Bryan's endorsement, soon after Chicago, by the Populists, his statement that he would undertake a nationwide tour on an unprecedented scale, and word from local activists of the strong silver sentiment in areas Republicans had to win to take the election, jarred McKinley's party from its complacency. Bryan's biographer, Paolo Coletta, suggests that Bryan may have played a part in inciting the silver men's departure; he was in close contact with Silver Republicans such as Teller and South Dakota Senator Richard Pettigrew. It began as a simple courtesy, with a telegram that William Jennings Bryan sent. Through the almost three decades before his death in 1925, he was ever present on political platform and speaking circuit, fighting first for silver, and then for other causes. "[79] He left the choice of a running mate to the convention; delegates selected Maine shipbuilder Arthur Sewall. Bryan was well rested. Bryan and many other Democrats believed the economic malaise could be remedied through a return to bimetallism, or free silvera policy they believed would inflate the currency and make it easier for debtors to repay loans. The Republican William Howard Taft worked as a judge in Ohio Superior Court and in the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals before accepting a post as the first civilian governor of the Philippines in 1900. The 1896 race is generally seen as a realigning election. "Silver Dick" Bland was seen as the elder statesman of the silver movement; he had originated the Bland-Allison Act of 1878, while Boies' victories for governor in a normally Republican state made him attractive as a candidate who might compete with McKinley in the crucial Midwest. [119] Among the foremost supporters of Bryan was publisher William Randolph Hearst who both contributed to Bryan's campaign and slanted his newspapers' coverage in his favor. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Sherman's act required the government to pay out gold in exchange for silver and paper currency, and through the early months of 1893 gold flowed out of the Treasury. William Jennings Bryan delivering a campaign speech in 1910. They read Bryan when they couldn't go off to listen to him. This popular treatment of the currency issue was highly influential. His widow accompanied his body in a special train car to Washington, where he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. In 2007, Gore won a Nobel read more, Considered the greatest English-speaking writer in history and known as Englands national poet, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) has had more theatrical works performed than any other playwright. He won the prize in his junior year, and also secured the affection of Mary Baird, a student at a nearby women's academy. In 1890, he agreed to run for Congress against William James Connell, a Republican, who had won the local congressional seat in 1888. Both had openly declared their candidacies, and were the only Democrats to have organizations seeking to obtain pledged delegates. Bryan's supporters raised at most $500,000 for the 1896 campaign; McKinley's raised at least $3.5 million. At the center of these efforts was a campaign to end the teaching of evolution in public schools. Bryan. In 1887, Bryan moved to the fast-growing state of Nebraska, where he settled in Lincoln and established a thriving law practice. His 'Cross of Gold' speech, given to conclude the debate on the party platform, immediately transformed him into a favorite for the nomination, and he won it the next day. Although they nominated Bryan for president, they chose Georgia's Thomas E. Watson as vice-presidential candidate; some hoped Bryan would dump Sewall from his ticket. Chicago banker Charles G. Dawes, a McKinley advisor who had known Bryan when both lived in Lincoln, had predicted to McKinley and his friend and campaign manager, Mark Hanna, that if Bryan had the chance to speak to the convention, he would be its choice. He was not yet done with campaigning, however; on November 2, he undertook a train journey across Nebraska in support of Democratic congressional candidates. Though he continued to publicly oppose U.S. involvement in World War I after his resignation, Bryan changed course after the nation entered the conflict in 1917 due to extensive popular support for the war effort. The Cleveland Democrats were temporarily weak, and the Southern-Mountain coalition was ready to hand. Of course I support him. Bryan arrived during the delay; he was greeted with a musical tribute from one of the convention bands,[a] which then returned to playing a medley of Irish melodies. In 1896, William Jennings Bryan ran unsuccessfully for president of the United States. He was defeated in the general election by the Republican candidate, former Ohio governor William McKinley . See, Last edited on 24 November 2022, at 01:09, United States presidential nominating convention, William McKinley 1896 presidential campaign, National Archives and Records Administration, Official Proceedings of the 1896 Democratic National Convention, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Jennings_Bryan_1896_presidential_campaign&oldid=1123490165, This