Silas Bryan had been born in 1822 and had established a legal practice in Salem in 1851.
Silas Bryan had been born in 1822 and had established a legal practice in Salem in 1851.
He married Mariah, a former student of his at McKendree College, in 1852.
William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American orator and politician.
Since his death in 1925, Bryan has elicited mixed reactions from various commentators, but he is widely considered to have been one of the most influential figures of the Progressive Era. ==Early life and education== William Jennings Bryan was born in Salem, Illinois on March 19, 1860, to Silas Lillard Bryan and Mariah Elizabeth (Jennings) Bryan.
He won election as a state circuit judge and in 1866 moved his family to a farm north of Salem, living in a ten-room house that was the envy of Marion County.
Silas served in various local positions and sought election to Congress in 1872, but was narrowly defeated by the Republican candidate.
In 1879, while still in college, Bryan met Mary Elizabeth Baird, the daughter of an owner of a nearby general store and began courting her.
Because of his faith in the wisdom of the common people, he was often called "The Great Commoner". Born and raised in Illinois, Bryan moved to Nebraska in the 1880s.
Bryan and Mary Elizabeth married on October 1, 1884.
Frustrated by the lack of political and economic opportunities in Jacksonville, in 1887 Bryan and his wife moved west to Lincoln, the capital of the fast-growing state of Nebraska. ==Early political career== ===Congressional service=== Bryan established a successful legal practice in Lincoln with partner Adolphus Talbot, a Republican whom Bryan had known in law school.
After earning notoriety for his effective speeches in 1888, Bryan ran for Congress in the 1890 election.
He won election to the House of Representatives in the 1890 elections, serving two terms before making an unsuccessful run for the Senate in 1894.
After earning notoriety for his effective speeches in 1888, Bryan ran for Congress in the 1890 election.
In response, Cleveland called a special session of Congress to call for the repeal of the 1890 Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which required the federal government to purchase several million ounces of silver every month.
In the concurrent congressional elections, Democrats expanded their majority in the House and gained control of the Senate, giving the party unified control of Congress and the presidency for the first time since the early 1890s. ===Secretary of State=== Upon taking office, Wilson named Bryan as Secretary of State.
Free silver advocates were opposed by banks and bondholders who feared the effects of inflation. Bryan sought re-election in 1892 with the support of many Populists and he backed Populist presidential candidate James B.
Bryan won re-election by just 140 votes, while Cleveland defeated Weaver and incumbent Republican President Benjamin Harrison in the 1892 presidential election.
Shortly after Cleveland took office, a series of bank closures brought on the Panic of 1893, a major economic crisis.
Bryan was, however, successful in passing an amendment that provided for the establishment of the first peacetime federal income tax. As the economy declined after 1893, the reforms favored by Bryan and the Populists became more popular among many voters.
He won election to the House of Representatives in the 1890 elections, serving two terms before making an unsuccessful run for the Senate in 1894.
Rather than running for re-election in 1894, Bryan sought election to the United States Senate.
Nationwide, the Republican Party won a huge victory in the elections of 1894, gaining over 120 seats in the U.S.
Bryan was nonetheless pleased with the result of the 1894 election, as the Cleveland wing of the Democratic Party had been discredited and Bryan's preferred gubernatorial candidate, Silas A.
Holcomb, had been elected by a coalition of Democrats and Populists. After the 1894 elections, Bryan embarked on a nationwide speaking tour designed to boost free silver, move his party away from the conservative policies of the Cleveland administration, lure Populists and free silver Republicans into the Democratic Party and raise Bryan's public profile before the next election.
Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the Democratic Party, running three times as the party's nominee for President of the United States in the 1896, 1900, and 1908 elections.
At the 1896 Democratic National Convention, Bryan delivered his "Cross of Gold speech" which attacked the gold standard and the eastern moneyed interests and crusaded for inflationary policies built around the expanded coinage of silver coins.
In the intensely fought 1896 presidential election, Republican nominee William McKinley emerged triumphant.
Bryan gained fame as an orator, as he invented the national stumping tour when he reached an audience of 5 million people in 27 states in 1896. Bryan retained control of the Democratic Party and again won the presidential nomination in 1900.
In the election, McKinley again defeated Bryan, winning several Western states that Bryan had won in 1896.
While attending law school, Bryan worked for attorney Lyman Trumbull, a former senator and friend of Silas Bryan's who would serve as an important political ally to the younger Bryan until his death in 1896.
