History UsefulNotes / WilliamJenningsBryan

Bryan is most famous for running for President of the United States [[RuleOfThree three times]], all three as a Democrat (and once as the joint nominee of the now-defunct People's Party). His first and most successful run was in 1896 against Republican UsefulNotes/WilliamMcKinley.[[note]]Just 36 years old at the time, only a year older than the minimum age required to be president by the Constitution, Bryan in 1896 remains the youngest person ever nominated by a major party for the presidency.[[/note]] The primary issue in the race was a severe economic recession that started in 1893. Bryan and his supporters argued that "free silver" would solve the problem: by allowing coins to be minted in cheaper, more abundant silver, more money would be circulated, debtors could more easily pay off their creditors, and the higher prices of goods would favor farmers and ranchers. The Republican Party and the Gold Democrats, the latter of whom included then-President UsefulNotes/GroverCleveland, staunchly opposed this policy, believing the inflation invoked by the silver standard was one of the primary ''causes'' of the recession, and favored a less inflationary gold standard. Though it sounds mundane, at the time it was a ''highly'' controversial issue, splintering the Democratic and Republican parties into factions and creating several minor parties whose sole or primary objective was promoting one standard over the other. At the Democratic National Convention in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}, Bryan delivered his now-famous "Cross of Gold" speech, an impassioned plea to support free silver and a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech scathing denunciation of the gold advocates as favoring urban elites at the expense of poor and rural people]]. Bryan's speech had a tremendous effect, both securing him the Democratic nomination and changing the trajectory of the party's politics towards populism.

Bryan is most famous for running for President of the United States [[RuleOfThree three times]], all three as a Democrat (and once as the joint nominee of the now-defunct People's Party). His first and most successful run was in 1896 against Republican UsefulNotes/WilliamMcKinley.[[note]]Just 36 years old at the time, only a year older than the minimum age required to be president by the Constitution, Bryan in 1896 remains the youngest person ever nominated by a major party for the presidency.[[/note]] The primary issue in the race was a severe economic recession that started in 1893. Bryan and his supporters argued that "free silver" would solve the problem: by allowing coins to be minted in cheaper, more abundant silver, more money would be circulated, debtors could more easily pay off their creditors, and the higher prices of goods would favor farmers and ranchers. The Republican Party and the Gold Democrats, the latter of whom included then-outgoing President UsefulNotes/GroverCleveland, staunchly opposed this policy, believing the inflation invoked by the silver standard was one of the primary ''causes'' of the recession, and favored a less inflationary gold standard. Though it sounds mundane, at the time it was a ''highly'' controversial issue, splintering the Democratic and Republican parties into factions and creating several minor parties whose sole or primary objective was promoting one standard over the other. At the Democratic National Convention in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}, Bryan delivered his now-famous "Cross of Gold" speech, an impassioned plea to support free silver and a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech scathing denunciation of the gold advocates as favoring urban elites at the expense of poor and rural people]]. Bryan's speech had a tremendous effect, both securing him the Democratic nomination and changing the trajectory of the party's politics towards populism.

Unfortunately for Bryan, despite carrying all the southern and most of the western states, the aforementioned splintering of the party caused him to narrowly lose to [=McKinley=]. He was a GracefulLoser, sending [=McKinley=] a congratulatory message by telegraph. Additionally, Bryan was determined that 1896 wouldn't be the end of his ambitions, and he made clear his resolve to run again.

After his second loss, Bryan began to believe that his zeal in political pursuits was interfering with his moral mission. He shelved electoral politics and spent the next eight years shifting his attention to social and religious activism, traveling across the country giving speeches in favor of Progressive issues, campaigning for Progressive politicians, and founding the populist political magazine ''The Commoner'', which was dedicated to educating the public about political issues. It was also during this time that Bryan became known for his public advocacy for Christian Fundamentalism. A devout Presbyterian from a young age, Bryan believed that alcohol and materialism were the greatest evils facing American society. As such, Bryan became known as a [[DryCrusader staunch proponent of Prohibition]] and critic of [[UsefulNotes/CharlesDarwin Darwin's]] theory of evolution.

Bryan ran for president again in 1908, this time against UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft. Taft had the advantage of the star power won by Teddy Roosevelt, who had assumed office after [=McKinley=]'s assassination. Bryan stubbornly attempted to maintain his populist image, accusing the government of being a pawn to corporate interests all throughout his campaign. However, a combination of a booming economy and Roosevelt's trust-busting activities neutralized this strategy, and Bryan suffered his worst defeat yet at the hands of Taft.

