William E. Borah

Idaho Republican whose three decades in the Senate made him the leading voice of foreign-policy independence.

Overview

Borah entered the Senate in 1907 and served until his death in 1940, earning the nickname the Lion of Idaho for his oratory. A progressive on domestic issues, he backed the income tax and the direct election of senators, and he became the most prominent of the irreconcilables who fought the Treaty of Versailles and American membership in the League of Nations in 1919. His resolution calling for naval disarmament helped bring about the Washington Naval Conference of 1921 to 1922, and he chaired the Foreign Relations Committee from 1924 to 1933. He sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1936.