Socialist Party, farmer's groups, labor unions, and others, La Follette briefly appeared to be a serious threat to unseat Republican President Calvin Coolidge. La Follette stated that his chief goal was to break the "combined power of the private monopoly system over the political and economic life of the American people", and he called for government ownership of railroads and electric utilities, cheap credit for farmers, the outlawing of child labor, stronger laws to help labor unions, protections for civil liberties, and a 10-year term for members of the federal judiciary. His complicated alliance was difficult to manage, and the Republicans came together to win the 1924 election. La Follette won 16.6% of the popular vote, one of the best third party performances in U.S. history. He died shortly after the presidential election, but his sons, Robert M. La Follette Jr. and Philip La Follette, succeeded him as progressive leaders in Wisconsin.

Early life

Robert Marion La Follette Sr. was born on a farm in Primrose, Wisconsin, on June 14, 1855. He was the youngest of five children born to Josiah La Follette and Mary Ferguson, who had settled in Wisconsin in 1850. Josiah descended from French Huguenots, while Mary was of Scottish ancestry. La Follette's great-great-grandfather, Joseph La Follette emigrated from France to New Jersey in 1745. La Follette's great-grandfather moved to Kentucky, where they were neighbors to the Lincoln family.

Josiah died just eight months after Robert was born, and in 1862, Mary married John Saxton, a wealthy, seventy-year-old merchant. La Follette's poor relationship with Saxton made for a difficult childhood. Though his mother was a Democrat, La Follette became, like most of his neighbors, a member of the Republican Party.

La Follette began attending school at the age of four, though he often worked on the family farm. After Saxton died in 1872, La Follette, his mother, and his older sister moved to the nearby town of Madison. La Follette began attending the University of Wisconsin in 1875 and graduated in 1879 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He was a mediocre student, but won a statewide oratory contest and established a student newspaper named the University Press. He was deeply influenced by the university's president, John Bascom, on issues of morality, ethics, and social justice. During his time at the university, he became a vegetarian, declaring that his diet gave him more energy and a "clear head".

La Follette met Belle Case while attending the University of Wisconsin, and they married on December 31, 1881, at her family home in Baraboo, Wisconsin. She became a leader in the feminist movement, an advocate of women's suffrage and an important influence on the development of La Follette's ideas.

House of Representatives
La Follette was admitted to the state bar association in 1880. That same year, he won election as the district attorney for Dane County, Wisconsin, beginning a long career in politics. He became a protégé of George E. Bryant, a wealthy Republican Party businessman and landowner from Madison. In 1884, he won election to the House of Representatives, becoming the youngest member of the subsequent 49th Congress. His political views were broadly in line with those of other Northern Republicans at the time; he supported high tariff rates and developed a strong relationship with William McKinley. He did, however, occasionally stray from the wishes of party leaders, as he voted for the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 and the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. He also denounced racial discrimination in the Southern United States and favored the Lodge Bill, which would have provided federal protections against the mass disenfranchisement of African Americans in the South. Milwaukee Sentinel referred to him as being "so good a fellow that even his enemies like him". Views on racial and ethnic matters were not central to La Follette's political thinking. His wife was a stronger proponent of civil rights.

At 35 years old, La Follette lost his seat in the 1890 Democratic landslide. Several factors contributed to his loss, including a compulsory-education bill passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature in 1889. Because the law required major subjects in schools to be taught in English, it contributed to a divide between the Catholic and Lutheran communities in Wisconsin. La Follette's support for the protective McKinley Tariff may have also played a role in his defeat. After the election, La Follette returned to Madison to begin a private law practice. Author Kris Stahl wrote that due to his "extraordinarily energetic" and dominating personality, he became known as "Fighting Bob" La Follette.

Gubernatorial candidate
In his autobiography, La Follette explains that he experienced a political epiphany in 1891 after Senator Philetus Sawyer attempted to bribe him. La Follette claimed that Sawyer offered the bribe so that La Follette would influence his brother-in-law, Judge Robert G. Siebecker, who was presiding over a case involving state funds that Republican officials had allegedly embezzled. La Follette's public allegation of bribery precipitated a split with many friends and party leaders, though he continued to support Republican candidates like John Coit Spooner. He also strongly endorsed McKinley's run for president in the 1896 election, and he denounced Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan as a radical. Rather than bolting the party or retiring from politics, La Follette began building a coalition of dissatisfied Republicans, many of whom were relatively young and well-educated. Among his key allies were former governor William D. Hoard and Isaac Stephenson, the latter of whom published a pro-La Follette newspaper. La Follette's coalition also included many individuals from the state's large Scandinavian population, including Nils P. Haugen, Irvine Lenroot, and James O. Davidson.

Beginning in 1894, La Follette's coalition focused on winning the office of Governor of Wisconsin. With La Follette serving as his campaign manager, Haugen sought the Republican nomination for governor in 1894, but he was defeated by William H. Upham. La Follette ran for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 1896, but he was beaten by Edward Scofield; La Follette alleged that Scofield only won the nomination after conservative party leaders bribed certain Republican delegates. La Follette declined to run as an independent despite the pleas of some supporters, and after the election, he turned down an offer from President William McKinley to serve as the Comptroller of the Currency. In 1897, La Follette began advocating the replacement of party caucuses and conventions, the traditional method of partisan nominations for office, with primary elections, which allowed voters to directly choose party nominees. He also denounced the power of corporations, charging that they had taken control of the Republican Party. These progressive stances had become increasingly popular in the wake of the Panic of 1893, a severe economic downturn that caused many to reevaluate their political beliefs.

