Bryan, William Jennings 1860-1925

BRYAN, WILLIAM JENNINGS 1860-1925

Democratic> presidential candidate, 1896, 1900, 1908

Secretary of state, 1913-1915

"The Great Commoner."

Best known for his three unsuccessful campaigns for the presidency of the United States (1896, 1900, and 1908), for his tireless advocacy of the rights of the "common man," and for his participation in the Scopes "Monkey" Trial in 1925, William Jennings Bryan is also notable for his exemplary leadership of the faltering Democratic Party during the first decade of the twentieth century.

Background

Born in Salem, Illinois, on 19 March 1860, Bryan inherited from his parents a fervent Protestant faith and an intense commitment to the Democratic Party. After earning an A.B. (1881) and an A.M. (1884) at Illinois College and a law degree from Union Law School in 1883, he married Mary Elizabeth Baird in 1884. In 1887, seeing no political future for himself in Illinois, he set up a law practice in Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1890, when the new Populist Party disrupted Nebraska politics, Bryan ran for Congress as a Democrat and was elected. He was reelected in 1892. In Congress he earned respect for his oratorical skills and became a leader among free-silver Democrats, who came predominantly from rural, agricultural parts of the country and viewed the unlimited coinage of silver as a way of relieving farm debts. He also championed a federal income tax to offset losses from lowering import tariffs, a move that brought him close to the Populists. In 1894 the "Boy Orator of the Platte," as he had become known, led Nebraska Democrats to support the state Populist Party, and he embarked on a speaking tour that gained him a national reputation, but he lost his bid for a Senate seat.

The "Cross of Gold."

During the platform debate over the free-silver issue at the 1896 Democratic convention Bryan delivered one of the greatest political speeches ever given. Speaking in defense of western and southern rural interests, he proclaimed: "You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard, we reply that the great cities rest upon our broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country." He then compared the silver struggle to the American Revolution before moving to his conclusion: "Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interest, the laboring interests, and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: You will not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns." Raking his hand down his temples, he thundered, "You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold." His speech touched off a half-hour of cheering and demonstrating. This "Cross of Gold" speech won him the Democratic presidential nomination and the leadership of his party for the next four presidential elections. He also received the nomination of the Populist Party. His great oratory and unprecedented eighteen thousand miles of travel proved too little against the overwhelming Republican machine, and he lost to William McKinley in 1896 and again in 1900. Bryan's 1896 campaign marked a long-term shift within the Democratic Party from a Jacksonian commitment to minimal government toward a positive view of government.

Campaigning for

Reform. Bryan served as a colonel in a Nebraska regiment during the Spanish-American War, but after the war he opposed McKinley's Philippine policy as imperialism. The 1900 presidential election brought the debate over American imperialism to the fore, causing many Americans to question and rethink what they wanted from their foreign policy. After his loss to McKinley in 1900, Bryan launched a newspaper, The Commoner (an allusion to his nickname, "The Great Commoner"), and made frequent speaking tours—advocating greater popular participation in government decision making, opposing monopolies, and proclaiming the importance of faith in God. Having lost twice, he stepped aside in 1904, only to watch the conservative eastern wing take the party down to an even greater defeat. His 1908 campaign—run under the slogan "Shall the People Rule?"—helped propel the reform movement and put pressure on the conservative-minded William Howard Taft to be more progressive as president. By 1920 the Democratic-Populist campaign plat-forms that Bryan had championed for three decades had been largely adopted, changing forever the way the public viewed their government.

"King Maker."

After his 1908 loss he became the "king maker" of the party and worked for Woodrow Wilson's nomination and election in 1912. His efforts were rewarded with an appointment to the post of secretary of state. As secretary, he promoted conciliation, or coolingoff, treaties, in which the parties agreed to allow a year of independent fact-finding on their disputes before going to war if they could not resolve their differences. When the European war broke out in 1914, Bryan, like Wilson, was committed to neutrality. Trying to avoid having the nation drawn into war, he exceeded Wilson in advocating restrictions on American citizens and businesses. When Wilson began to adopt a hard line against German sub-marine warfare, which was costing American lives, Bryan resigned in protest over the president's move away from neutrality.

The Scopes "Monkey" Trial

After leaving the administration, Bryan worked for peace, Prohibition, and woman suffrage, and he increasingly criticized the teaching of evolution. In 1925 he entered the public arena for the last time when he joined the prosecution in the trial of John Scopes, a Tennessee schoolteacher charged with violating state law by teaching evolution. During what the press called the "Monkey Trial," Scopes's attorney, Clarence Darrow, called Bryan to the witness stand and humiliated him by confusing him and revealing his ignorance of science and archaeology. The two-hour exami-nation was carried live over national radio. Bryan died shortly after the trial. Though not regarded as a deep or original thinker, Bryan is respected for his sincere belief in equality and in helping to improve the lives of common citizens.

Sources:

Robert W. Cherny, A Righteous Cause: The Life of William Jennings Bryan (Boston: Little, Brown, 1985);

Lawrence W. Levine, Defender of the Faith (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1965).