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William Edgar Borah was born in Jasper Township, Illinois on June 29, 1865. His parents, William and Elizabeth, were farmers.He was the seventh of ten children, and the third son. Borah was not considered to be a good student. After attending Tom's Prairie School, his father sent him to Southern Illinois Academy in 1881, to train for the ministry. But Borah was expelled in 1882. He ran away from home with an travelling Shakespearean company, but his father convinced him to return. He became interested in the law, and managed to convince his father to let him pursue this career rather than the ministry. In 1883 he went to live with his sister Sue in Lyons, Kansas. Her husband, Ansel M. Lasley, was an attorney.
Borah briefly worked as a teacher, but lost that job. In 1885 he enrolled at the University of Kansas. He contracted tuberculosis in early 1887, and had to return to Lyons, where his sister cared for him in his illness. He began to read law under Ansel Lasley's supervision. Borah passed the bar examination in September 1887 and went into partnership with his brother-in-law. He was appointed city attorney for Lyons in 1889. In October 1890, wanting a change, but uncertain of his destination, he boarded the Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha and onn the advice of a gambler on the train, Borah decided to settle in Boise, Idaho.
Idaho had just become a state in 1890. The state capital of Boise was considered a boom town. Borah prospered there and in 1892 he became head of the Republican State Central Committee. He served as political secretary to Governor William J. McConnell and in 1895 married the governor's daughter, Mary.
In 1896, Borah abandoned the Republican Party to support Democrat William Jennings Bryan. Borah, like Bryan, was a supporter of silver as a basis of currency and this position was extremely popular in Idaho. Borah ran for the House of Representatives that year, but knew he had little chance of winning. In 1898, Borah supported the Spanish–American War, though he remained loyal to the Silver Republicans. By 1900, Borah was not as strong a supporter of silver due to increased gold production and national prosperity, and he returned to the Republican Party and campaigned for William McKinley's re-election.
In 1902 Borah sought election to the Senate. At the 1902 Idaho state Republican convention, a majority supported Borah, but the choice of senator was generally decided by the caucus of the majority party in the legislature. In the 1902 election, Republicans retook control in the legislature. When the legislature met in early 1903, Borah was unsuccessful in his bid for the senate. He did not get discouraged and pursued the next senate vacancy in 1907. Borah campaigned to end the caucus's role in selecting the Republican nominee for Senate, arguing that it should be decided by the people, in a convention. He made a deal with a potential Republican rival, Governor Frank Gooding, in which Borah would be nominated for Senate and Gooding for re-election and on August 1, 1906. Both men received the state convention's endorsement by acclamation. Voters re-elected Gooding, and selected a Republican legislature, which in January 1907 electing Borah to the Senate.
Congress's regular session began in December, allowing Borah time to participate in two major trials. He prosecuted union leader Big Bill Haywood, who was tried for conspiracy in the murder of ex-governor Steunenberg. The former governor was killed on December 30, 1905 by a bomb planted on the gate at his home in Caldwell. A man registered at a local hotel named Harry Orchard, was arrested as the assassin. Orchard implicated four labor leaders, including Haywood, who was extradited from Colorado to Idaho in February 1906. Haywood's trial began on May 9, 1907. His defense team was led by Clarence Darrow. Haywood was acquitted at trial, but the trial also elevated Borah's profile.
Meanwhile, Borah and others were indicted in federal court for land fraud, having to do with the acquisition by the Barber Lumber Company of title to timber land claims. The United States Attorney for Idaho, Norman M. Ruick, got a grand jury to indict Borah, but the accusation was seen as political. The trial began in September 1907. The defense case consisted almost entirely of Borah's testimony, and the jury quickly acquitted him.
Borah went to Washington in December 1907. It was the custom that junior senators would wait a year before giving their maiden speech, but at President Theodore Roosevelt's request, Borah spoke in April 1908 in defense of Roosevelt's dismissal of over a hundred African American soldiers in the Brownsville who were accused of having shot up a Texas town. The accusations were later deemed to be motivated by racism, and in 1972, the dismissals were reversed.
Borah became one of a growing number of progressive Republicans in the Senate. He promoted the Seventeenth Amendment, providing for the direct election of senators by the people.
In 1912 Borah opposed President William Howard Taft on a number of issues and in March he announced his support of the candidacy of Theodore Roosevelt over Taft for the Republican presidential nomination. Most delegates to the 1912 Republican National Convention in Chicago selected by primary supported Roosevelt, but Taft's control of the party machinery gave him the advantage. When it became clear Taft would be renominated, Roosevelt and his supporters bolted the party. Roosevelt asked Borah to chair the organizational meeting of his new Progressive Party, but Borah did not wist to leave the Republican Party. When Roosevelt came to Boise on a campaign swing in October, Borah sat on the platform as Roosevelt spoke, though he was unwilling to formally endorse him.
The Republicans both lost the presidency with Wilson's inauguration and their majority in the Senate. In the reshuffle of committee assignments that followed, Borah was given a seat on Foreign Relations. He would occupy it for the next quarter century. Borah generally approved of many of Wilson's proposals, but he voted against the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. He opposed monopolies and believed the new Federal Trade Commission would be under the control of the trusts.
In 1913 Borah clashed with Wilson and his Secretary of State, Bryan, over Latin American policy. Borah was concerned about the potential for the U.S. to expand into Latin America, something Borah opposed. He and Wilson clashed over policy towards Mexico, then in the throes of revolution. He felt that Wilson was meddling in Mexican affairs and felt that Mexicans should decide who ran Mexico.