La Follette ran for governor for the second time in 1898, but he was once again defeated by Scofield in the Republican primary. In 1900, La Follette made a third bid for governor, and won the Republican nomination, in part because he reached an accommodation with many of the conservative party leaders. Running in a strong year for Republicans nationwide, La Follette decisively defeated his Democratic opponent Louis G. Bomrich in the general election, winning just under 60 percent of the vote.

Governor of Wisconsin (1901–1906)

Upon taking office, La Follette called for an ambitious reform agenda, with his two top priorities being the implementation of primary elections and a reform of the state's tax system. La Follette initially hoped to work with the conservative faction of the Republican Party to pass these reforms, but conservatives and railroad interests broke with the governor. La Follette vetoed a primary election bill that would have applied only to local elections, while the state Senate voted to officially censure the governor after he attacked the legislature for failing to vote on his tax bill. Conservative party leaders attempted to deny La Follette renomination in 1902, but La Follette's energized supporters overcame the conservatives and took control of the state convention, implementing a progressive party platform. In the 1902 general election, La Follette decisively defeated the conservative Democratic nominee, Mayor David Stuart Rose of Milwaukee.

In the aftermath of the 1902 election, the state legislature enacted the direct primary (subject to a statewide referendum) and La Follette's tax reform bill. The new tax law, which required railroads to pay taxes based on property owned rather than profits, resulted in railroads paying nearly double the amount of taxes they had paid before the enactment of the law. Having accomplished his first two major goals, La Follette next focused on regulating railroad rates, but the railroads prevented passage of his bill in 1903. During this period, La Follette became increasingly convinced of the need for a direct income tax in order to minimize tax avoidance by the wealthy. During his governorship, La Follette appointed African-American William Miller for a position in his office.

After the legislature adjourned in mid-1903, La Follette began lecturing on the Chautauqua circuit, delivering 57 speeches across the Midwest. He also earned the attention of muckraker journalists like Ray Stannard Baker and Lincoln Steffens, many of whom supported La Follette's progressive agenda. La Follette's continued movement towards progressivism alienated many Republican Party leaders, and La Follette's followers and conservative party leaders held separate conventions in 1904; ultimately, the state Supreme Court declared that La Follette was the Republican Party's 1904 gubernatorial nominee. In the general election in Wisconsin that year, La Follette won 51 percent of the vote, but he ran far behind Republican President Theodore Roosevelt, who took 63 percent of the Wisconsin's vote in the national election by comparison. In that same election, Wisconsin voters approved the implementation of the direct primary.

During the 1904 campaign, La Follette pledged that he would not resign as governor during his term, but after winning re-election he directed state representative Irvine Lenroot, a close political ally, to secure his election to the United States Senate. Shortly after La Follette delivered the inaugural message of his third term as governor, Lenroot began meeting with other legislators to assure that La Follette would be able to win election to the Senate; at that time, the state legislature elected senators. La Follette was formally nominated by the Republican caucus on January 23, 1905, and the state legislature chose him the following day. La Follette delayed accepting the nomination and continued to serve as governor until December 1905, when he announced his resignation. Throughout 1905, La Follette continued to push his progressive policies, including the state regulation of railroad rates. The state legislature passed a relatively weak regulation bill that La Follette considered vetoing, but he ultimately signed the law. Lieutenant Governor James O. Davidson succeeded La Follette as governor and went on to win re-election in 1906.

Roosevelt administration (1906–1909)

La Follette immediately emerged as a progressive leader in the Senate. At first, he focused on a railroad regulation bill making its way through the Senate; he attacked the bill, eventually known as the Hepburn Act, as a watered-down compromise. He also began campaigning across the country, advocating for the election of progressive senators. Conservative party leaders, including Spooner and Nelson W. Aldrich, detested La Follette, viewing him as a dangerous demagogue. Hoping to deprive La Follette of as much influence as possible, Aldrich and his allies assigned La Follette to insignificant committees and loaded him down with routine work. Nonetheless, La Follette found ways to attack monopolistic coal companies, and he pressed for an expansion of the railroad regulation powers of the Interstate Commerce Committee.

With the help of sympathetic journalists, La Follette also led the passage of the 1907 Railway Hours Act, which prohibited railroad workers from working for more than 16 consecutive hours. Though he initially enjoyed warm relations with President Roosevelt, La Follette soured somewhat on the president after Roosevelt declined to support some progressive measures like physical valuation of Railroad properties. When Roosevelt did not support La Follette's bill to withdraw mineral land from corporate exploitation, La Follette told to Belle that Roosevelt "throws me down every day or so". Meanwhile, La Follette alienated some of his supporters in Wisconsin by favoring Stephenson, his main donor, over Lenroot in an election to fill the seat of retiring Senator John Coit Spooner. After the Panic of 1907, La Follette strongly opposed the Aldrich–Vreeland Act, which would authorize the issuance of $500 million in bond-backed currency. He alleged that the panic had been engineered by the "Money Trust", a group of 97 large corporations that sought to use the panic to destroy competitors and force the government to prop up their businesses. La Follette was unable to prevent the passage of the bill, but his 19-hour speech, the longest filibuster in Senate history up to that point, proved popular throughout the country.

