"[123] After a brief interval for handshakes, the train would pull out again, to another town down the track.[123]. [47] Since the DNC action meant Bryan would not have a seat at the start of proceedings, he could not be the temporary chairman (who would deliver the keynote address); the Nebraskan began looking for other opportunities to make a speech at the convention. William Jennings Bryan. [96][97] According to Stanley Jones, "the Democratic endorsement of silver and Bryan at Chicago precipitated the disintegration" of the Populist Party;[98] it was never again a force in national politics after 1896. Many were disappointed; the Democratic candidate read a two-hour speech from a manuscript, wishing to look statesmanlike, and fearing that if he spoke without a script, the press would misrepresent his words. [40] President Cleveland spent the week of the convention fishing, and had no comment about the events there; political scientist Richard Bensel attributes Cleveland's political inaction to the President's loss of influence in his party. The 1900 United States presidential election took place after an economic recovery from the Panic of 1893 as well as after the Spanish-American War, with the economy, foreign policy, and imperialism being the main issues of the campaign. Bryans pacifist stance put him increasingly at odds with the president, however, and he resigned in 1915 in protest after Wilson sent a second note to Germany demanding an end to submarine warfare after the sinking of the Lusitania, an action Bryan felt went too far toward violating American neutrality. I don't know but its effect will be to nominate him. It is the substance we are after, and we have it with William J. [95], The Populist strategy for 1896 was to nominate the candidate most supportive of silver. The Coliseum was located in a "dry" district of Chicago but the hotels were not. He made 27speeches, including seven in Omaha, the last concluding a few minutes before midnight. 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. 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. "[130], In September, the Gold Democrats met in convention in Indianapolis. After graduating from Illinois College, Bryan earned a law degree from the Union College of Law in Chicago in 1883. [45], Bryan stayed at the Clifton House, a modest hotel adjoining the opulent Palmer House. In post-Civil War America, oratory was highly prized, and Bryan showed aptitude for it from a young age, raised in his father's house in Salem. His enemies regarded him as an ambitious demagogue, but his supporters viewed him as a champion of liberal causes. [67], Bryan described the stillness as "really painful"; his anxieties that he might have failed were soon broken by pandemonium. [62][64] He responded to an argument by Senator Vilas that from silver forces might arise a Robespierre. [151] The poet Vachel Lindsay, 16years old in 1896, passionately followed Bryan's first campaign, and wrote of him many years later: Where is that boy, that Heaven-born Bryan,That Homer Bryan, who sang from the West?Gone to join the shadows with Altgeld the Eagle,Where the kings and the slaves and the troubadours rest.[152]. Stone, chair of the notification committee, essayed a lengthy speech, he was drowned out by the crowd, which wanted to hear "the Boy Orator of the Platte". Rather than continue the free silver battle, he dedicated himself to opposing American imperialism, which he saw as immoral and undemocratic. The song was "Sift Sand, Sal", the source does not explain the relevance of this to Bryan. The DNC seated a rival, pro-gold Nebraska delegation, and recommended New York Senator David B. Hill as the convention's temporary chairman, each by a vote of 2723. He was followed by Senator William Vilas of Wisconsin and former Massachusetts Governor William D. Russell. [121], During this tour, Bryan spoke almost exclusively on the silver question, and attempted to mold the speeches to reflect local issues and interests. See. The coalition of wealthy, middle-class and urban voters that defeated Bryan kept the Republicans in power for most of the time until 1932. "[142] By the end of 1896, Bryan had published his account of the campaign, The First Battle. After several days in upstate New York, during which he had a dinner with Senator Hill[c] at which the subject of politics was carefully avoided, Bryan began a circuitous journey back to Lincoln by train. [30] As state conventions met to nominate delegates to the July national convention, for the most part, they supported silver, and sent silver men to Chicago. I will add for the encouragement of those who still believe that money is not necessary to secure a Presidential nomination that my entire expenses while in attendance upon the convention were less than $100. [104] The National Silver Party, mostly former Republicans, met at the same time as the Populists; both conventions were in St. Louis. He spoke some 600 times, to an estimated 5,000,000 listeners. His campaign was low-key, without excessive publicity: Bryan did not want to attract the attention of more prominent candidates. [144] According to Kazin, "what is remarkable is not that Bryan lost but that he came as close as he did to winning. [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. These Truths: A History of the United States. [53] Once White started the proceedings, he turned over the gavel to Senator Jones, who read the proposed platform to great applause from silver delegates, and hissing from gold