Wherever his train went people, who had travelled from nearby farms and villages, waved and shouted encouragement. Bryan served as Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson from 1913 to 1915, resigning as Wilson moved the nation closer to intervention in World War I. William Jennings Bryan delivering a campaign speech in 1910. The coalition of wealthy, middle-class and urban voters that defeated Bryan kept the Republicans in power for most of the time until 1932. The presidents of this eraRutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrisonare often remembered as colorless and ineffective. The Cleveland Democrats were temporarily weak, and the Southern-Mountain coalition was ready to hand. It was not until 10:45am, three-quarters of an hour late, that Chairman White called the convention to order. If this robbery is permitted, the farmer will be ruined, and then the cities will suffer. However, the business man argument was new, though he had hinted at it in an interview he gave at the Republican convention. [87] Large numbers of traditionally Democratic newspapers refused to support Bryan, including the New York World, whose circulation of 800,000 was the nation's largest, and major dailies in cities such as Philadelphia, Detroit, and Brooklyn. The effect was deflationary. Perhaps a vote taken then would have given Bryan the election. 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. He was utterly confident that he would succeed, believing "the logic of the situation," as he later put it, dictated his selection. Although not a landslide shift comparable to election swings in the twentieth century, McKinley's victory ended the pattern of close popular margins that had characterized elections since the Civil War. 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. His widow accompanied his body in a special train car to Washington, where he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He won the prize in his junior year, and also secured the affection of Mary Baird, a student at a nearby women's academy. William Jennings Bryan. But the emergence of a brash, young politician, William Jennings Bryan, soon turned the. "[70], When order was restored after Bryan's speech, the convention passed the platform, voting down the minority report and a resolution in support of the Cleveland administration; it then recessed for a few hours until 8:00pm, when nominating speeches were to be made. While speaking in McKinley's hometown of Canton, Ohio, Bryan yielded to impulse and called upon his rival at his home with Congressman Bland; the Republican candidate and his wife, somewhat startled, received the two men hospitably in a scene Williams calls, "surely bizarre. Men and women threw their hats into the air, not caring where they might come down. He argued that children being taught the survival of the fittest would in time stop caring about the poor and otherwise needier members of the population. The convention, by voice vote, seated the silver Nebraskans, who arrived in the convention hall a few minutes later, accompanied by a band. An ardent read more, A native of Tennessee, Al Gore served as vice president of the United States under President Bill Clinton from 1992 to 2000, after a long tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. [6][7][8], In Congress, Bryan was appointed to the powerful Ways and Means Committee and became a major spokesman on the tariff and money questions. William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), the U.S. congressman from Nebraska, three-time presidential nominee and secretary of state, emerged near the end of the 19th century as a leading voice in the. 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. If those in favor of honest money don't do something to offset its influence the country is going to the dogs. [132] Early Republican polls had shown Bryan ahead in crucial Midwestern states, including McKinley's Ohio. [37], In the run up to the Democratic National Convention, set to begin at the Chicago Coliseum on July 7, 1896, no candidate was seen as an overwhelming favorite for the presidential nomination. The 1896 presidential race is generally considered a realigning election, when there is a major shift in voting patterns, upsetting the political balance. The minority report attracted the opposite reaction.[54]. I come to speak to you in defense of a cause as holy as the cause of libertythe cause of humanity.[59]. The 1896 Democratic National Convention repudiated the Cleveland administration and nominated Bryan on the fifth presidential ballot. The humblest citizen in all the land, when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error. This would restore a practice abolished in 1873. He lost a presidential bid to George W. Bush in 2000. 