After his final loss, Bryan retired from electoral politics completely, instead supporting UsefulNotes/WoodrowWilson's successful 1912 presidential campaign and briefly serving as his Secretary of State. He instead devoted his time to various social issues such as women's suffrage, prohibition, and his continued opposition to evolution. The latter consumed most of his later life, culminating in the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925. On March 25 of that year, UsefulNotes/{{Tennessee}} had passed a law forbidding the teaching the theory of evolution in public schools. Few took the law seriously -- the University of Tennessee even openly refused to comply with it -- but several business leaders and politicians in the town of Dayton saw the law as an opportunity to win their town [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity some free publicity]]. High school teacher John T. Scopes volunteered to be arrested for teaching the theory, and his trial had exactly the intended effect, very quickly becoming national news. The buzz attracted Bryan's attention, who saw the opportunity to win a platform for his anti-evolution crusade and to put Darwin's theory on trial before the entire country, and he was selected to serve as the prosecutor. Opposing him was famed criminal attorney Clarence Darrow, an old rival who despised religious fundamentalism and the idea of censoring scientific education. The trial made a public spectacle of creation-evolution debate in a manner never seen before. In the end, Bryan's grandstanding proved to be his downfall. He assented to being cross-examined by Darrow, despite being the prosecutor, and Darrow humiliated him on the stand. [[DownerEnding This was the last act of Bryan's career, as he died less than a week after the trial ended.]]

In retrospect, Bryan' popular perception of his political career is defined overwhelmingly by [[MemeticLoser his repeated failures to become President]]. This unfortunately overshadows his (admittedly short) prior tenure as a congressman, his popularity as a political activist, his enormous influence in the Democratic Party,[[note]]This might have been bad for the Democratic Party, since some historians speculate Bryan's influence on it contributed to the massive slump it suffered in the years of his presidential campaigns.[[/note]] and his extraordinary work as Secretary of State, which may have helped keep America out of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. Several theories have been advanced as to why he never got the big job: some say Bryan shot himself in the foot by [[SingleIssueWonk putting all his eggs in the "free silver" basket]]; some say that his attempts to pursue a middle path between economic conservatism and Progressivism backfired, [[GoldenMeanFallacy making both sides dislike him]]; and some just chalk it up to the bad luck of firstly having to follow Cleveland's unpopular second term, and secondly having to go up against the Republican Party when it was lead by a figure as iconic as Teddy Roosevelt, something that would perhaps have been futile for ''any'' Democratic politician of the era. Today, you'll almost always hear him being praised as a folk hero or denounced as a demagogue, with very little middle ground.

His reputation as "The Great Commoner" is also somewhat complicated. While he spoke and politicked on behalf of the poor, he himself had made a fortune in real estate. Also, despite disdaining racism, he never supported contemporary efforts towards racial equality and had a very conciliatory attitude toward racial segregation. His anti-elitism was also somewhat {{hypocrit|e}}ical; he often seemed more interested in romanticizing and moralizing at the common man than genuinely advocating for him. His concept of "The Common Man" also categorically excluded the urban poor, who were greatly disadvantaged by Bryan's key policy (a two-metal standard meant higher rents and inflated prices of goods) and whom he decried in many of his speeches as morally degenerate. In his campaigns, he comes off as a SlaveToPR, whose positions tended to be calculated to appeal to his supporters rather than any higher principle, though he was known to take risks, such as his afforementioned support of women's suffrage and military non-intervention. We will never know whether he would have made an effective president, or if he would have persisted as a populist, if he had ever won the office.

'''William Jennings Bryan''' (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American politician, lawyer, and orator. He was the face and voice of populist politics for his era, putting his enormous rhetorical gifts in the service of the common man, as well as a staunch defense of religious fundamentalism.

His reputation as "The Great Commoner" is also somewhat complicated. While he spoke and politicked on behalf of the poor, he himself had made a fortune in real estate. Also, despite disdaining racism, he never supported contemporary efforts towards racial equality and had a very conciliatory attitude toward racial segregation. His anti-elitism was also somewhat {{hypocrit|e}}ical; he often seemed more interested in romanticizing and moralizing at the common man than genuinely advocating for him. His concept of "The Common Man" also categorically excluded the urban poor, who were greatly disadvantaged by Bryan's key policy (a two-metal standard meant higher rents and inflated prices of goods) and decried in many of his speeches as morally degenerate. In his campaigns, he comes off as a SlaveToPR, whose positions tended to be calculated to appeal to his supporters rather than any higher principle, though he was known to take risks, such as his afforementioned support of women's suffrage and military non-intervention. Whether he would have made an effective president if he had ever won the office and whether he would have maintained his enthusiasm for populism as such are disputable.

