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Article Title: William Jennings Bryan and the Historians
Full Citation: Robert W Cherny, “William Jennings Bryan and the Historians,” Nebraska History 77 (1996): 184- 193
URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1996Bryan_Historians.pdf Date: 5/03/2013
Article Summary: Bryan, the most influential Democrat of his time, fascinates historians even though he never won a presidential election. Most recent scholars agree that he had a sincere confidence in the ability of the people to govern themselves.
Cataloging Information:
Names: William Jennings Bryan, William McKinley, Mary Baird Bryan, Richard Metcalfe, H L Mencken, Vachel Lindsay
Historians Discussed: Vernon Parrington, Frederick Jackson Turner, Charles A Beard, Wayne C Williams, M R Werner, John C Long, Paxton Hibben, Charles Edward Merriam, Joseph V Fuller, Merle Curti, Henry Steele Commager, Richard Hofstadter, Ray Ginger, Richard Challener, J Rogers Hollingsworth, Paul Glad, Lawrence Levine, Paolo Coletta, Louis W Koenig, Kendrick Clements, David D Anderson, LeRoy Ashby, John Milton Cooper
Keywords: William Jennings Bryan, William McKinley, Mary Baird Bryan, agrarian movement, Progressive paradigm, silver, (Bryan as) secretary of state, pacifism, American neutrality, income tax, popular election of US senators, woman suffrage, Democratic Party, prohibition,
Photographs / Images: William Jennings Bryan, President William McKinley, lapel pin portraying Bryan in a tiny coffin with the slogan “Free Silver Knocked Him Out,” Mary Baird Bryan, caricature of Bryan at the Democratic Convention (Judge, June 6, 1908), “transparency” from the 1896 campaign: “Gold standard and 10 cent corn! How do you like it!”
Willian1 Jennings Bryan HiSTORIANS
By Robert W Cherny
Almost a hundred years ago, on Novem McKinley, comprising thirteen volumes, Mary Baird Bryan, his wife, and Richard ber 3, 1896. the voters of the United Bryan, however, has been Ihe subjecl 01 Melcaffe. a close polilical associate, in States decided the closely fought presi twenty-one book-fength studies, com clude useful information.1 Of the whole dential contest between William prising twenty-three volumes-nearly a sel of treatments before the I920s, per McKinley and William Jennings Bryan. two to one margin over McKinley,' haps the most unusual is Vachel Bryan got almost 6 1/2 million votes, What explains historians' fascination Lindsay's long poem recounting the more than any [)revious candidate, and with BI)'an? !n part, il has to do with lon 1896 campaign and election, which ap he carried twenty-two of Ihe forty-five gevily. McKinley was Ihe most important pears elsewhere in Ih is issue. Lindsay's Slales. McKinley, however, received leader of his party for only five years llttraction to Bryan was shared by some more than 7 million votes, and the and, even Ihen, he was repeatedly reJr of the leadtng schofars of the day, espe twenty-three stales thai he carried gave resented (wrongly, historians now cially some of those identified as the him a large majority in the electoral col know) as merely the puppet of Mark Progressive historians . ~ lege. Republicans had usually enjoyed H;jnna 8y conlr
Roberl W. Cherny IS professor of history al San Of the studies of Bryan's We wrItten from a sense thai fronlier-bred individu Fmncisco SiGle Universiry and Ihe aulhOi of A during his political heyday, most were alism was threatened by Populisl and Righteous Cause The Life of William Jennings written as campaign biographies. Most Bryanite demands for what Turner, in Bryan (J 985, J994) mi. are best forgotten, although those by 1896, called "a drastic assertion of na
184 Bryan and the Historians
ideals with new weapons."8 The third figure in the triptych 01 Pro gressive historians was Charles A. Beard. Unlike Parrington and Turner, Beard left no reliable record of his preference in the 1896, 1900, and 1908 presidential elections, although in 1908 he was in volved in Morris Hillquit's socialisl cam paign for Congress in New York City.9ln 1914 Beard described the eleclion 01 1896 as "a connicl between great wealth and the lower, middle. and working classes· but concluded that the Repu!.