Beginning in 1908, La Follette repeatedly sought election as the president. La Follette hoped that the backing of influential journalists like Lincoln Steffens and William Randolph Hearst would convince Republican leaders to nominate him for president in 1908, but he was unable to build a strong base of support outside of Wisconsin. Though he entered the 1908 Republican National Convention with the backing of most Wisconsin delegates, no delegates outside of his home state backed his candidacy. At the start of the convention, Secretary of War William Howard Taft was President Roosevelt's preferred choice, but Taft was opposed by some conservatives in the party. La Follette hoped that he might emerge as the Republican presidential nominee after multiple ballots, but Taft won the nomination on the first ballot of the convention. La Follette was nonetheless pleased that the party platform called for a reduction of the tariff and that Taft indicated that he would emulate Roosevelt's support for progressive policies. Taft defeated William Jennings Bryan in the 1908 election, and several progressives were victorious in the concurrent congressional elections. In early 1909, La Follette launched La Follette's Weekly Magazine, which quickly achieved a circulation of well over 30,000. An early associate editor of the magazine was the writer Herbert Quick. In March 1924, La Follette contributed to the appointment of African-American Walter I. Cohen as Comptroller of the Port of New Orleans.

Battling the Taft administration (1909–1913)
Along with Jonathan P. Dolliver, La Follette led a progressive faction of Republicans in the Senate that clashed with Aldrich over the reduction of tariff rates. Their fight for tariff reduction was motivated by a desire to lower prices for consumers, as they believed that the high rates of the 1897 Dingley Act unfairly protected large corporations from competition and thereby allowed those corporations to charge high prices. Despite a widespread desire among consumers for lower prices, and a party platform that called for tariff reduction, Aldrich and other party leaders put forward the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act, which largely preserved the high tariff rates of the Dingley Act. With the support of President Taft, the Payne–Aldrich Tariff passed the Senate; all Republican senators except for La Follette's group of progressives voted for the tariff. The progressives did, however, begin the process of proposing the Sixteenth Amendment, which would effectively allow the federal government to levy an income tax.

In late 1909, Taft fired Louis Glavis, an official of the Department of the Interior who had alleged that Secretary of the Interior Richard A. Ballinger favored the illegal expansion of coal mining on government land in Alaska. The resulting Pinchot–Ballinger controversy pitted Ballinger and Taft against Gifford Pinchot, the head of the United States Forest Service and a close friend of Theodore Roosevelt. La Follette's progressives strongly criticized the Taft administration for its handling of the controversy and initiated a congressional investigation into the affair.

La Follette's successful re-election campaign in early 1911 further bolstered his position as the leader of the progressive faction of the Republican Party. In January 1911, after consulting with sympathetic journalists and public officials, La Follette launched the National Progressive Republican League, an organization devoted to passing progressive laws such as primary elections, the direct election of U.S. senators, and referendums. La Follette hoped that the league would also form a base of support for a challenge against Taft for the 1912 Republican presidential nomination. The league won the endorsement of nine senators, 16 congressmen, four governors, and well-known individuals such as Pinchot and Louis Brandeis, but notably lacked the support of former President Roosevelt. Explaining his refusal to join the league, Roosevelt asserted that he viewed the organization as too radical, stating his "wish to follow in the path of Abraham Lincoln rather than in the path of John Brown and Wendell Phillips".

By mid-1911, most progressives believed that the battle for the 1912 Republican nomination would be waged between La Follette and Taft, but La Follette himself feared that Roosevelt would jump into the race. Many progressive leaders strongly criticized La Follette for focusing on writing his autobiography rather than on campaigning across the country. La Follette believed that his autobiography would help him win votes, and said: "Every line of this autobiography is written for the express purpose of exhibiting the struggle for a more representative government which is going forward in this country, and to cheer on the fighters for that cause." Roosevelt announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in early 1912, but La Follette rejected the request of Pinchot and some other progressive leaders to drop out of the race and endorse the former president.

In Philadelphia on February 2, 1912, La Follette delivered a disastrous speech to the Periodical Publishers Banquet. He spoke for two hours before an audience of 500 nationally influential magazine editors and writers. Congressman Henry Cooper, a friend and ally of the senator, was there and made a memorandum:"La Follette killed himself politically by his most unfortunate (worse than that) speech. It was a shocking scene. He lost his temper repeatedly—shook his fist—at listeners who had started to walk out too tired to listen longer—was abusive, ugly in manner....From the very outset his speech was tedious, inappropriate (for a banquet occasion like that), stereotyped; like too many others of his [it was] extreme in matter and especially in manner....LaFollette's secretary, came over to me…and with a dejected, disgusted look said softly to me—'This is terrible—he is making a d___d fool of himself.' It ends him for the Presidency."Most of the audience decided La Follette had suffered a mental breakdown, and most of his supporters shifted to Roosevelt. La Follette's family said he was distraught after learning that his daughter, Mary, required surgery. She recovered but his candidacy did not. Nonetheless, La Follette continued to campaign, focusing his attacks on Roosevelt rather than Taft.

La Follette hoped to rejuvenate his campaign with victories in the 1912 Republican primaries, but was able to win in only Wisconsin and North Dakota. He continued to oppose Roosevelt at the 1912 Republican National Convention, which ultimately re-nominated Taft. Roosevelt's supporters bolted the Republican Party, established the Progressive Party, and nominated Roosevelt on a third party ticket. La Follette continued to attack Roosevelt, working with conservative Senator Boies Penrose, with whom La Follette shared only a dislike of Roosevelt, to establish a committee to investigate the sources of contributions to Roosevelt's 1904 and 1912 campaigns. A filibuster threat by La Follette helped secure the passage of the enabling resolution. La Follette otherwise remained neutral in the three-way general election contest between Roosevelt, Taft, and the Democratic nominee, Woodrow Wilson. With the Republican Party split, Wilson emerged triumphant in the 1912 election. La Follette's conduct during the campaign destroyed his standing as the leader of progressive Republicans in the Senate, as many progressives believed that La Follette's refusal to work with Roosevelt had damaged the progressive cause and abetted Taft's re-nomination as Republican candidate.