When World War I began in 1914, Borah felt that the U.S. should stay out of it and he voted for legislation requested by Wison barring armament shipments to the belligerents. He was vigilant in his support for U.S. neutrality, though he was outraged by the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania by the Germans. Borah was considered as a possible candidate for president in 1916, but gained little support. When the Republicans nominated Charles Evans Hughes, Borah campaigned for him.
After Germany resumed unlimited submarine warfare in early 1917, U.S. entry into the war seemed inevitable, though Borah hoped it might still be avoided. He supported Wilson on legislation to arm merchant ships, and voted in favor when the president requested a declaration of war in April 1917. He justified his vote by saying that the U.S. was going in to defend its own rights. He opposed the draft and the Espionage Act of 1917.
Borah opposed Wilson's 14-point plan as well as the League of Nations. A week after Wilson presented the treaty, Borah refused an invitation to the White House extended to him and other Senate and House members on the foreign relations committee. In November 1919, the Senate defeated the Treaty of Versailles. The following January, the Senate considered the treaty again but a compromise could not be reached, in large measure due to Borah's opposition.
In 1920 Borah supported California Senator Hiram Johnson for President. Johnson had been Roosevelt's running mate in 1912. Borah alleged bribery on the part of the leading candidate for the Republican nomination, General Leonard Wood. When the 1920 Republican National Convention met in Chicago in June, delegates faced a deadlock. Borah played no part in the smoke-filled room discussions as the Republicans attempted to break the deadlock. The eventual nominee was Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding, Borah's colleague on the Foreign Relations Committee. Though not his first choice, Borah strongly endorsed Harding and his running mate, Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge.
In 1921, when Harding nominated former president Taft as chief justice, Borah was one of four senators to oppose confirmation. He said that that the 63 year old Taft was too old for the job and had been absent for decades from the practice of law.
Harding's death in August 1923 brought Calvin Coolidge to the White House. Borah seemed to have a good relationship with Calvin Coolidge. When 1924 Republican National Convention nominated Coolidge as their candidate, he offered the vice presidential nomination to Borah. According to one anecdone, when Coolidge asked Borah to join the ticket, Borah asked which position on it he was to occupy. Borah refused the offer, and ran for re-election. He did no campaigning for Coolidge, claiming that his re-election bid required his full attention.
In November 1924, Borah became Chairman and the senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee, which greatly increased his influence. Borah continued to oppose American interventions in Latin America. Borah continuously had a reputation for being a contrarian. Once, when President Coolidge was watching Borah horseback riding in Rock Creek Park, the president quipped that it "must bother the Senator to be going in the same direction as his horse."
Borah hoped to be elected president in 1928, but he had made too many enemies within his own party for this to be a reasonable possibility. He was reluctant to support Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover for president, and backed Ohio Senator Frank Willis instead. When Willis collapsed and died at a campaign rally in late March, Borah threw his support behind Hoover. Borah, like Hoover, was a strong backer of Prohibition. Borah undertook a lengthy campaign tour for Hoover, claiming that a huge part of his motivation was his opposition to Tammany Hall's Democratic candidate Al Smith. When Hoover was elected, he thanked Borah for his support and offered to make Borah Secretary of State, but Borah declined.
In June 1930 Congress passed the Hawley–Smoot Tariff, steeply increasing rates on imports. Borah was one of 12 Republicans who joined Democrats in opposing the bill, which passed the Senate 44–42. He suggested that members of Congress turn back their salary to the Treasury. As the economy continued to worsen in the winter of 1931, Borah urged relief legislation.
Borah considered challenging Hoover for renomination in 1932, but concluded that he could not overcome Hoover's control over the party machinery. He disagreed with the platform of the 1932 Republican National Convention and made a major address on June 30, attacking his party's platform. He did nothing to aid Hoover's doomed campaign against Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The Democratic landslide that accompanied Roosevelt's election cost Borah his chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee. Borah opposed the National Recovery Act (NRA) and was pleased when it was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1935.
Borah ran for the Republican nomination for president in 1936, the first candidate from Idaho to do so. His candidacy was opposed by the conservative Republican leadership. Borah praised Roosevelt for some of his policies, and for this he was widely criticized his party.He received the most votes in the primaries, but managed to win only a handful of delegates and took a majority of them in only one state, Wisconsin, where he had the endorsement of Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr. Borah refused to endorse the eventual Republican nominee, Kansas Governor Alf Landon, leading some to believe he might cross party lines and support Roosevelt. He chose to endorse neither candidate. That fall he faced his toughest contest for re-election, but still won with over 60 percent of the votes. He was one of only sixteen Republicans remaining in the Senate when Congress met in January 1937.
Borah opposed large-scale immigration by Jews from Germany, feeling that was impractical with millions of Americans unemployed. He tried to visit Germany and meet with Hitler, but in September 1939, after Germany invaded Poland, this was no longer feasible. Borah was later quoted as saying, "Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler—all this might have been averted."
William Borah died in his sleep at his home in Washington, D.C., on January 19, 1940 from a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 74 years of age. His state funeral at the U.S. Capitol was held in the Senate chamber on Monday, January 22 and a second funeral was held three days later at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise, where Borah's casket lay beneath the rotunda for six hours prior to the service. An estimated 23,000 passed by the bier or attended the funeral. He is buried in Morris Hill Cemetery in Boise.