>1 i cans had won because "the silver issue could not stand the test of logic and un derstanding: 1o Later, he echoed Paninglon in linkll1g Bryan to a "Ie/t wing agrarian movement" that was part 01 a "century-old confltct between agri cullure and capitalism" and the direct descendent of agrarian efforts stretching back to Jefferson." If Parrington, Turner, and Beard pro vided generally positive treatments of Bryan's causes, and some even voted for him. some 01 his contemporary intel lectuals not only took an anlagonistic view 01 Bryan's platforms bul also de lighted in portraying Bryan as provincial and ignorant. The classic example is lrom the lethal pen at H. L. Mencken. who dismissed Bryan as "a charlatan, a mountebank. a zany without sense or dignity" who had "descended too deeply into Ihc mud, to be laken seri ously hereafter by fully lilerate men, even of the kind who write school books."'? Despile Mencken's admonition, eleven major studies of Bryan were produced be fore 1945, and nearly all delivered a posi live assessment. Eight were wrillen for a popular audience. 13 A few were pure hero-worship. For example. Wayne C. Williams, a devoted Democrat and com· mitted prohibitionist, p;l$.~ioniltely en dorsed Bryan's views and subtitled his firSI book A Study in Political Vindicofion. J4 WillIam JennIngs Bryon. NSHS-BQ15-47 Three popular biographies appeared in tional governmenl."' Tumer seems even described Bryan's Democratic Party and 1928 and 1929. Those by M. R. Wemer tually to have resolved such misgivings; the Roosevelt wing of Ihe Republican and John C. Long were well-researched in his presidential address to the Ameri Party as constituting a western-based and well-balanced. and both gained can Historical Associalion in 1910, he "progressive assertion of old democratic some acceplance among historians. IS
185 Nebraska History - Fall/Winter 1996
mayor of Chicago in 1911, president of the Alllericall Pulitical Science Associa lion in 1924·25, and president of the So cial Science Research Council in 1923· 27.'7 In 1924 Merriam evaluated four party leaders, Lincol n, Roosevelt. Wil son, and Bryan. He gave Bryan espe cially high marks for his commitment to democratic values and ior his courage, oratory, persistence. wit, and intuitive sensitivity to what Merriam called "great currents of community feeling." Mcrrinm faultcd Bryan primarily for a re luctance to compromise and for an in abifity to forge an "all-class" political coalition. He suggested too, that Bryan might have been more successful politi· cally had he based his campaigns more on his personal popularity and less on issues. ls The next scholarly treatment, chro· nologically, was Joseph V. Fuller's essay on Bryan as secretary of stale.'9 Fuller was also a prominent scholar-his Ph ,D was from Harvard, with advanced study at the Universities of Paris and Berlin; he taught history at Harvard, Berkeley, and Wisconsin, and later served as historian and chief of the research s':;ction for the State Department.20 Fuller presented a generally positive evaluation of Bryan's tenure as secretary of state, including his "cooling-off" treaties and his role in relations with Latin America. but he fo cused especially on Bryan's role in maintaining American neutrality after 1914. Writing amidst growing criticism of American participation in World War I, Fuller identified Bryan as "the only member of the Administration who pos sessed and consistently urged a con structive policy" for maintaining Ameri can neutrality, and he implied that President William McKinley. NSHS·PC l168·P853 Wilson's failure to pursue that policy in evitably led to American enlry into the BClth saw Bryan in largely positive terms. leading professors of history or political war. acknowledging his integrity, courage. science before 1945 also presented a In 1931 Merle Curti followed the gen and commitment to democratic values. generally favorable treatment. eral path laid out by Fuller when he pro Long, though, also described Bryan as The first, chronologically, was by.a duced his book-length study, Blyan and "a cross between St. George and Don leading political scientist. Charles E.d· World Peace, the result of a Quixote:'· The third of these popular bi ward Merriam-a Ph,D. from Columbia, Guggenheim Fellowship in 1929·30. ographies of Bryan. by Paxton Hibben, professor at the University of Chicago, Curti was another Harvard PhD., teach will be considered shortly. Works by unsuccessful Republican candidate for ing at Smith College in 1931; he later
186 Bryan and the Historians
