This all culminated in the disastrous 1937 special session, where La Follette attempted to force through a bill without public debate, and without the normal machinery of the legislative process.

The bill, decried by critics as dictatorial, would have, among other things, fundamentally altered the system of checks and balances in Wisconsin by making it so that legislation would be written up by the executive and handed to the legislature to either approve or reject.

Alongside this, the session passed through legislation reorganizing the state executive branch to remove redundant agencies to improve efficiency.

At Oshkosh, a committee was established by members of the Democratic, Republican, Union, and Progressive parties in the hope of defeating La Follette.

[1] Henry stood for both the Democratic and Republican nominations as part of a coalition movement designed to defeat Philip La Follette and the Progressive Party.