Wisconsinites who have won prominence as federal judicial or executive officers include Jeremiah Rusk (b.Ohio, 1830–93), a Wisconsin governor selected as the first head of the Agriculture Department in 1889; William F. Vilas (b.Vermont, 1840–1908), who served as postmaster general under Grover Cleveland; Melvin Laird (b.Nebraska, 1922–92), a congressman who served as secretary of defense from 1969–73; and William Rehnquist (b.1924), named to the Supreme Court in 1971.
The state's best-known political figures achieved nationwide reputations as members of the US Senate. John C. Spooner (b.Indiana, 1843–1919) won distinction as one of the inner circle of Senate conservatives before he retired in 1907 amid an upsurge of Progressivism within his party. Robert La Follette (1855–1925) embodied the new wave of Republican Progressivism—and, later, isolationism—as governor and in the Senate. His sons, Robert, Jr. (1895–1953), and Philip (1897–1965), carried on the Progressive tradition as US senator and governor, respectively. Joseph R. McCarthy (1908–57) won attention in the Senate and throughout the nation for his anti-communist crusade. William Proxmire (b.Illinois, 1915), a Democrat, succeeded McCarthy in the Senate and eventually became chairman of the powerful Senate Banking Committee. Representative Henry S. Reuss (1912–2002), also a Democrat, served in the House for 28 years and was chairman of the Banking Committee. Democrat Clement Zablocki (1912–83), elected to the House in 1948, was chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Victor L. Berger (b.Transylvania, 1860–1929), a founder of the Social-Democratic Party, was first elected to the House in 1910; during World War I, he was denied his seat and prosecuted because of his antiwar views.
Besides the La Follettes, other governors who made notable contributions to the state include James D. Doty (b.New York, 1799–1865), who fought to make Wisconsin a separate territory and became the territory's second governor; William D. Hoard (b.New York, 1836–1918), a tireless promoter of dairy farming, as both private citizen and chief executive; James O. Davidson (b.Norway, 1854–1922), who attempted to improve relations between conservatives and progressives; Francis E. McGovern (1866–1946), who pushed through the legislature significant social and economic reform legislation; and Walter J. Kohler (1875–1940), an industrialist who, as governor, greatly expanded the power of the office.
Prominent figures in the state's early history include the Jesuit Jacques Marquette (b.France, 1637–75) and the explorer Louis Jolliet (b.Canada, 1645–1700); and the Sauk Indian leader Black Hawk (b.Illinois, 1767–1838), who was defeated in the Battle of Bad Axe. John Bascom (b.New York, 1827–1911) was an early president of the University of Wisconsin. Charles Van Hise (1857–1918), a later president, promoted the use of academic experts as government advisers; John R. Commons (b.Ohio, 1862–1945), an economist at the university, drafted major state legislation. Philetus Sawyer (b.Vermont, 1816–1900), a prosperous lumberman and US senator, led the state Republican Party for 15 years, before Progressives won control. Carl Schurz (b.Germany, 1829–1906) was a prominent Republican Party figure in the years immediately before the Civil War. Lucius W. Nieman (1857–1935) founded the Milwaukee Journal, and Edward P. Allis (b.New York, 1824–89) was an important iron industrialist.
Wisconsin was the birthplace of several Nobel Prize winners, including Herbert S. Gasser (1888–1963), who shared a 1944 Nobel Prize for research into nerve impulses; William P. Murphy (1892–1987), who shared a 1934 prize for research relating to anemia; John Bardeen (1908–91), who shared the physics award in 1956 for his contribution to the development of the transistor; and Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001), who won the 1978 prize in economics. Stephen Babcock (b.New York, 1843–1931) was an agricultural chemist who did research important to the dairy industry. In addition, Wisconsin was the birthplace of the child psychologist Arnold Gesell (1880–1961), and of naturalist and explorer Chapman Andrews (1884–1960). John Muir (b.Scotland, 1838–1914), another noted naturalist and explorer, lived in Wisconsin in his youth. Conservationist Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) taught at the University of Wisconsin and wrote A Sand County Almanac.
Frederick Jackson Turner (1861–1932), historian of the American frontier, was born in Wisconsin, as were the economist and social theorist Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929) and the diplomat and historian George F. Kennan (b.1904). Famous journalists include news commentator H. V. Kaltenborn (1878–1965), award-winning sports columnist Red Smith (Walter Wellesley Smith, 1905–82), and television newsman Tom Snyder (b.1936).
Thornton Wilder (1897–1975), a novelist and playwright best known for The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927), Our Town (1938), and The Skin of Our Teeth (1942), each of which won a Pulitzer Prize, heads the list of literary figures born in the state. Hamlin Garland (1860–1940), a novelist and essayist, was also a native, as were the poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) and the novelist and playwright Zona Gale (1874–1938). The novelist Edna Ferber (b.Michigan, 1887–1968) spent her early life in the state.
Wisconsin is the birthplace of architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1869–1959) and the site of his famous Taliesin estate (Spring Green), Johnson Wax Co. headquarters (Racine), and first Unitarian Church (Madison). The artist Georgia O'Keefe (1887–1986) was born in Sun Prairie. Wisconsin natives who have distinguished themselves in the performing arts include Alfred Lunt (1893–1977), Frederic March (Frederick Bickel, 1897–1975), Spencer Tracy (1900–1967), Agnes Moorehead (1906–74), and Orson Welles (1915–85). Magician and escape artist Harry Houdini (Ehrich Weiss, b.Hungary, 1874–1926) was raised in the state, and piano stylist Liberace (Wlad Ziu Valentino Liberace, 1919–1987) was born there. Speed skater Eric Heiden (b.1958), a five-time Olympic gold medalist in 1980, is another Wisconsin native.