In retrospect, Bryan suffers from a very severe case of NeverLiveItDown. Popular perception of his political career is defined overwhelmingly by [[MemeticLoser his repeated failures to become President]], ignoring his (admittedly short) prior tenure as a congressman, his popularity as a political activist, his enormous influence in the Democratic Party,[[note]]This might have been bad for the Democratic Party, since some historians speculate Bryan's influence on it contributed to the massive slump it suffered in the years of his presidential campaigns.[[/note]] and his extraordinary work as Secretary of State, which may have helped keep America out of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. Several theories have been advanced as to why he never got the big job: some say Bryan shot himself in the foot by [[SingleIssueWonk putting all his eggs in the "free silver" basket]]; some say that his attempts to pursue a middle path between economic conservatism and Progressivism backfired, [[GoldenMeanFallacy making both sides dislike him]]; and some just chalk it up to the bad luck of firstly having to follow Cleveland's unpopular second term, and secondly having to go up against the Republican Party when it was lead by a figure as iconic as Teddy Roosevelt, something that would perhaps have been futile for ''any'' Democratic politician of the era. Today, you'll almost always hear him being praised as a folk hero or denounced as a demagogue, with very little middle ground.

In retrospect, Bryan suffers from a very severe case of NeverLiveItDown. Popular perception of his political career is defined overwhelmingly by [[MemeticLoser his repeated failures to become President]], ignoring his (admittedly short) prior tenure as a congressman, his popularity as a political activist, his enormous influence in the Democratic Party,[[note]]This might have been bad for the Democratic Party, since some historians speculate Bryan's influence on it contributed to the massive slump it suffered in the years of his presidential campaigns.[[/note]] and his extraordinary work as Secretary of State, which may have helped keep America out of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. Several theories have been advanced as to why he never got the big job: some say Bryan shot himself in the foot by [[SingleIssueWonk putting all his eggs in the "free silver" basket]]; some say that his attempts to pursue a middle path between economic conservatism and Progressivism backfired, [[GoldenMeanFallacy making both sides dislike him]]; and some just chalk it up to bad luck. Today, you'll almost always hear him being praised as a folk hero or denounced as a demagogue, with very little middle ground.

Bryan did challenge [=McKinley=] again in 1900. With the outbreak of the UsefulNotes/SpanishAmericanWar, Bryan once again found himself a Democratic outsider, opposing the war and American imperialism in general. This turned out to be an unpopular opinion; most Americans believed the war was a short-term military operation meant to liberate UsefulNotes/{{Cuba}} and the UsefulNotes/{{Philippines}} from UsefulNotes/{{Spa|in}}nish tyranny. Bryan, initially supportive of the idea of exporting democracy abroad, had come to believe that the war was being waged for material reasons to create an American empire. His opposition to the war got him branded a coward and a phony in the press, as did the support he received from many of the economic interests that he had opposed in his previous campaign. Furthering his troubles was his persistence in calling for free silver, a position that had lost much of its appeal thanks to an economic boom during the [=McKinley=] administration. In addition, [=McKinley=]'s running mate, a young UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt, matched and even surpassed Bryan's fiery oratory and vigorous campaigning. As a result, he lost to [=McKinley=] a second time, this time by a larger margin.

Bryan is most famous for running for President of the United States [[RuleOfThree three times]], all three as a Democrat (and once as the joint nominee of the now-defunct People's Party). His first and most successful run was in 1896 against Republican UsefulNotes/WilliamMcKinley.[[note]]Just 36 years old at the time, only a year older than the minimum age required to be president by the Constitution, Bryan in 1896 remains the youngest person ever nominated by a major party for the presidency.[[/note]] The primary issue in the race was a severe economic recession that started in 1893. Bryan and many other Democrats and nascent-leftish third parties argued that "free silver" would solve the problem: by allowing coins to be minted in silver (which was cheaper than UsefulNotes/{{gold}}, then the sole accepted standard), more money would be circulated, debtors could more easily pay off their creditors, and the higher prices of goods would favor farmers and ranchers. The Republican Party and the Gold Democrats, the latter of whom included then-outgoing President UsefulNotes/GroverCleveland, staunchly opposed this policy, believing the inflation invoked by the silver standard was one of the primary ''causes'' of the recession. Though it sounds mundane, at the time it was a ''highly'' controversial issue, splintering the Democratic and Republican parties into factions and creating several minor parties whose sole or primary objective was promoting one standard over the other. At the Democratic National Convention in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}, Bryan delivered his now-famous "Cross of Gold" speech, an impassioned plea to support free silver and a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech scathing denunciation of the gold advocates as favoring urban elites at the expense of poor and rural people]]. Bryan's speech had a tremendous effect, both securing him the Democratic nomination and changing the trajectory of the party's politics towards populism.