page was last edited on 24 November 2022, at 01:09. He then lowered his arms, and began the journey back to his seat in the silence. Treat all candidates fairly. According to Stanley Jones, "the only conclusion to be reached was that the Bryan campaign, with its emphasis on the free coinage of silver at 16 to 1, had not appealed to the urban working classes. [17] In this, they were led by Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld, who had opposed Cleveland over the Pullman strike. [46], Just before the convention, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) made initial determinations of which delegations were to be seatedonce convened, delegates would make the final determination after the convention's Credentials Committee reported. "[63] He continued: Upon which side will the Democratic Party fight; upon the side of "the idle holders of idle capital" or upon the side of "the struggling masses"? The New York World reported, "The floor of the convention seemed to heave up. [1] As a judge's son, the younger Bryan had ample opportunity to observe the art of speechmaking in courtrooms, political rallies, and at church and revival meetings. In 1904, Taft took on the role of secretary of war in the administration read more, William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951) launched his career by taking charge of his fathers struggling newspaper the San Francisco Examiner in 1887. Free silver was very popular among Nebraskans, though many powerful Democrats opposed it. Bryan, an attorney and former Congressman, galvanized support with his Cross of Gold speech, which called for a reform of the monetary system and attacked business leaders as the cause of ongoing economic depression. [14] After his election to Congress, Bryan studied the currency question carefully, and came to believe in free silver; he also saw its political potential. [105], After the Democratic convention, Bryan had returned triumphantly to Lincoln, making speeches along the way. He slept much of the evening of election day, to be wakened by his wife with telegrams showing the election was most likely lost. New York Senator Hill was next: the leading spokesman for gold, both gold and silver delegates quieted to hear him. It was badly received even by silver delegates, who wished to think of silver as a patriotic, national issue. After a candidate backed by the nascent Populists withdrew, Bryan defeated Connell for the seat by 6,700 votes (nearly doubling Connell's 1888 margin), receiving support from the Populists and Prohibitionists. Coletta noted the problems faced by Bryan in obtaining the nomination, and how his groundwork helped overcome them: The maneuver that paid Bryan highest dividends was his fifteen months of missionary work in behalf of silver and cultivation of the Chicago delegates. However, the President ruled this out; his Cabinet members also refused to run. [73] As Missouri Senator George Vest nominated Bland, his oratory was drowned out by the gallery, "Bryan, Bryan, W.J. Loyal to Cleveland, they wanted to nominate him. The nation was regionally split, with the industrial East and Midwest for McKinley, and with Bryan carrying the Solid South and the silver strongholds of the Rocky Mountain states. Roosevelt was extremely popular as president, and many thought he might reconsider and run as 1908 neared. He maintained contact with silver partisans in other parties, hopeful of gathering them in after a nomination. The 1908 United States presidential election was the 31st quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1908. "[144] Williams believes that Bryan did better than any other Democrat would have, and comments, "The nominee of a divided and discredited party, he had come remarkably close to winning. Many of the elements of the speech had appeared in prior Bryan addresses. If those in favor of honest money don't do something to offset its influence the country is going to the dogs. Bland maintained his lead on the second and third ballots, but on the fourth, with the convention in a huge uproar, Bryan took the lead. The nominations The presidential campaign of 1896 was one of the most exciting in American history. Bryan was strongly affected by the emerging Social Gospel movement that called on Protestant activists to seek to cure social problems such as poverty. The Democrats nominated Arthur Sewall, a wealthy Maine banker and shipbuilder, for vice president. As a result, disillusioned farmers and others formed a new far-left party, which came to be known as the Populist Party. [32] Once delegates were selected, Bryan wrote to party officials and obtained a list; he sent copies of his speeches, clippings from the World-Herald, and his photograph to each delegate.