Epilogue: The Fate of a Christian Liberal

Summary
After a final tour, William Jennings Bryan was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His opponents such as Mencken belittled Bryan as insignificant while his admirers praised his influence as a reformer and a Christian. In the 1930s, Bryan's populist influence reappeared during the Great Depression and the New Deal. His legacy was handed down to his children who gained political roles and spoke about social issues. Fundamentalists and conservative evangelists followed in Bryan's example, and Catholic liberals became contributors in social activism. Although Bryan's memory gradually faded along with the Social Gospel movement, Bryan played an important role in the making of three amendments and starting up a series of reforms. Bryan began a new style of politics in which a candidate appeals to the common people in a friendly, approachable manner. All in all, Bryan deserves recognition for his impact on American history.

Key Terms
H. L. Mencken
Bible Belt
Great Depression
New Deal
Program for Social Reconstruction

Questions
What should William Jennings Bryan be primarily remembered for?
How does Bryan's legacy live on today?

12-foot statue of Bryan by Gutzon Borglum, dedicated to him by FDR

Horydczak, Theodor, Statues and Sculpture. William Jennings Bryan statue, Photograph, from Library of Congress, accessed March 12, 2015, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/thc.5a36017/

Ruth Bryan Owen, Bryan's daughter and congresswoman, and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt and Ruth Bryan Owen in Washington, Washington D.C, Photograph, from Wikimedia Commons, accessed March 12, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eleanor_Roosevelt_and_Ruth_Bryan_Owen_in_Washington,_Washington,_D.C_-_NARA_-_197265.jpg


Kazin, Michael. "The Fate of a Christian Liberal." In A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan, 296-306, New York, NY: Anchor Books, 2006.

Chapter 12: Save the Children, 1920-1925

Summary
In postwar America, William Jennings Bryan dedicated his last few years of his life defending his faith. He battled against modernists and protested against the teaching of Darwinism in public schools. Bryan also continued to speak for prohibition and sexual equality. In the election of 1920, the Democratic Party nominated James Cox for President and Franklin D. Roosevelt for Vice President, but the Republican Party won by a landslide. Bryan's movements unintentionally gained the support of the Ku Klux Klan, and though Bryan did not approve of the Klan's hostility and intolerance, he as a politician did not condemn the group. In the election of 1924, the Democratic Party ran John Davis as President and Bryan's brother Charles Bryan as Vice President against incumbent Republican Calvin Coolidge and third party Progressive Robert La Follette. Bryan's party again lost crushingly, and Bryan lost much of his political influence because many in the party turned against him during the election. In 1925, Bryan assisted in the prosecution of John Thomas Scopes against the defense of Clarence Darrow in the State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes trial. Scopes was accused of teaching Darwinism at a public school which was against Tennessee law. The trial turned into a battle between modernism and fundamentalism. Despite the ruling in favor of the prosecution, the defense ridiculed Bryan during his questioning and demonstrated that fundamentalism and its direct interpretation of the Bible were illogical. A few days after the trial, Bryan went to take an afternoon nap and did not wake up.

Key Terms
Volstead Act
Teapot Dome
Fundamentalism
Modernism
Eighteenth Amendments
Ku Klux Klan
State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes
Clarence Darrow

Questions
What was the main impact of the Scopes trial?
Why did Bryan ignore the KKK's actions?
What goals did Bryan achieve in the time before his death?
What contributed to the Republican Party's success in the last two elections?


Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan during the trial, Photograph, from Famous Trials in American History, accessed March 12, 2015, http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/darrowbryan300.jpg


Kazin, Michael. "Save the Children." In A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan, 262-295, New York, NY: Anchor Books, 2006.

Chapter 11: Moralist in Retreat, 1916-1919

Summary
After he resigned, William Jennings Bryan and his wife moved to Villa Serena in Miami, Florida, where Bryan contributed to the community by speaking, teaching Bible classes, and supporting the Men's Club and YMCA. Woodrow Wilson began to advocate "preparedness" for the war while Bryan traveled speaking against the war. When Germany promised to search vessels for civilians before destroying them, Wilson started to advocate peace again, allowing the Democratic Party to settle disputes and have their convention. Bryan delivered a speech at the convention and agreed to help campaign for Wilson's reelection. But when Germany took back their promise and Wilson's request for "peace without victory" was rejected, Congress voted to declare war on Germany (Kazin 2006, 252). Wilson then asked Bryan to sell the war to the people, which Bryan did by telling people to conserve food and criticizing those who sought to profit from the war. The war allowed Bryan to push the prohibitionist movement more as well as the women's suffrage movement, which his wife also took part in. At the end of the war, Bryan was upset that Wilson did not allow him to partake in the Paris peace conference, so he became a skeptic regarding Wilson's future plans for the League of Nations. But he did advocate the idea of the League as "the greatest step toward peace in a thousand years" (Kazin 2006, 259). As many intellectuals started to suggest radical change, Bryan thought up his own "Constructive Program" that involved matters such as government ownership of railroads and voters' decision to declare war.