Wilson administration (1913–1921)
La Follette initially hoped to work closely with the Wilson administration, but Wilson ultimately chose to rely on congressional Democrats to pass legislation. Nonetheless, La Follette was the lone Republican senator to vote for the Revenue Act of 1913, which lowered tariff rates and levied a federal income tax. La Follette, who wanted to use the income tax for the purpose of income redistribution, influenced the bill by calling for a higher surtax on those earning more than $100,000 per year. La Follette and his fellow progressives challenged Wilson's proposed Federal Reserve Act as being overly-friendly towards the banking establishment, but Wilson convinced Democrats to enact his bill. La Follette also clashed with Southern Democrats like James K. Vardaman, who directed the farm benefits of the Smith–Lever Act of 1914 away from African-Americans. In 1915, La Follette won passage of the Seamen's Act, which allowed sailors to quit their jobs at any port where cargo was unloaded; the bill also required passenger ships to include lifeboats.

In the 1914 mid-term elections, La Follette and his progressive allies in Wisconsin suffered a major defeat when conservative railroad executive Emanuel L. Philipp won election as governor. La Follette fended off a primary challenge in 1916 and went on to decisively defeat his Democratic opponent in the general election, but Philipp also won re-election. By 1916, foreign policy had emerged as the key issue in the country, and La Follette strongly opposed American interventions in Latin America. After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, La Follette praised the Wilson administration's policy of neutrality, but he broke with the president as Wilson pursued policies favorable to the Allied Powers. Theodore Roosevelt called him a "skunk who ought to be hanged" when he opposed the arming of American merchant ships.

Opposition to American involvement in World War I
La Follette opposed United States entry into World War I. On April 4, 1917, the day of the vote on a war declaration by the US Congress, La Follette in a debate before the US Senate said, "Stand firm against the war and the future will honor you. Collective homicide can not establish human rights. For our country to enter the European war would be treason to humanity." Eventually, the U.S. Senate voted to support entry to the war 82–6, with the resolution passing the House of Representatives 373–50 two days later. La Follette faced immediate pushback, including by the Wisconsin State Journal, whose editorial claimed La Follette to be acting on behalf of German interests. The newspaper said, "It reveals his position to be decidedly pro-German (and) un-American... It is nothing short of pathetic to witness a man like La Follette, whose many brave battles for democracy have endeared him to the hearts of hundreds of thousands of Americans, now lending himself to the encouragement of autocracy. And that is all it is". After the U.S. declared war, La Follette denounced many of the administration's wartime policies, including the Selective Service Act of 1917 and the Espionage Act of 1917. This earned the ire of many Americans, who believed that La Follette was a traitor to his country, effectively supporting Germany. It also resulted in a Senate Committee pursuing a vote to expel him from the Senate for disloyalty, due to an antiwar speech he made in 1917; the Committee ultimately recommended against expulsion and the Senate agreed, 50–21, in early 1919.

After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in late 1917, La Follette supported the Bolsheviks, whom he believed to be "struggling to establish an industrial democracy". He denounced the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War in 1919, which he thought stemmed from Wilson's desire to prevent the spread of socialism. During the First Red Scare, a post-war period in the United States marked by the widespread fear of socialism and anarchism, La Follette condemned the Palmer Raids, sought the repeal of the Espionage Act, and proposed amnesty for political prisoners like Eugene V. Debs. Along with a diverse array of progressive and conservative Republican senators, he helped prevent the U.S. from ratifying the Treaty of Versailles. La Follette believed that the League of Nations, a vital component of the Treaty of Versailles, was primarily designed to protect the dominant financial interests of the United States and the Allied Powers.

Harding–Coolidge administration (1921–1924)
La Follette retained influence in Wisconsin after the war, and he led a progressive delegation to the 1920 Republican National Convention. Nationwide, however, the Republican Party had increasingly embraced conservatism, and La Follette was denounced as a Bolshevik when he called for the repeal of the 1920 Esch–Cummins Act. After the Republican Party nominated conservative senator Warren G. Harding, La Follette explored a third-party presidential bid, though he ultimately did not seek the presidency because various progressive groups were unable to agree on a platform. After the 1920 presidential election, which was won by Harding, La Follette became part of a "farm bloc" of congressmen who sought federal farm loans, a reduction in tariff rates, and other policies designed to help farmers. He also resisted the tax cuts proposed by Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, and his opposition helped prevent Congress from cutting taxes as deeply as had been proposed by the secretary of the treasury.

In 1922, La Follette decisively defeated a primary challenge from conservative allies of President Harding, and he went on to win re-election with 81 percent of the vote. Nationwide, the elections saw the defeat of many conservative Republicans, leaving La Follette and his allies with control of the balance of power in Congress. After the Supreme Court struck down a federal child labor law, La Follette became increasingly critical of the Court, and he proposed an amendment that would allow Congress to repass any law declared unconstitutional. La Follette also began investigations into the Harding administration, and his efforts ultimately helped result in the unearthing of the Teapot Dome scandal. Harding died in August 1923 and was succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge, who was firmly in the conservative wing of the Republican Party.

In 1920–21, La Follette continued his support for the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War, in addition to his vigorous denunciation of imperialism and militarism in that conflict and beyond. In the American and British versions, he continued to oppose the treaty oversight settlement and continued to reject the League of Nations. He advocated self-government for Ireland, India, Egypt, and withdrawal of foreign interest from China. By 1922, he focused primarily on domestic affairs.