served cis president 01 the Missi..c;sippi [him nn peace, and, on the other hand, ilpproach paralleled, il not reflected. Valley Historical Association (predeces lrom an intellectual failure 10 recognize Mencken's argument that Bryan was all sor of the Organization of AmeriC.3n His "the connections between capitalism ignorant fraud. Charles Beard described torians) in [952-53 , and of the American and war"n Hibben as one who "loved to thwack Historical Association in 1953-54.2' The final example from this period is magnificent hypocrites over their moral Curti's subject was the development 01 Henry Steele Commager's 1942 essay on knuckles: and Hibben seems to have Bryan's allitude toward war, and he ac Bryan, which he expanded later in The enjoyed such knuckle-thwacking knowledged in his first sentence thaI American Mind. Writing for a general au whelher or nol he found actual evi "the story 01 William Jennings Bryan's dience. Comrnager depicted Bryan as dence of hypocrisy_16ln presenting fight against war is Cl pathetic one: pa an intuitive champion 01 democracy Bryan's first eJection 10 Congress, for ex thetic in part because of the contradic who by persistence and commitment se ample, Hibben described Bryan's oppo tions in Bryan's own position over time cured important social and economic sition to alcohol, pointed to extensive toward issues of war and peace and in reforms. "Few statesmen: Commager eJection fraud by liquor interests, and part because of "the essen lial futility 01 daimed, "have ever been more fully vin implied they were responsible tor the struggle" for peace itself. Acknowl dicated by hislory." Bryan's successes Bryan's narrow victory (they milY have edging Bryan's tendency to oversimplify came through his "extraordinary astute been , but only incidentally). He con complex issues, Curti nonetheless ness' and "consummale ability," cluded, dramatically bur without evi praised Bryan for his long fight for Phil Commager argued, but he echoed Curli dence, thaI Bryan "had bowed the knee ippine independence and suggesled when he noted that Bryan had "an over to Baal." Similarly, again without evi that "Bryan's ideal, , . was the basis of simple view of the world" and [hat "his dence, Hibben accepted Bryan's oppo Wilson 's inspiring program of setr-deter slandards of right and wrong were emo nents' claims Ihat Bryan took up the sil mination for all people.s." At the time tional and personal rather than intellec ver issue from opportun ism, in response Curli was Writing, not only were many tual."?) Writing about Bryan lor a schol to the large.sse of Ihose Hibben labeled American intellectuals critical of Ameri arly audience eight years later, the "sltver barons."27 Despite the ab can participation in World War I, but in Commager presented much the same sence of evidence for Hibben's claims creasing numbers of them were also view,H Bryan was "the most representa of hypocrisy and opportunism, Richard critical 01 war more generally, and some tive American of his ttme: representing Hofstadter, in 1948, calkd Hibben's extended their critique [0 ['he faltering what was the ·soundest and most book "by faJ the best of the Bryan capitalist economic system . In his siudy wholesome in the American character: biographies, . ~, of Bryan, Curti was crincal 01 "imperial, Thus, fat Com mager, Bryan "was neither Holstadter's praise for Hibben '$ work ism and navalism" and depicted Bryan's the Simpleton nor the demagogue Ihat appeared in his nU? American Poli/ieal growing opposition to those forces as his Critics pictured and Ihal a lGl.1er gen Trodilion , In Ihat L)ook. he implicitly central to an emergmg pacifism that led eration . , . imagined" ; he was, instead, criticized the Progressive paradigm him to advocate ilrbitration of Inlema "th(' most astute polil ician of his day when he specified Ihal his purpose was lional disputes, a principle thaI Curti the ilrst to J.JOdersland that the problems (0 emphasize "the <':0111111011 climate of noted was wrillen into Ihe League of of politics were primarily economic."2s American opinion" rather than to con Nations covenant in language taken di Thus, most studies of Bryan's career tribute to "the tendency to place politi rectly from Bryan 's conciliation trealies. Ihat appeared between Ihe early 1920s cal conflict in the foreground of his- Curti acknowledged the contradictions and the end of World War II tended to tory: Hofstadler's work marked Ihe de- between Bryan's ideals and some of his be drawn [rom wilhin Ihe Progressive bUI 01 a new paradigm for American po actions as secretary 0/ state, but he paradigm of American history, Mosl of litical