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John Bascom served as president of the University of Wisconsin from 1874 to 1887. He had won recognition for his philosophical writings before his appointment to Wisconsin and during his presidency applied his views to social and economic issues. He thus became a champion of temperance, women’s rights, and labor organization. He further contributed to Wisconsin progressivism through the influence he had on his student, and great admirer, the future reform governor Robert M. LaFollette. This essay examines Bascom’s contribution to the “culture of progress.”