1924 presidential campaign
By 1924, conservatives were ascendant in both major parties. In 1923, La Follette began planning his final stand for a third party run for the presidency, sending his allies to various states to build up a base of support and ensure ballot access. In early 1924, a group of labor unions, socialists, and farm groups, inspired by the success of Britain's Labour Party, established the Conference for Progressive Political Action (CPPA) as an umbrella organization of left-wing groups. Aside from labor unions and farm groups, the CPPA also included groups representing African Americans, women, and college voters. The CPPA scheduled a national convention to nominate a candidate for president in July 1924. La Follette had changed his previous pro-Bolshevik stance after visiting the Soviet Union in late 1923, where he had seen the impact of Communism on civil liberties and political rights. During that same time, La Follette visited England, Germany and Italy, where he expressed his dismay at the lack of freedom in the press to leader Benito Mussolini. With other left-wing groups supporting La Follette, the Communist Party nominated its first ever candidate for president, William Z. Foster.

On July 3, 1924, one day before the CPPA convention, La Follette announced his candidacy in the 1924 presidential election, stating that, "to break the combined power of the private monopoly system over the political and economic life of the American people is the one paramount issue." The CPPA convention, which was dominated by supporters of La Follette, quickly endorsed his presidential bid. La Follette's first choice for his running mate, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Louis Brandeis, refused to join the campaign. The convention instead nominated Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana, a progressive Democrat who had refused to endorse John W. Davis, the Democratic nominee for president. Though the Socialists pushed for a full slate of candidates, at La Follette's insistence, the CPPA did not establish a formal third party or field candidates for races other than the presidency. La Follette would appear on the ballot in every state except Louisiana, but his ticket was known by a variety of labels, including "Progressive", "Socialist", "Non-Partisan", and "Independent".

After the convention, the Socialist Party of America, acting on the advice of perennial presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs, endorsed La Follette's candidacy. The American Federation of Labor and numerous other worker's groups also threw their support behind La Follette. Among the notable individuals who endorsed La Follette were birth control activist Margaret Sanger, African-American leader W. E. B. Du Bois, economist Thorstein Veblen, and newspaper publisher E. W. Scripps. Harold L. Ickes and some other progressives who had supported Roosevelt's 1912 candidacy threw their backing behind La Follette, though others, including Gifford Pinchot, endorsed Coolidge. Another group supporting La Follette was the Steuben Society, a German-American organization that claimed a membership of six million.

La Follette's platform was based on many of the issues that he had been campaigning on throughout his political career. He called for government ownership of the railroads and electric utilities, cheap credit for farmers, the outlawing of child labor, stronger laws to help labor unions, more protection of civil liberties, an end to American imperialism in Latin America, and a referendum before any president could again lead the nation into war.

Professional gamblers initially gave La Follette a 16-to-1 odds of winning, and many expected that his candidacy would force a contingent election in the House of Representatives. As election day approached, however, those hoping for a La Follette victory became more pessimistic. The various groups supporting La Follette often clashed, and his campaign was not nearly as well-financed as those of Davis and especially Coolidge. Corporate leaders, who saw in La Follette the specter of class warfare, mobilized against his third-party candidacy. Republicans campaigned on a "Coolidge or chaos" platform, arguing that the election of La Follette would severely disrupt economic growth. Having little fear of a Democratic victory, the Republican Party mainly focused its campaign attacks on La Follette.

In August and September, La Follette expressed his opposition to the Ku Klux Klan, describing the organization as containing "seeds of death" in its own body and his hatred for immigration quotas on the basis of racial discrimination, while defending control of immigration regarding economic issues. In response to La Follette's statements regarding the Klan, Imperial Wizard Hiram Wesley Evans denounced La Follette as being the "arch enemy of the country".

Ultimately, La Follette took 16.6 percent of the vote, while Coolidge won a majority of the popular and electoral vote. La Follette carried his home state of Wisconsin and finished second in eleven states, all of which were west of the Mississippi River. He performed best in rural areas and working-class urban areas, with much of his support coming from individuals affiliated with the Socialist Party. La Follette's 16.6 percent showing represents the third best popular vote showing for a third party since the American Civil War (after Roosevelt in 1912 and Ross Perot in 1992), and with him winning of his home state of Wisconsin. The CPPA dissolved shortly after the election as various groups withdrew support.

Death and legacy

La Follette died in Washington, D.C., of a cardiovascular disease, complicated by bronchitis and pneumonia, on June 18, 1925, four days after his 70th birthday. He was buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery on the near west side of Madison, Wisconsin. After his death, his Senate seat was offered to his wife, Belle Case La Follette, but she declined the offer. Subsequently, his son Robert M. La Follette Jr. was elected to the seat.

After her husband's death, Belle Case remained an influential figure and editor. By the mid-1930s, the La Follettes had reformed the Progressive Party on the state level in the form of the Wisconsin Progressive Party. The party quickly, if briefly, became the dominant political power in the state, electing seven Progressive congressmen in 1934 and 1936. Their younger son, Philip La Follette, was elected Governor of Wisconsin, while their older son, Robert M. La Follette Jr., succeeded his father as senator. La Follette's daughter, Fola La Follette, was a prominent suffragette and labor activist and was married to the playwright George Middleton. A grandson, Bronson La Follette, served several terms as the Attorney General of Wisconsin and was the 1968 Democratic gubernatorial nominee. La Follette has also influenced numerous other progressive politicians outside of Wisconsin, including Floyd B. Olson, Upton Sinclair, Fiorello La Guardia, and Wayne Morse. Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has frequently been compared to La Follette.