[28]. [93] When Bryan was nominated on a silver platform, the Republicans were briefly gratified, believing that Bryan's selection would result in an easy victory for McKinley. William Jennings Bryan. At the outset of the 1890s, with drought destroying the livelihoods of many American farmers, the Peoples Party (also known as the Populist Party) was growing as a force in U.S. politics by appealing to small farmers, shopkeepers and other less wealthy voters. However, the business man argument was new, though he had hinted at it in an interview he gave at the Republican convention. In June 1896, Bryan's old teacher, former senator Trumbull died; on the day of his funeral, Bryan's mother also died, suddenly in Salem. He campaigned relentlessly, traveling around the country and giving hundreds of speeches to millions of people, while his Republican opponent, Ohio Governor William McKinley, stayed home and gave speeches from his porch. [128] For the most part, Bryan ignored the attacks, and made light of them in his account of the 1896 campaign. [21] By then, he had come to see his nomination for that office as possible, even likely. He was slim, tall, pale, raven-haired, beaked of nose. Others dubbed Bryan a "Popocrat". [127], Republican newspapers painted Bryan as a tool of Governor Altgeld, who was controversial for having pardoned the surviving men convicted of involvement in the Haymarket bombing. Why was the 1896 election devastating for Populist movement? Why did the populist party support william jennings Bryan for president in the presidential election of 1896? After graduating from Illinois College, Bryan earned a law degree from the Union College of Law in Chicago in 1883. [58] He began: I would be presumptuous, indeed, to present myself against the distinguished gentlemen to whom you have listened if this were a mere measuring of abilities; but this is not a contest between persons. Bryan Club" and "Keep Your Eye on Nebraska. Bryan went to the Democratic convention in Chicago as an undeclared candidate, whom the press had given only a small chance of becoming the Democratic nominee. Despite his defeat, Bryan's campaign inspired many of his contemporaries. On September 27, The New York Times published a letter by an "eminent alienist" who, based on an analysis of the candidate's speeches, concluded that Bryan was mad. [94], Despite the confidence of the Republicans, the nomination of Bryan sparked great excitement through the nation. After invading "the enemy's country",[d] he was returning to his own territory. [108] According to Stanley Jones in his study of the 1896 campaign, "Bryan expected that he alone, carrying to the people the message of free silver, would win the election for his party. [103] Populist leader Henry Demarest Lloyd described silver as the "cow-bird" of the Populist Party, which had pushed aside all other issues. Palmer was a 79-year-old former Union general, Buckner a 73-year-old former Confederate of that rank; the ticket was the oldest in combined age in American history, and Palmer the second-oldest presidential candidate (behind Peter Cooper of the Greenback Party; Bryan was the youngest). At first, he rode in public cars, and made his own travel arrangements, looking up train schedules and even carrying his own bags from train station to hotel. The sympathies of the Democratic Party, as shown by the platform, are on the side of the struggling masses, who have ever been the foundation of the Democratic Party. Our delegation should not be too prominent in applause. A Missourian, Ezra Peters, wrote to Illinois Senator John M. Palmer, "Coins [sic] Financial School is raising h in this neck of the woods. Bryan quipped, "I seem to have plenty of friends now, but I remember well when they were very few. In addition to the frontrunners, other silver men were spoken of as candidates. Didn't want to split pro-silver vote Populists 1892 The left-wing Populist Party (which had hoped to nominate the only silver-supporting candidate) endorsed Bryan for president, but found Sewall unacceptable, substituting Thomas E. Watson of Georgia. Though men thought otherwise at the time, neither fate nor accident created his position in the party. [35] Bryan was deeply moved when, after the adoption of the platform, Colorado Senator Henry M. Teller led a walkout of silver-supporting Republicans. There is no legal or constitutional requirement that the loser of a U.S. presidential election must concede. On July 26, 1925, five days after the verdict was issued, Bryan died in his sleep after suffering a stroke. [65], Bryan concluded the address, seizing a place in American history:[66], Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests, and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. [124], Bryan rarely emphasized other issues than silver; leader of a disparate coalition linked by the silver question, he feared alienating some of his supporters. [f] McKinley even won the urban vote in Nebraska. Author: William Jennings Bryan Publisher: Haskell House Pub Limited ISBN: Size: 56.95 MB Format: PDF, ePub, Docs View: 4174 Get Book Disclaimer: This site does not store any files on its server.We only index and link to content provided by other sites. The economic Panic of 1893 had left the nation in a deep recession, which still persisted in early 1896. "I was a Democrat before the Convention and am a Democrat stillvery still. They had been passed as compromises between free silver and the gold standard. Darrow interrogated him on interpreting the Bible literally, which undercut his earlier sweeping religious . [29], Bryan faced a number of disadvantages