Unfortunately for Bryan, despite carrying all the southern and most of the western states, the aforementioned splintering of the party caused him to narrowly lose to [=McKinley=]. He was a GracefulLoser, sending [=McKinley=] a congratulatory message by telegraph; this began a tradition of losing candidates giving formal concession statements at the end of a presidential election, a tradition that would be upheld for the next 124 years. Only in 2020 was the tradition first broken by UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump, who refused to concede defeat and instead filed a number of lawsuits intended to block the transition to a UsefulNotes/JoeBiden presidency. Bryan, for his part, was surprised the tradition existed-- he simply felt it was common courtesy to send [=McKinley=] his congratulations. Additionally, Bryan was determined that 1896 wouldn't be the end of his ambitions, and he made clear his resolve to run again.

In retrospect, Bryan suffers from a very severe case of NeverLiveItDown. Popular perception of his political career is defined overwhelmingly by [[MemeticLoser his repeated failures to become President]], ignoring his (admittedly short) prior tenure as a congressman, his popularity as a political activist, his enormous influence in the Democratic Party,[[note]]Admittedly, this might have been bad for the Democratic Party, since some historians speculate Bryan's influence on it contributed to the massive slump it suffered in the years of his presidential campaigns.[[/note]] and his extraordinary work as Secretary of State, which may have helped keep America out of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. Several theories have been advanced as to why he never got the big job: some say Bryan shot himself in the foot by [[SingleIssueWonk putting all his eggs in the "free silver" basket]]; some say that his attempts to pursue a middle path between economic conservatism and Progressivism backfired, [[GoldenMeanFallacy making both sides dislike him]]; and some just chalk it up to bad luck. Today, you'll almost always hear him being praised as a folk hero or denounced as a demagogue, with very little middle ground.

His legacy, however, probably suffers most with regards to his religion: thanks to his participation in the farcical Scopes Trial being literally the last thing he ever did, he has an unshakable reputation as TheFundamentalist.[[note]]It's worth noting that Bryan's performance at the trial demonstrated his actual religious beliefs very poorly. He tried to [[ObfuscatingStupidity play up his ignorance]] [[SimpleCountryLawyer and zealotry]] to win over the crowd, press coverage of the trial portrayed him as an undereducated backwater fanatic, and Darrow's cross-examination of him helped to support that portrayal.[[/note]] In fact, Bryan's attitude towards Darwinism was not entirely motivated by AntiIntellectualism. Bryan was bothered by "Neo-Darwinism", contemporaneous trends in social and political philosophy that led him to believe that Darwinism as applied to human beings promoted elitism, materialism, militarism, and oppression of the weak and downtrodden. Considering the dominance of [[TheSocialDarwinist social Darwinism]] as a school of thought during that time, it was a relatively reasonable position to take. Also, while Bryan was technically a "Fundamentalist," the word meant something different then than it does today. Bryan promoted Biblical literalism not because he was a Bible-thumping conservative, but because he believed a just {{God}} would make ''Literature/TheBible'' as accessible to poor farmers as to trained theologians. He opposed Modernist approaches to Biblical criticism because he believed they promoted [[ContemplateOurNavels idle philosophical speculation]] over simple morality and piety and would subvert the ethical foundations of Christianity in favor of the "MightMakesRight" philosophy he hated. He did, however, encourage the metaphorical interpretation of some parts of the Bible, such as interpreting the days in the Genesis creation story as thousand-year "ages", not 24-hour periods, and permitting for a belief in the evolution of non-human species.