Speaking fees allowed Bryan to give up his legal practice and devote himself full-time to oratory. ==Presidential candidate and party leader== ===Presidential election of 1896=== ====Democratic nomination==== By 1896, free silver forces were ascendant within the party.
By the start of the 1896 Democratic National Convention, Congressman Richard P.
Debs into the Socialist Party. ===War and peace: 1898–1900=== ====Spanish–American War==== Because of better economic conditions for farmers and the effects of the Klondike Gold Rush, free silver lost its potency as an electoral issue in the years following 1896.
Many of the leaders of the league had opposed Bryan in 1896 and continued to distrust Bryan and his followers.
Compared to the results of 1896, McKinley increased his popular vote margin and picked up several Western states, including Bryan's home state of Nebraska.
Johnson, the progressive mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, referred to Bryan's campaign in 1896 as "the first great struggle of the masses in our country against the privileged classes." In a 1934 speech dedicating a memorial to Bryan, President Franklin D.
online vol 1; online vol 2; online vol 3 * * * ==Further reading== ===Biographies=== ===Specialized studies=== on 1896 Analysis of the historiography. Argues that fundamentalists thought they had won Scopes trial but death of Bryan shook their confidence. Puts Scopes in larger religious context. Rove, Karl.
(2015) The Triumph of William McKinley: Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters, Simon & Schuster, .
The first battle: a story of the campaign of 1896 (1897), 693 pp; campaign speeches online edition The Commoner Condensed, annual compilation of The Commoner magazine; full text online for 1901, 1902, 1903, 1907, 1907, 1908 Bryan, William Jennings.
Debs into the Socialist Party. ===War and peace: 1898–1900=== ====Spanish–American War==== Because of better economic conditions for farmers and the effects of the Klondike Gold Rush, free silver lost its potency as an electoral issue in the years following 1896.
After the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor, the United States declared war on Spain in April 1898, beginning the Spanish–American War.
Bryan's regiment remained in Florida for months after the end of the war, thereby preventing Bryan from taking an active role in the 1898 midterm elections.
Bryan resigned his commission and left Florida in December 1898 after the United States and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris. Bryan had supported the war to gain Cuba's independence, but he was outraged that the Treaty of Paris granted the United States control over the Philippines.
In early 1899, the Philippine–American War broke out as the established Philippine Government under the leadership of Emilio Aguinaldo sought to stop the American invasion of the archipelago. ====Presidential election of 1900==== The 1900 Democratic National Convention met in Kansas City, Missouri, the westernmost location that either major party had ever held a national convention.
Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the Democratic Party, running three times as the party's nominee for President of the United States in the 1896, 1900, and 1908 elections.
Bryan gained fame as an orator, as he invented the national stumping tour when he reached an audience of 5 million people in 27 states in 1896. Bryan retained control of the Democratic Party and again won the presidential nomination in 1900.
Bryan's influence in the party weakened after the 1900 election and the Democrats nominated the conservative Alton B.
Democrats remained loyal to their champion after his defeat; many letters urged him to run again in the 1900 presidential election.
In 1900, President McKinley signed the Gold Standard Act, which put the United States on the gold standard.
In early 1899, the Philippine–American War broke out as the established Philippine Government under the leadership of Emilio Aguinaldo sought to stop the American invasion of the archipelago. ====Presidential election of 1900==== The 1900 Democratic National Convention met in Kansas City, Missouri, the westernmost location that either major party had ever held a national convention.
Bryan argued that the United States should refrain from imperialism and should seek to become the "supreme moral factor in the world's progress and the accepted arbiter of the world's disputes." By 1900, the American Anti-Imperialist League, which included individuals like Benjamin Harrison, Andrew Carnegie, Carl Schurz and Mark Twain, had emerged as the primary domestic organization opposed to the continued American control of the Philippines.
In 1902, Bryan, his wife and his three children moved into Fairview, a mansion located in Lincoln; Bryan referred to the house as the "Monticello of the West," and frequently invited politicians and diplomats to visit. Bryan's defeat in 1900 cost him his status as the clear leader of the Democratic Party and conservatives like David B.
Frank Baum satirized Bryan as the Cowardly Lion in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900.
The election also confirmed the continuing organizational advantage of the Republican Party outside of the South. ===Between presidential campaigns, 1901–1907=== After the election, Bryan returned to journalism and oratory, frequently appearing on the Chautauqua circuits.
In January 1901, Bryan published the first issue of his weekly newspaper, The Commoner, which echoed Bryan's long-standing political and religious themes.
Meanwhile, Roosevelt succeeded McKinley as president after the latter was assassinated in September 1901.