in seeking the Democratic nomination: he was little-known among Americans who did not follow politics closely, he had no money to pour into his campaign, he lacked public office, and had incurred the enmity of Cleveland and his administration through his stance on silver and other issues. Advocates of free silver (or bimetallism) wanted the government to accept all silver bullion presented to it and to return it, struck into coin, at the historic value ratio between gold and silver of 16 to 1. Those that served principally as agricultural centers or had been founded along the railroad favored Bryan. While the farmers of the south and west continued to support Bryan's proposed economic policies, many found McKinley's to be effective enough. Instead, he sought the Senate seat that the Nebraska legislature would fill in January 1895. Elected to the House of Representatives in 1890, when he was just 30 years old, Bryan championed populist causes including the direct election of senators, graduated federal income tax and the free silver movement, which sought to expand the federal money supply by basing U.S. currency on silver as well as gold. By 1896, populist issues had become so important that the Democratic candidate for president, William Jennings Bryan, pledged to support them and went on to win most of the South and West. [129] Republican newspapers and spokesmen claimed that Bryan's campaign was expensively financed by the silver interests. A large banner outside the Clifton House proclaimed the presence of Nebraska's delegation headquarters, but did not mention Bryan's campaign, which was run from Nebraska's rooms. Retrieved May 19, 2012. Hayes and Harrison both won in the electoral college but lost the popular vote, for example. Much of the blizzard of paper the Republican campaign was able to pay for concentrated on this area/ By September, this had its effect as silver sentiment began to fade. President Cleveland, stunned by the convention's repudiation of him and his policies, decided against open support for a bolt from the party, either by endorsing McKinley or by publicly backing a rival Democratic ticket. For the last decade of his life, he largely dedicated himself to reforming the nations moral and religious character. [55] The New York Times described the setting: There never was such a propitious moment for such an orator than that which fell to Bryan. [27], Through early 1896, Bryan quietly sought the nomination. [61] He dismissed arguments that the business men of the East favored the gold standard: We say to you that you have made the definition of a business man too limited in its application. Rather than continue the free silver battle, he dedicated himself to opposing American imperialism, which he saw as immoral and undemocratic. There was little advantage to the Democratic Party in nominating a candidate from Nebraska, a state small in population that had never voted for a Democrat. The main candidates headquartered at the Palmer House, their rooms often crowded as they served free alcoholic drinks. In the book, Bryan made it clear that the first battle would not be the last, "If we are right, we shall yet triumph. The Gold Democrats received quiet financial support from Hanna and the Republicans. Most cities that were financial or manufacturing centers voted for McKinley. The dark horse is in his stall, feasting on the oats of hope and political straws. No delegation must be permitted to violate instructions given by a state convention. The book, composed of accounts of (fictitious) lectures on the silver issue given by an adolescent named Coin to Chicago audiences, became an immense bestseller. Bryan later asked the Platform Committee chairman, Arkansas Senator James K. Jones why he was given such a crucial role as closing the platform debate; Senator Jones responded that he had three reasons: Bryan's long service in the silver cause, the Nebraskan was the only major speaker not to have addressed the convention, and that Jones had a sore throat. When he spoke of himself as the nominee, some reacted as [journalist] Willis J. Abbot did and doubted his mental capacity. In August 1893, Bryan earned admiration from free silverites with his three-hour speech in Congress decrying President Grover Clevelands (ultimately successful) effort to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 and again tie U.S. currency to the gold standard. Jill Lepore. A bowery had been built for the Fourth of July picnic and dance. But the emergence of a brash, young politician, William Jennings Bryan, soon turned the. [122] He did not campaign on Sundays, but on most other days spoke between 20 and 30 times. [132] Early Republican polls had shown Bryan ahead in crucial Midwestern states, including McKinley's Ohio. Despite his electoral losses, Bryan continued to exert considerable influence through his fervently religious speeches as well as a weekly magazine, the Commoner. Many Republican leaders had gone on vacation for the summer, believing that the fight, on their terms, would take place in the fall. William Jennings Bryan was born in rural Salem, Illinois, in 1860. 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