His reputation as "The Great Commoner" is also somewhat complicated. While he spoke and politicked on behalf of the poor, he himself had made a fortune in real estate. Also, despite disdaining racism, he never supported contemporary efforts towards racial equality and had a very conciliatory attitude toward racial segregation. His anti-elitism was also somewhat {{hypocrit|e}}ical; he often seemed more interested in romanticizing and moralizing at the common man than genuinely advocating for him. (It's also been criticized as inconsistent: in his Cross of Gold speech and others, he extolled the greater resilience and character of rural people as opposed to city dwellers, and [[https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/02/divided-and-conquered some 21st-century writers]] have criticized him retrospectively for ignoring the concerns of the urban poor.) In his campaigns, he comes off as a SlaveToPR, arguing for positions he didn't really believe in just to maintain his popularity. Whether he would have made an effective president if he had ever won the office and whether he would have maintained his enthusiasm for populism as such are disputable.

Unfortunately for Bryan, despite carrying all the southern and most of the western states, he narrowly lost to [=McKinley=]. He was a GracefulLoser, sending [=McKinley=] a congratulatory message by telegraph; this began a tradition of losing candidates giving formal concession statements at the end of a presidential election, a tradition that would be upheld for the next 124 years. Only in 2020 was the tradition first broken by UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump, who refused to concede defeat and instead filed a number of lawsuits intended to block the transition to a UsefulNotes/JoeBiden presidency. Bryan, for his part, was surprised the tradition existed-- he simply felt it was common courtesy to send [=McKinley=] his congratulations. Additionally, Bryan was determined that 1896 wouldn't be the end of his ambitions, and he made clear his resolve to run again.

His legacy, however, probably suffers most with regards to his religion: thanks to his participation in the farcical Scopes Trial being literally the last thing he ever did, he has an unshakable reputation as TheFundamentalist.[[note]]It's worth noting that Bryan's performance at the trial demonstrated his actual religious beliefs very poorly. He tried to [[ObfuscatingStupidity play up his ignorance]] [[SimpleCountryLawyer and zealotry]] to win over the crowd, press coverage of the trial portrayed him as an undereducated backwater fanatic, and Darrow's cross-examination of him helped to support that portrayal.[[/note]] In fact, Bryan's attitude towards Darwinism was not entirely motivated by AntiIntellectualism. Bryan was bothered by "Neo-Darwinism", contemporaneous trends in social and political philosophy that led him to believe that Darwinism as applied to human beings promoted elitism, materialism, militarism, and oppression of the weak and downtrodden. Considering the dominance of [[TheSocialDarwinist social Darwinism]] as a school of thought during that time, it was a relatively reasonable position to take. Also, while Bryan was technically a "Fundamentalist," [[SocietyMarchesOn the word meant something different then than it does today]]. Bryan promoted Biblical literalism not because he was a Bible-thumping conservative, but because he believed a just {{God}} would make ''Literature/TheBible'' as accessible to poor farmers as to trained theologians. He opposed Modernist approaches to Biblical criticism because he believed they promoted [[ContemplateOurNavels idle philosophical speculation]] over simple morality and piety and would subvert the ethical foundations of Christianity in favor of the "MightMakesRight" philosophy he hated. He did, however, encourage the metaphorical interpretation of some parts of the Bible, such as interpreting the days in the Genesis creation story as thousand-year "ages", not 24-hour periods, and permitting for a belief in the evolution of non-human species.

His reputation as "The Great Commoner" is also somewhat complicated. While he spoke and politicked on behalf of the poor, he himself had made a fortune in real estate. Also, despite disdaining racism, he never supported contemporary efforts towards racial equality and had a very conciliatory attitude toward racial segregation. His anti-elitism was also somewhat {{hypocrit|e}}ical; he often seemed more interested in romanticizing and moralizing at the common man than genuinely advocating for him. (It's also been criticized as inconsistent: in his Cross of Gold speech and others, he extolled the greater resilience and character of rural people as opposed to city dwellers, and [[https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/02/divided-and-conquered some 21st-century writers]] have criticized him retrospectively for ignoring the concerns of this group, which was burgeoning even in his time.) In his campaigns, he comes off as a SlaveToPR, arguing for positions he didn't really believe in just to maintain his popularity. Whether he would have made an effective president if he had ever won the office and whether he would have maintained his enthusiasm for populism as such are disputable.

* A popular intepretation of ''Literature/TheWizardOfOz'' is that the Cowardly Lion is a caricature of Bryan, having a "roaring" rhetorical presence despite being perceived as cowardly for his positions.