The first battle: a story of the campaign of 1896 (1897), 693 pp; campaign speeches online edition The Commoner Condensed, annual compilation of The Commoner magazine; full text online for 1901, 1902, 1903, 1907, 1907, 1908 Bryan, William Jennings.
In 1902, Bryan, his wife and his three children moved into Fairview, a mansion located in Lincoln; Bryan referred to the house as the "Monticello of the West," and frequently invited politicians and diplomats to visit. Bryan's defeat in 1900 cost him his status as the clear leader of the Democratic Party and conservatives like David B.
The first battle: a story of the campaign of 1896 (1897), 693 pp; campaign speeches online edition The Commoner Condensed, annual compilation of The Commoner magazine; full text online for 1901, 1902, 1903, 1907, 1907, 1908 Bryan, William Jennings.
Parker's crushing defeat vindicated Bryan, who published a post-election edition of The Commoner that advised its readers: "Do not Compromise with Plutocracy." Bryan traveled to Europe in 1903, meeting with figures such as Leo Tolstoy, who shared some of Bryan's religious and political views.
The first battle: a story of the campaign of 1896 (1897), 693 pp; campaign speeches online edition The Commoner Condensed, annual compilation of The Commoner magazine; full text online for 1901, 1902, 1903, 1907, 1907, 1908 Bryan, William Jennings.
Parker in the 1904 presidential election.
Washington to dine at the White House. Prior to the 1904 Democratic National Convention, Alton B.
Partly due to the efforts of muckraking journalists, voters had become increasingly open to progressive ideas since 1904.
Bryan was intent on preventing the conservatives in the party from nominating their candidate of choice, as they had done in 1904.
In 1905, Bryan and his family embarked on a trip around the globe, visiting eighteen countries in Asia and Europe.
Bryan was greeted by a large crowd upon his return to the United States in 1906 and was widely seen as the likely 1908 Democratic presidential nominee.
The first battle: a story of the campaign of 1896 (1897), 693 pp; campaign speeches online edition The Commoner Condensed, annual compilation of The Commoner magazine; full text online for 1901, 1902, 1903, 1907, 1907, 1908 Bryan, William Jennings.
Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the Democratic Party, running three times as the party's nominee for President of the United States in the 1896, 1900, and 1908 elections.
Bryan won his party's nomination in the 1908 presidential election, but he was defeated by Roosevelt's chosen successor, William Howard Taft.
Bryan was greeted by a large crowd upon his return to the United States in 1906 and was widely seen as the likely 1908 Democratic presidential nominee.
Bryan also briefly expressed support for the state and federal ownership of railroads in a manner similar to Germany, but backed down from this policy in the face of an intra-party backlash. ===Presidential election of 1908=== Roosevelt, who enjoyed wide popularity among most voters even while he alienated some corporate leaders, anointed Secretary of War William Howard Taft as his successor.
Bryan was nominated for president on the first ballot of the 1908 Democratic National Convention.
As in previous campaigns, Bryan embarked on a public speaking tour to boost his candidacy; he was later joined on the trail by Taft. Defying Bryan's confidence in his own victory, Taft decisively won the 1908 presidential election.
The first battle: a story of the campaign of 1896 (1897), 693 pp; campaign speeches online edition The Commoner Condensed, annual compilation of The Commoner magazine; full text online for 1901, 1902, 1903, 1907, 1907, 1908 Bryan, William Jennings.
In 1909, Bryan came out publicly for the first time in favor of Prohibition.
La Follette. ===Florida real estate promoter=== To help Mary cope with her worsening health during the harsh winters of Nebraska, the Bryans bought a farm in Mission, Texas, in 1909.
Bryan had long expressed skepticism and concern regarding Darwin's theory; in his famous 1909 Chautauqua lecture, "The Prince of Peace", Bryan had warned that the theory of evolution could undermine the foundations of morality.
The 493 cumulative electoral votes cast for Bryan across three separate elections are the most received by a presidential candidate never elected. Bryan remained an influential figure in Democratic politics and, after Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in the 1910 midterm elections, he appeared in the House of Representatives to argue for tariff reduction.
According to biographer Paolo Colletta, Bryan "sincerely believed that prohibition would contribute to the physical health and moral improvement of the individual, stimulate civic progress and end the notorious abuses connected with the liquor traffic." In 1910, he also came out in favor of women's suffrage.
Bryan crusaded as well for legislation to support the introduction of the initiative and referendum as a means of giving voters a direct voice, making a whistle-stop campaign tour of Arkansas in 1910.