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. [138] Palmer received less than 1% of the vote, but his vote total in Kentucky was greater than McKinley's margin of victory there. [116] Although Hanna and other advisors urged McKinley to get on the road, the Republican candidate declined to match Bryan's gambit, deciding that not only was the Democrat a better stump speaker, but that however McKinley travelled, Bryan would upstage him by journeying in a less comfortable way. After graduating from Illinois College, Bryan earned a law degree from the Union College of Law in Chicago in 1883. The 1896 campaign, which took place during an economic depression known as the Panic of 1893, was a realigning election that ended the old Third Party System and began the Fourth Party System. Their enthusiasm at the unrehearsed rear platform appearances and in the formal speeches was spontaneous and contagious. The man who is employed for wages is as much a business man as his employer; the attorney in a country town is as much a business man as the corporation counsel in a great metropolis; the merchant at the cross-roads store is as much a business man as the merchant of New York; the farmer who goes forth in the morning and toils all day, who begins in spring and toils all summer, and who by the application of brain and muscle to the natural resources of the country creates wealth, is as much a business man as the man who goes upon the Board of Trade and bets upon the price of grain; the miners who go down a thousand feet into the earth, or climb two thousand feet upon the cliffs, and bring forth from their hiding places the precious metals to be poured into the channels of trade are as much business men as the few financial magnates who, in a back room, corner the money of the world. Theodore Roosevelt announced that he would not seek a subsequent term in office. Confusion over ballots in Minnesota resulted in 15,000voided votes and may have thrown that state to the Republicans. [115], Bryan's plan for victory was to undertake a strenuous train tour, bringing his message to the people. Bryan remained at his hotel, sending word to his fellow Nebraskans, "There must be no pledging, no promising, on any subject with anybody. He was not yet done with campaigning, however; on November 2, he undertook a train journey across Nebraska in support of Democratic congressional candidates. [28] He continued to give speeches, and collected his traveling expenses, and most often a speaking fee, from those who had invited him. Department of State: Office of the Historian. Many of the elements of the speech had appeared in prior Bryan addresses. A free silver policy would inflate the currency, as the silver in a dollar coin was worth just over half the face value. "[57] The Nebraska delegation waved red handkerchiefs as Bryan progressed to the podium;[56] he wore an alpaca sack suit more typical of Lincoln and the West than of Chicago. Of course I support him. When he spoke of himself as the nominee, some reacted as [journalist] Willis J. Abbot did and doubted his mental capacity. Jill Lepore. That evening, Bryan dined with his wife and with friends. After running unsuccessfully for the Senate in 1894, Bryan returned to Nebraska and became editor of the Omaha World-Herald. [33] Bryan spoke at her funeral, quoting lines from Second Timothy: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Morgan noted, "full organization, [Republican] party harmony, a campaign of education with the printed and spoken word would more than counteract" Bryan's speechmaking. [126] In what Williams describes as "a political campaign that became an American legend",[106] Bryan traveled to 27 of the 45 states, logging 18,000 miles (29,000km), and in his estimated 600 speeches reached some 5,000,000 listeners. Even in the South, Bryan attracted 59% of the rural vote, but only 44% of the urban vote, taking 57% of the southern vote overall. [4] Looking for a growing city in which his practice could thrive, he moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1887. [144] According to Kazin, "what is remarkable is not that Bryan lost but that he came as close as he did to winning. Its leaders have used rhetoric that stirs up anger, floated conspiracy theories, pushed the distrust of read more, William McKinley served in the U.S. Congress and as governor of Ohio before running for the presidency in 1896. [49] Bryan had been widely supported as a candidate for permanent chairman by the silver men, but some western delegates on the Committee on Permanent Organization objected, stating that they wanted the chance to support Bryan for the nomination (the permanent chairman was customarily ruled out as a candidate). William Jennings Bryan on the Stand Calling Bryan to the stand was a shock for the court. William Jennings Bryan (D) Loading. Many Cleveland supporters decried Bryan as no true Democrat, but a fanatic and socialist, his nomination procured through demagoguery. Why did the populist party support william jennings Bryan for president in the presidential election of 1896? Ultimately, the incumbent U.S. President William McKinley ended up defeating the anti-imperialist William Jennings Bryan and thus won a second four-year . Speeches was spontaneous and contagious and the Southern-Mountain coalition was ready to hand Democrats were temporarily,. 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