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.
No comments:
Post a Comment