Along with Henry Clay, Bryan is one of the two individuals who never won a presidential election despite receiving electoral votes in three separate presidential elections held after the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment. After the Democrats won the presidency in the 1912 election, Woodrow Wilson rewarded Bryan's support with the important cabinet position of Secretary of State.
As the 1912 Democratic National Convention approached, Bryan continued to deny that he would seek the presidency, but many journalists and politicians suspected that Bryan hoped a deadlocked convention would turn to him. After the start of the convention, Bryan engineered the passage of a resolution stating that the party was "opposed to the nomination of any candidate who is a representative of, or under any obligation to, J.
Journalists attributed much of the credit for Wilson's victory to Bryan. In the 1912 presidential election, Wilson faced off against President Taft and former President Roosevelt, the latter of whom ran on the Progressive Party ticket.
Bryan's extensive travels, popularity in the party and support for Wilson in the 1912 election made him the obvious choice for what was traditionally the highest-ranking position in the Cabinet.
Due to Mary's arthritis, in 1912 the Bryans began building a new home in Miami, Florida, known as Villa Serena.
With Bryan's support, Wilson initially sought to stay out of the conflict, urging Americans to be "impartial in thought as well as action." For much of 1914, Bryan attempted to bring a negotiated end to the war, but the leaders of both the Entente and the Central Powers were ultimately uninterested in American mediation.
His promotions probably contributed to the Florida real estate boom of the 1920s, which collapsed within months of Bryan's death in 1925. ===Trustee of American University=== Bryan served as a member of the Board of Trustees at American University in Washington, D.C., from 1914 until his death in 1925.
British Rule in India (1906) Online Edition ==External links== Luke Schleif: Bryan, William Jennings, in: 1914–1918 online.
Bryan resigned from his post in 1915 after Wilson sent Germany a note of protest in response to the sinking of by a German U-boat.
The March 1915 Thrasher incident, in which a German U-boat sank a British passenger ship with an American citizen on board, provided a major blow to the cause of American neutrality.
The May 1915 sinking of RMS Lusitania by another German U-boat further galvanized anti-German sentiment, as 128 Americans died in the incident.
Though he did not attend as an official delegate, the 1916 Democratic National Convention suspended its own rules to allow Bryan to address the convention; Bryan delivered a well-received speech that strongly defended Wilson's domestic record.
Bryan served as a campaign surrogate for Wilson in the 1916 campaign, delivering dozens of speeches, primarily to audiences west of the Mississippi River.
When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Bryan wrote Wilson, "Believing it to be the duty of the citizen to bear his part of the burden of war and his share of the peril, I hereby tender my services to the Government.
Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment, providing for nationwide Prohibition, in 1917.
His home at Asheville, North Carolina, from 1917 to 1920, the William Jennings Bryan House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Both amendments were ratified in 1920.
During the 1920s, Bryan called for further reforms, including agricultural subsidies, the guarantee of a living wage, full public financing of political campaigns and an end to legal gender discrimination. Some Prohibitionists and other Bryan supporters tried to convince the three-time presidential candidate to enter the 1920 presidential election and a Literary Digest poll taken in mid-1920 ranked Bryan as the fourth-most popular potential Democratic candidate.
no office, no Presidency, can offer the honors that will be mine." He attended the 1920 Democratic National Convention as a delegate from Nebraska, but was disappointed by the nomination of Governor James M.
Bryan declined the presidential nomination of the Prohibition Party and refused to campaign for Cox, making the 1920 campaign the first presidential contest in over thirty years in which he did not actively campaign. Though he became less involved in Democratic politics after 1920, Bryan attended the 1924 Democratic National Convention as a delegate from Florida.
His promotions probably contributed to the Florida real estate boom of the 1920s, which collapsed within months of Bryan's death in 1925. ===Trustee of American University=== Bryan served as a member of the Board of Trustees at American University in Washington, D.C., from 1914 until his death in 1925.
Harding and Theodore Roosevelt. ===Anti-evolution activism=== In the 1920s, Bryan shifted his focus away from politics, becoming one of the most prominent religious figures in the country.
Roosevelt and his ideological descendants. Kazin argues that, compared to Bryan, "only Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson had a greater impact on politics and political culture during the era of reform that began in the mid-1890s and lasted until the early 1920s." Writing in 1931, former Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo stated that "with the exception of the men who have occupied the White House, Bryan ...