In 1957, a Senate Committee chaired by Senator John F. Kennedy selected La Follette to be one of the five senators to be listed in the Senate "Hall of Fame", along with Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, and Robert A. Taft. A 1982 survey asking historians to rank the "ten greatest Senators in the nation's history" based on "accomplishments in office" and "long range impact on American history", placed La Follette first, tied with Henry Clay. Writing in 1998, historian John D. Buenker described La Follette as "the most celebrated figure in Wisconsin history". La Follette is represented by one of two statues from Wisconsin in the National Statuary Hall. An oval portrait of La Follette, painted by his cousin, Chester La Follette, also hangs in the Senate. The Robert M. La Follette House in Maple Bluff, Wisconsin, is a National Historic Landmark. Other things named for La Follette include La Follette High School in Madison, the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the town of La Follette, Wisconsin.

The Fighting Bob Festival is an annual September tribute event held by Wisconsin progressives, sponsored by The Progressive and The Capital Times. It was founded in 2001 by Wisconsin labor lawyer and activist Ed Garvey. The Chautauqua-inspired Fighting Bob Fest has been held in Baraboo, Madison, La Crosse, Milwaukee, and Stevens Point. Speakers have included Wisconsin figures like Rep. Mark Pocan, former Sen. Russ Feingold, Sen. Tammy Baldwin and journalist John Nichols, other noted mid-westerners, as well as national progressive populist figures, like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Jim Hightower, Nina Turner and Jesse Jackson.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Robert M. La Follette


text:
User talk:Sercata

Sercata, I realize you're new around here -- that's OK. But please do not remove facts you don't like without prior discussion. In the spirit of NPOV, if you think an article gives an unfair picture, add, don't remove. --Eloquence 00:13 30 Jun 2003 (UTC)

It appears that you never recived a proper welcome so:

Hello Sercata, welcome to Wikipedia! Thanks for all your contributions. Here are some useful links in case you haven't already found them: If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my talk page. I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian!
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Noldoaran (Talk) 21:30, Dec 8, 2003 (UTC)

title: User talk:Sercata


text:
Up to Here

Up to Here is the debut studio album by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, released in September 1989. It is one of the band's most successful albums, achieving Diamond status in Canada for sales of over a million copies, earning the band a Juno Award for Most Promising Artist, and also introduced fan-favourite songs such as "Blow at High Dough", "New Orleans Is Sinking", and "Boots or Hearts". The album reached on RPM`s Canadian Albums Chart, and both "Blow at High Dough" and "New Orleans is Sinking" reached  on the RPM Canadian Content singles charts.

An expanded anniversary reissue of the album is slated for release in 2024. The reissue, including a remastered version of the band's 1990 MuchMusic concert special Live at the Misty Moon and previously unreleased tracks from the era, is slated for release on November 8. The reissue was preceded by lead single "Get Back Again", one of the most famous rarities in the band's entire discography as they had occasionally performed it live but had never previously released a studio recording.

Background
The Tragically Hip toured extensively following their first release, The Tragically Hip, which had earned considerable airplay on Canadian FM radio and the MuchMusic video station. The band found an audience on US college radio as well and drew the attention of MCA representative Bruce Dickinson while performing at the CMJ New Music Festival in New York City in late 1988. That December Dickinson travelled to Toronto to see the band perform at the Toronto Music Awards, and MCA signed the band later that month.

Dickinson recommended the band record in Memphis, Tennessee, with producer Don Smith. The band entered Ardent Studios with a set of songs they had extensive experience playing live. Smith and the band further developed the arrangements in the studio before recording.

Release and reception
Up to Here was released on 5 September 1989. It sold $100,000$ copies within its first year in Canada and ranked 14th Canadian Content album for 1989, fifth for 1990, and first for 1991. The album peaked at in February 1990 on RPM`s Canadian Albums Chart. The album went gold in Canada in January 1990 and platinum that March and later that year earned the band a Juno Award for Most Promising Artist. In 1999 Up to Here was awarded diamond status.

Up to Here was the band's first release in the US. In 1990 the album peaked on the Billboard 200 album charts at and "New Orleans is Sinking" reached  on Billboard`s Mainstream Rock singles charts. Despite strong sales and sustained popularity in Canada, the band and album failed to find a significant international audience; American sales of the album were $10,000$ in its first year and from 1991 to 1997 amounted to $80,000$ copies. The Tragically Hip's relative lack of success in the US has been a frequent topic by commenters and interviewers, to the irritation of members of the band.

The songs are credited to the whole band. The band's instrumentalists typically had the most influence on the music composition of the album while lead singer Gord Downie came up with his poetic lyrics separately, writing them in a notebook and incorporating them when the band was ready.

Singles
The hard-rocking lead single "Blow at High Dough" was released in April 1989, before the album's release. It had a strong presence on Canadian radio and was the band's first charting single, reaching on the RPM singles chart and  on the RPM Canadian Content singles charts. "Blow at High Dough" was the theme song to the CBC comedy drama Made in Canada (1998—2003).

In November 1989 the second single was released, "New Orleans Is Sinking", a loose jam piece which had been a key part the band's live shows. In the midst of "New Orleans" the band often débuted new songs or gave Downie the spotlight to improvise. Like "Blow at High Dough", it reached on the RPM Canadian Content singles charts, and  on the RPM singles charts. Music videos were released for both "Blow at High Dough" and "New Orleans is Sinking".