Key Terms
John Reed
The Great War
League of Nations
"Constructive Program"
Fascism
Nazism
Bolshevism/Bolshevik Revolution

Questions
Why did the war cause more people to support prohibition?
Why did Bryan decide to go from anti-war to defending the war?
What problems did Bryan have with Wilson's plans?
How did moving to Florida affect his political career geographically?

Villa Serena

Fishbaugh, W. A. Villa Serena, winter home of William Jennings Bryan, 1922. Photograph. from Florida Memory, accessed March 12, 2015, https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/23966.


Kazin, Michael. "Moralist in Retreat." In A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan, 243-261, New York, NY: Anchor Books, 2006.

Chapter 10: Moralist at State, 1913-1915

Summary
Due to his support in the election, President Woodrow Wilson appointed William Jennings Bryan as his Secretary of State. Bryan proposed that the United States sign international arbitration treaties to prevent war and promote peace. Eastern newspapers criticized Bryan for hiring mostly only his Democratic followers from the South and West as well as often taking off to speak at Chautauqua assemblies. Bryan advocated the successes of the Wilson administration: the ratification of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendment, the lowering of tariff rates, the placement of bank regulation in government hands, and the creation of the Federal Trade Commission. However, Wilson increased restrictions on blacks in the South, and Bryan did not question it. Bryan contradicted his peaceful mission to guide Caribbean nations by making diplomatic mistakes and using US military intervention in Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico. When WWI began, Bryan insisted that the US stay neutral and tried to make peace between the nations. However, after the passenger ship Lusitania sank, Wilson's protest to Germany caused Bryan's decision to resign from his position as Secretary of State. Bryan felt that he could assist the United States more outside of office. His resignation led to the downfall of his political career.

Key Terms
Lusitania
Archduke Francis Ferdinand
international arbitration
Sixteenth Amendment
Seventeenth Amendment
Federal Trade Commission
Pancho Villa
Venustiano Carranza
William Gibbs McAdoo

Questions
Why did Bryan decide to resign instead of persisting?
How did Bryan's beliefs about the US affect his choices regarding the Caribbean and Mexico?
What was Bryan's main success as Secretary of State?
What issues did Bryan agree with Wilson on? What issues did they disagree on?
What did the press's opposition reveal about Bryan?

Cartoon of Secretary of State Bryan reading war news in 1914

News from the Front, Political Cartoon, from Wikipedia, accessed March 12, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WJB-fromthewarfront-1914.jpg

Bryan and President Wilson

Woodrow Wilson and William Jennings Bryan standing on steps in front of a building, Photograph, from Library of Congress, accessed March 12, 2015, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004668354/


Kazin, Michael. "Moralist at State." In A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan, 215-242, New York, NY: Anchor Books, 2006.

Chapter 9: Bryan's People

Summary
William Jennings Bryan had a large following throughout his political career. Much of the people who wrote to his newspaper were evangelical Protestants and middle class people who tied themselves to the working class rather than the upper elite. Bryan was supported by his staff at The Commoner including his brother Charles Bryan, Richard L. Metcalfe, Helen Watts-McVey, and Will Maupin. His more loyal followers were pietist Democrats and what was left of the Populists. James Weaver came to see Bryan as a son while Josephus Daniels came to see him as a brother. Daniels, however, declared Anglo-Saxon superiority in North Carolina and highlighted the threat of black men on white women in order to gain Democratic victory. Other followers of Bryan included minister Charles Davis from Chillicothe, surgeon Charles Rosser from Dallas, and lawyer/politician Wayne Williams from Denver. During his 1896 campaign, he attracted the attention of some writers who wrote poems and made references to him. Writers included Edgar Lee Masters who ended turning from Bryan and Vachel Lindsay who eventually turned to socialism. All in all, Bryan's followers consisted of many different types of people.

Key Terms
Charles Bryan
Richard Metcalfe
Helen Watts-McVey
Will Maupin
James Baird Weaver
Josephus Daniels

Questions
What was the main reason for Bryan's vast following?
Did all of his followers see Bryan in the same or different ways?
What is the significance of the variety?
What made some stop following Bryan? What made others continue?