His home at Asheville, North Carolina, from 1917 to 1920, the William Jennings Bryan House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Bryan declined the presidential nomination of the Prohibition Party and refused to campaign for Cox, making the 1920 campaign the first presidential contest in over thirty years in which he did not actively campaign. Though he became less involved in Democratic politics after 1920, Bryan attended the 1924 Democratic National Convention as a delegate from Florida.
Charles served two terms as the mayor of Lincoln and three terms as the governor of Nebraska and was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in the 1924 presidential election. ==Legacy== ===Historical reputation and political legacy=== Bryan elicited mixed views during his lifetime and his legacy remains complicated.
William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American orator and politician.
He opposed Darwinism on religious and humanitarian grounds, most famously in the 1925 Scopes Trial.
Since his death in 1925, Bryan has elicited mixed reactions from various commentators, but he is widely considered to have been one of the most influential figures of the Progressive Era. ==Early life and education== William Jennings Bryan was born in Salem, Illinois on March 19, 1860, to Silas Lillard Bryan and Mariah Elizabeth (Jennings) Bryan.
His promotions probably contributed to the Florida real estate boom of the 1920s, which collapsed within months of Bryan's death in 1925. ===Trustee of American University=== Bryan served as a member of the Board of Trustees at American University in Washington, D.C., from 1914 until his death in 1925.
Instead, the General Assembly announced disapproval of materialistic (as opposed to theistic) evolution. ====Scopes Trial==== From July 10 to July 21, 1925, Bryan participated in the highly publicized Scopes Trial, which tested the Butler Act, a Tennessee law barring the teaching of evolution in public schools.
On Sunday, July 26, 1925, Bryan died in his sleep from apoplexy after attending a church service in Dayton.
He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, with an epitaph that read "Statesman, yet Friend to Truth! Of Soul Sincere, in Action Faithful, and in Honor Clear" and on the other side "He Kept the Faith" ==Family== Bryan remained married to his wife, Mary, until his death in 1925.
After Bryan's death in 1925, most intellectuals and activists on the broad left rejected the amalgam that had inspired him: a strict populist morality based on a close read reading of Scripture ...
Ruth won election to Congress in 1928 and later served as the ambassador to Denmark during the presidency of Franklin D.
She was buried next to Bryan after her death in 1930.
Roosevelt and his ideological descendants. Kazin argues that, compared to Bryan, "only Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson had a greater impact on politics and political culture during the era of reform that began in the mid-1890s and lasted until the early 1920s." Writing in 1931, former Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo stated that "with the exception of the men who have occupied the White House, Bryan ...
Johnson, the progressive mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, referred to Bryan's campaign in 1896 as "the first great struggle of the masses in our country against the privileged classes." In a 1934 speech dedicating a memorial to Bryan, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt delivered an address on May 3, 1934, dedicating a statue of William Jennings Bryan created by Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mount Rushmore.
Edwin Maxwell, played Bryan in the 1944 film Wilson, Ainslie Pryor played Bryan in a 1956 episode of the CBS anthology series You Are There.
These assertions are based partly on Baum's history as a Republican supporter who advocated in his role as a journalist on behalf of William McKinley and his policies. Bryan appears as a character in Douglas Moore's 1956 opera The Ballad of Baby Doe.
Edwin Maxwell, played Bryan in the 1944 film Wilson, Ainslie Pryor played Bryan in a 1956 episode of the CBS anthology series You Are There.
The 1960 film adaptation was directed by Stanley Kramer and starred Fredric March as Brady and Spencer Tracy as Drummond. It has been suggested by some economists, historians, and literary critics that L.
This Bryan statue by Borglum originally stood in Washington, D.C., but was displaced by highway construction and moved by an Act of Congress in 1961 to Salem, Illinois, Bryan's birthplace. A statue of Bryan represented the state of Nebraska in the National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol, as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection.
In 1962, former President Harry Truman said Bryan "was a great one—one of the greatest." Truman also claimed: "If it wasn't for old Bill Bryan, there wouldn't be any liberalism at all in the country now.
National Historic Landmark in 1963.
In 2019 a statue of Chief Standing Bear replaced the statue of Bryan in the National Statuary Hall. Bryan was named to the Nebraska Hall of Fame in 1971 and a bust of him resides in the Nebraska State Capitol.
His home at Asheville, North Carolina, from 1917 to 1920, the William Jennings Bryan House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Johnston notes that Bryan was "arguably [the] most influential politician from the Great Plains." In 2015, political scientist Michael G.
In 2019 a statue of Chief Standing Bear replaced the statue of Bryan in the National Statuary Hall. Bryan was named to the Nebraska Hall of Fame in 1971 and a bust of him resides in the Nebraska State Capitol.
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