"Boots or Hearts" came out as the third single in February 1990, and "38 Years Old" followed in April 1990 as the fourth, peaking at on the RPM singles charts. Downie's memories of a jailbreak in 1972 at the maximum-security Millhaven Institution inspired the lyrics to "38 Years Old", whose ringing acoustic guitar backing is overlaid with distorted electric guitar leads.

Touring
The Tragically Hip went on tour from June 1989 prior to the album's release. The band continued to tour Canada and the US through 1990, and made its first European appearance at a sold-out headlining show in Rotterdam. The band gained a reputation for its energetic live shows and the enthusiasm of its fans.

The band introduced new material while touring which appeared on their next album Road Apples in 1991, along with numerous songs that, at the time, had never been officially released.

Band

 * Gord Downie – vocals
 * Rob Baker – guitar
 * Gord Sinclair – bass, vocals
 * Johnny Fay – drums
 * Paul Langlois – guitars, vocals

Recording personnel

 * Bruce Barris – engineer, mixing
 * Jeff DeMorris – assistant engineer
 * Paul Eberson – assistant engineer
 * Stephen Marcussen – mastering
 * Don Smith – engineer, mixing, producer
 * Andy Udoff – assistant engineer

Other

 * Jeanne Bradshaw – design
 * Michael Going – photography

title: Up to Here


text:
High Society (1956 film)

High Society is a 1956 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Charles Walters and starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and Frank Sinatra. The film was produced by Sol C. Siegel for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and shot in VistaVision and Technicolor, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter.

The film is a musical remake of the 1940 screwball comedy film The Philadelphia Story, which was based on the 1939 play The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry. High Society's screenplay was written by John Patrick and involves a successful popular jazz musician (Crosby) who tries to win back the affections of his ex-wife (Kelly), who is preparing to marry another man. The cast also features Celeste Holm, John Lund, and Louis Calhern, in his final film, with a musical contribution by Louis Armstrong. The film was Kelly's last professional appearance before she married Prince Rainier III and became Princess consort of Monaco.

Plot
Successful singer-composer C.K. Dexter-Haven (the grandson of a Newport "robber baron") is divorced from wealthy Newport, Rhode Island, socialite Tracy Samantha Lord. Dexter, who lives next door to the Lord estate, remains in love with her but she is now engaged to socially prominent and snobbish George Kittredge. As Tracy prepares for her upcoming wedding, Dexter is busily organizing elements of the Newport Jazz Festival.

Meanwhile, Spy, a tabloid newspaper, possesses embarrassing information about Tracy's errant father, Seth Lord, and has coerced the family into allowing reporter Mike Connor and photographer Liz Imbrie to cover the nuptials. Tracy, resenting their forced presence, begins an elaborate charade, including introducing her Uncle Willy as her father, while Seth is passed off as "wicked" Uncle Willy.

As a wedding gift, Dexter gives Tracy a scale model of their former sailboat, "True Love," which evokes her memories about their happy honeymoon aboard it. Tracy gradually realizes George knows little about her true self and has instead created an idealized image of her. When Tracy drives Mike around Newport, he notices some neglected mansions; Tracy explains many owners have been forced to board up or sell off their properties due to high taxes. Her Uncle Willy is selling his own estate. The two form a mutual attraction, leaving Tracy to choose from three very different men during a course of self-discovery. During the wedding-eve party at Uncle Willy's house, George catches a tipsy Tracy kissing Dexter on the patio. George leaves Tracy in an empty room to sober up but, still tipsy, she climbs out the window and runs into Mike. George finds her again after she and Mike have had a swim in the Lords' pool. The next day, Tracy has hazy memories of the previous night. She initially intends to go through with the wedding, then prods George into agreeing to call it off. While informing the waiting guests the wedding is canceled, Dexter suddenly proposes that he be the groom. Knowing she loves him, Tracy accepts. Liz and Mike, who now realize they love each other, tell Tracy and Dexter that they are not writing a story about the wedding or other events to protect the family's privacy.

Cast

 * Bing Crosby as C. K. Dexter-Haven
 * Grace Kelly as Tracy Lord
 * Frank Sinatra as Mike Connor
 * Celeste Holm as Liz Imbrie
 * John Lund as George Kittredge
 * Louis Calhern as Uncle Willie
 * Sidney Blackmer as Seth Lord
 * Louis Armstrong and His Band as themselves
 * Edmond Hall – clarinetist
 * Trummy Young – trombonist
 * Billy Kyle – pianist
 * Arvell Shaw – bassist
 * Barrett Deems – drummer
 * Margalo Gillmore as Mrs. Seth Lord
 * Lydia Reed as Caroline Lord
 * Gordon Richards as Dexter Haven's butler
 * Richard Garrick as Lords' butler
 * Philo McCullough as party guest (uncredited)

Production
Filming took place between January and March 1956. The location scenes were mostly shot in and around Clarendon Court in Newport, Rhode Island, which was then owned by Mae Cadwell Hayward, and later purchased in 1970 by Claus von Bülow.

The location, according to Turner Classic Movies, enabled them to take advantage of the Newport Jazz Festival, established in 1954, incorporating it into the film by giving Crosby's character a background as a descendant of a Gilded Age robber baron who became a jazz composer and friend of jazz star Louis Armstrong, who plays himself in the film, and patron of the Festival. As name-checked by Crosby in the song "Now You Has Jazz", where each musician takes a small solo, Armstrong's band members were Edmond Hall (clarinet), Trummy Young (trombone), Billy Kyle (piano), Arvell Shaw (bass), and Barrett Deems (drums).