men. Those that served principally as agricultural centers or had been founded along the railroad favored Bryan. why did william jennings bryan lose the election of 1896? He knew personally more delegates than did any other candidate and he was on the ground to supervise his strategy. He also argued in support of a graduated income tax, antitrust laws and other government regulation of business, womens suffrage and the prohibition of alcohol. McKinley did well in the border states of Maryland, West Virginia, and Kentucky. As the presidential election year of 1896 began, things were looking rosy for the Republicans. New York Senator Hill was next: the leading spokesman for gold, both gold and silver delegates quieted to hear him. The President's uncompromising stand for gold alienated many in his own party (most southern and western Democrats were pro-silver). The 1896 presidential race is generally considered a realigning election, when there is a major shift in voting patterns, upsetting the political balance. NAACP what organization used the court system to fight discrimination? Others dubbed Bryan a "Popocrat". [22][23] In the 17months between his departure from Congress and the Democratic National Convention in July 1896, Bryan travelled widely through the South and West, speaking on silver. Bryan sensed the possibility of becoming the nominee long before 1896; his ambition was fully matured several months prior to the convention, and there is evidence that his hopes were becoming tinged with certainty before he left for Chicago. The vice presidential squabble, Williams argues, worried voters who feared that instability would follow a Bryan victory, and drove them towards McKinley. The main candidates headquartered at the Palmer House, their rooms often crowded as they served free alcoholic drinks. They had been passed as compromises between free silver and the gold standard. 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. 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. On July 26, 1925, five days after the verdict was issued, Bryan died in his sleep after suffering a stroke. Soon afterwards, the delegates, bored, shouted for a speech from Bryan, but he was not to be found. He was utterly confident that he would succeed, believing "the logic of the situation," as he later put it, dictated his selection. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images). Bryan quipped, "I seem to have plenty of friends now, but I remember well when they were very few. If those in favor of honest money don't do something to offset its influence the country is going to the dogs. The campaign, as it proved, was badly organized: This was Jones' first national campaign, and the party structure in many states was either only newly in the control of silver forces, or in gold states wanted no part of the national ticket. William McKinley defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan, winning 292 electoral votes to Bryan's 155. [35] Bryan was deeply moved when, after the adoption of the platform, Colorado Senator Henry M. Teller led a walkout of silver-supporting Republicans. The position involved no day-to-day duties, but allowed him to publish his political commentaries. We come to speak of this broader class of business men.[62][63]. Carrying some 200 people, the train bore signs on each of its five cars, such as "The W.J. Bryan believed he could use the coalition-building techniques he had applied in gaining election to Congress, uniting pro-silver forces behind him to gain the Democratic nomination and the presidency. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. Their enthusiasm at the unrehearsed rear platform appearances and in the formal speeches was spontaneous and contagious. The economic Panic of 1893 had left the nation in a deep recession, which still persisted in early 1896. [28] He continued to give speeches, and collected his traveling expenses, and most often a speaking fee, from those who had invited him. "[131], The South and most of the West were deemed certain to vote for Bryan. Decide to endorse William Jennings Bryan (Democratic candidate). The biggest announcement in the run-up to the 1908 presidential election came in 1904 when, on the evening of his election, Pres. "[101] Many Populists saw the election of Bryan, whose positions on many issues were not far from theirs, as the quickest path to the reforms they sought; a majority of delegates to the convention in St. Louis favored him. Bryan's sterling record on the issue left the Populists with a stark choice: They could endorse Bryan, and risk losing their separate identity as a party, or nominate another candidate, thus dividing the pro-silver vote to McKinley's benefit. Senator Jones felt compelled to spend five minutes (granted by the gold side), stating that the silver issue crossed sectional lines. On the fifth ballot, other states joined the Bryan bandwagon, making him the Democratic candidate for president.[76][77]. We have submitted the issues to the American people and their will is law. "[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"? 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. Our delegation should not be too prominent in applause. He lost a presidential bid to George W. Bush in 2000. Most cities that were financial or manufacturing centers voted for McKinley. [105], After the Democratic convention, Bryan had returned triumphantly to Lincoln, making speeches along the way. 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