William Jennings Bryan and his brother, Charles Bryan

Bain News Service photographer, C.W. & W.J. Bryan, Photograph, from Wikimedia Commons, accessed March 11, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ChasW%2BWmJBryan.jpg.


Kazin, Michael. "Bryan's People." In A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan, 193-214, New York, NY: Anchor Books, 2006.

Chapter 8: Conscience of the Party, 1909-1912

Summary
In 1909, William Jennings Bryan started to support the prohibition movement, arguing against saloons and alcohol. Since many of his supporters were women, he also supported womens' rights and suffrage. In the time leading up to the election of 1912, the Republican Party was split into conservatives and progressives because President Taft became disliked in the party. Bryan decided not to run in this election, but he had a great amount of influence in the Democratic Party. Bryan wanted to lead the party in the right direction by making sure the nominee for president fit his standards. The contest for nomination was mostly between James "Champ" Clark, the Speaker of the House, and Woodrow Wilson, Princeton's president. Bryan accepted the offer from The World to write and report for them. At the convention in Baltimore, Bryan shocked the convention with his telegram of protest to the candidates and his demand for the withdrawal of anyone associated with the privileged. When New York and Tammany Hall declared their support for Clark, Bryan changed from being neutral to supporting Woodrow Wilson, rejecting Clark because of New York. Bryan's support for Woodrow Wilson allowed Wilson to win the nomination and the presidential election afterwards.

Key Terms
Woodrow Wilson
James "Champ" Clark
Robert La Follette
The World
Anti-Saloon League
Women's Christian Temperance Union

Questions
Why did Bryan decide not to run for the election of 1912?
How did the election of 1912 show Bryan's strong influence on the party?
What was the purpose of Bryan's telegram and demand during the nominating convention?
How were Clark and Wilson similar and different?
Even before New York's support for Clark, why did Bryan seem to be tilting towards Wilson despite the fact that Wilson previously was against Bryan?


American presidential election, 1912, Map, from Britannica Online for Kids, accessed March 11, 2015, http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-67679.


Kazin, Michael. "Conscience of the Party." In A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan, 169-192, New York, NY: Anchor Books, 2006.

Chapter 7: The Ordeal of Reform, 1906-1908

Summary
When William Jennings Bryan returned from his trip abroad, Bryan began his next presidential campaign. At Madison Square Garden, Bryan proposed that railroads be publically owned and dually operated by federal and state government. However, many expressed their worries of his proposal due to concerns about socialism and race problems, so Bryan retreated from his proposal in accordance to majority opinion. Roosevelt decided not to run for reelection and chose William Howard Taft as his successor. Bryan took the Democratic Party nomination first at the Denver Convention with John Kern also on the ticket. Due to Roosevelt's rhetorical presidency and the small difference between the Republican and Democratic platforms, Bryan tried to find reform proposals that would be unlikely for Taft to also support. Bryan decided to support the American labor movement, creating an alliance with Samuel Gompers ans the American Federation of Labor. In this campaign, Bryan tried to appear less radical than previous elections by saying he supported reformation not revolution. Opponents of his campaign used his alliance with the AFL against him, by claiming that Samuel Gompers was telling the organization what to do and who to vote for. W.E.B. Du Bois and the Niagara movement's turn away from Taft provided an opportunity for votes from African American voters, but Bryan decided to reassert his racist view and support of Jim Crow instead. Bryan believed he had a good chance at winning this election because the Democratic Party was more united, but he was disappointed when he yet again lost to Taft. When he asked his supporters why the Mystery of 1908 happened, some suggested the idea that it was due to corporate corruption and others blamed the Catholics.

Key Terms
The Leader by Mary Dillon
National Farmers Union
American Federation of Labor
Samuel Gompers
William Howard Taft
W.E.B. Du Bois
Niagara movement
American Protective Association

Questions
How did Bryan's campaign in 1908 compare to the ones in 1896 and 1900?
Does Bryan's racism agree or disagree with Bryan's beliefs of Social Gospel and progressivism? Why does he ignore the colored issue?
Why did Bryan give up his railroad proposal so easily when he was known for staying true to his beliefs?
How does Mary Dillon's The Leader reflect Bryan's reputation?


American presidential election, 1908, Map, from Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, accessed March 10, 2015, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/67678/Results-of-the-American-presidential-election-1908-Presidential-Candidate-Political


Kazin, Michael. "The Ordeal of Reform." In A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan, 142-168, New York, NY: Anchor Books, 2006.