This film featured Kelly's final role before she became Princess of Monaco; it was released three months after her marriage to Prince Rainier III. In the film, Kelly wore the Cartier engagement ring given to her by Rainier. Sinatra was 40 and Crosby 53 while playing the love interests of Kelly, who was 26 during the filming. Sinatra biographers George Jacobs and William Stadiem claimed Crosby kept his distance from Sinatra during the production and remained strictly professional when Sinatra desired companionship, and that it "killed" Sinatra to think that Crosby considered himself a higher class singer. However, this is rejected by TCM, which states that "in spite of a rumored rivalry between Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, the two worked together very amicably during the shoot."

They claim that Sinatra was fascinated with Grace Kelly – as were many of her previous co-stars – and would have loved to have an affair with her but feared rejection and embarrassment in front of Crosby, who had previously had an affair with Kelly.

The sailboat used in the film, the True Love (originally the Venona II based on the Malabar design by John Alden built for racing), sails on Seneca Lake out of Watkins Glen, NY as an excursion boat for Seneca Sailing Adventures, LLC.

Musical numbers
Producer Sol C. Siegel paid Porter $250,000 for his first original film score in eight years; it introduced a couple of pop standards, including "True Love" and "You're Sensational". Not only did Sinatra and Crosby collaborate for the first time, but behind the scenes two master orchestrators – Conrad Salinger and Nelson Riddle – melded their arrangements under the baton of Johnny Green. Armstrong and his band get a couple of standout moments and Kelly has her only role in a musical.

 * 1) "Overture"
 * 2) "High Society Calypso" – Louis Armstrong & his band
 * 3) "Little One" – C.K. (Bing Crosby)
 * 4) "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" – Mike (Frank Sinatra), Liz (Celeste Holm)
 * 5) "True Love" – C.K. (Crosby), Tracy (Grace Kelly)
 * 6) "You're Sensational" – Mike (Sinatra)
 * 7) "I Love You, Samantha" – C.K. (Crosby)
 * 8) "Now You Has Jazz" – C.K. (Crosby), Armstrong & his band, individually introduced by name
 * 9) "Well, Did You Evah!" – C.K. (Crosby), Mike (Sinatra)
 * 10) "Mind if I Make Love to You?" – Mike (Sinatra)

A soundtrack album was released the year of the film's release and was a major success in both America and the United Kingdom. It has been said that one of the main reasons star Sinatra was drawn to the film was a mock-tipsy duet with his boyhood idol Crosby on "Well, Did You Evah!", a song from an earlier Porter show, DuBarry Was a Lady (1939), re-adapted and added at the last minute when it was noted that the two singers did not have a duet to perform in the film.

The title of the song "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" gained new significance a half-century later as the title of a global game show franchise. "I Love You, Samantha" has also become a jazz favorite for improvisations.

Critical reception
Opening on July 17, 1956, High Society garnered mixed reviews, often being compared as a lesser offering to The Philadelphia Story, a previous adaptation in 1940 of the same play starring Cary Grant in the Crosby part, Katharine Hepburn in the Kelly role, and James Stewart in an Oscar-winning turn as the reporter played in the remake by Sinatra. Variety observed: "High Society should spell high finance business all over. It's a solid entertainment every minute of its footage. Fortified with a strong Cole Porter score, film is a pleasant romp for cast toppers Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra who, tactfully, get alphabetical top billing. Their impact is almost equally consistent. Although Sinatra has the top pop tune opportunities, the Crooner makes his specialties stand up and out on showmanship and delivery, and Miss Kelly impresses as the femme lead with pleasantly comedienne overtones. This is perhaps her most relaxed performance ..."

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times described it as "flimsy as a gossip-columnist's word", missing "the snap and the crackle that its un-musical predecessor had." According to Time, in spite of its "Who's Who cast" the film is "simply not top-drawer"; a "good deal of the screenplay seems as dated today as the idle rich ... [Kelly] lacks the gawky animal energy that Katharine Hepburn brought to the 1939 play and the 1941 movie, [Crosby] saunters through the part rather sleepily, without much of the old Bing zing [, and] Sinatra plays the reporter like a dead-end kid with a typewriter."

Box-office
At the North American box-office, High Society was a success. It was one of the 10 highest-grossing films of 1956 in the US and Canada earning $5,602,000, and $2,656,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $1,148,000.

Awards and nominations
High Society received two Academy Award nominations, and nearly received a third. The film was initially nominated in the 1956 Academy Awards for Best Motion Picture Story, even though it was based on the 1940 film The Philadelphia Story and thus was not eligible in that category. Moreover, the nominated writers, Elwood Ullman and Edward Bernds, had written not this film, but a 1955 Bowery Boys film also titled High Society.

According to the book Inside Oscar, Steve Broidy, president of The Bowery Boys home studio Allied Artists, told the press, "This just proves what we've known all along – that the Bowery Boys series couldn't have lasted this long if not for the fine writers." The joking in the press aside, Ullman and Bernds sent a telegram to the Academy Award Board of Governors, acknowledging the error and requesting that their names be removed from the final ballot.

Broadway adaptation
More than 40 years following the film's release, High Society was adapted for the stage as a Broadway musical with several Porter songs from other sources added to the score. The stage version of High Society opened on April 27, 1998, at the St. James Theatre, starring Melissa Errico as Tracy Lord, Daniel McDonald as C.K. Dexter Haven, Stephen Bogardus as Mike Conner, John McMartin as Uncle Willie, and, in her Broadway debut, a 12-year-old Anna Kendrick as Dinah Lord. Kendrick and McMartin received Tony Award nominations for their work as Best Featured Actress in a Musical and Best Featured Actor in a Musical. The show ran for 144 performances.

title: High Society (1956 film)