history. one developed by questioned whether "economic imperi them analyzed Bryan's polilics in the Holstadter and, among olhers, David alism, which was so deeply rooted in terms of that paradigm, especialty its fo Potier and Louis Hartz . ~9 Instead of fo our system of industrial and financial cus on economic conflict as the center cusing an political conflict and connecl capitalism, could be at all eflectlvely of politics, and most of them presented ing it to underlying economic conflict, checked as long as the system itself was po~itive evaluations of [lryan's conlribu itS the progressive historians had oflen maintained ," Curti's final analysts, thus, lions to American politics. done, Ihis new paradigm emphasized revealed much of the temper of the Before 1948 only one major study pragmatism and consensus, and it times among American intellecluals as had followed Mencken's admonilion sometimes Ulillzed cOllcepts from social he suggested that the failure of Bryan's that Bryan was not to be taken seriously psychology to explain those who did pacifism stemmed, on the one hand, by lully literate men: Paxton Hibben's not accept the prevailing consensus from an individual inconsistency that The Peerless Leader. Much of Hibben's 111;$ new paradigm, unlike its progres placed a higher value on nationalism work is jUdicious, but at other times his sive predecessor, found lew heroes in
187 Nebraska History - FaJl/Winter 1996 the American past, In Thr> Ameriwn Political Tradition, Hofstadler argued Ihat it is better for a democratic society to be "overcritical" than to be "overin dulgent: and he disclaimed any intent "to add 10 a literature ot hero-worship and national self-congratulation which is already large:JD There was no hero-worship in Hofstadter's portrait of Bryan. He pre sented Bryan as conventional. provin cial, impractical. and expedient, and he drummed repeatedly on Bryan 's lack of intelligence. Hofstadter endorsed Hibben's claim that expediency had dictated alleast part of Bryan's commit ment to silver, and, in fac!, Hofstadter went far beyond Hibben in his explana tion for Bryan's long-term role in the passage 01 such relorms as the income tax, popular election of U.S . senators, woman suffrage, regulatton of corpora lions, and more, Bryan had, Hofstadter suggested, "in the course 01 a sixteen year quest tor issues, effectively tumed public attentIOn upon one reform after another," many of which "had a core of value: Thus, Bryan emerged as a nol very-bright opportunist who almost inci dentally hit upon some good ideas as he tned to find some issue with sufficient appeal to get himself elected to office?1 In addition to hundreds 01 books and articles, Bryon's career sl1mulated producllon Holstadter's assessment of Bryan was of an amazing lIorlety of campaign-related lIems. One example is this lapel pin, porlraylng 8ryan in a tiny collln with the slogan, "Free Silver Knocked Him Out." substantially extended by Ray Ginger in NSHS Museum Collecl1ons-ll 185-1 Six lJays or rorever?, his history 01 the Scopes trial, and especially in his an dency someone who precisely reflected tique of Bryan, and added that he had thology of Bryan's writings. Ginger their own ignorance and passions J2 two even greater faults: iirsl. Bryan's laulted Werner and Hibben for having An almost equally harsh appraisal 01 "lack 01 analysis· meant Ihat he ap presented "nothing sinister" about Bryan's service as secretary 01 state was proached all issues in terms of right and Bryan: for Ginger, Bryan was "nol only a also emerging in the late 19405 and wrong and that he usually failed to un demagogue" but also "a dangerous I950s. The "realist" school of diplomatic derstand the full complexities of situa· one: After combing Bryan's extensive historians found vinually nothing of tions; and, second, Bryan's "desire fOT writings, Ginger concluded that the meril in Bryan's record . Ric.hard peace" during World War lIed him to many platitudes he found there indi Cha 1/ ener in 1961 su m marized suc h insist on strict American neutrality cated that "the contents of [Bryan's] views: "With his rejection of power poli· rather than permitting him to consider a mind reselilbled cooked oatmeal.' In ties. h is penchant lor moralizing, his ad wider range of options.3J all, Ginger presented Bryan as "woefully diction to platitudinous speeches, and J Rogers Hollingsworth, in The unqualified to handle the great prob his reliance upon the tenets of Christi an Whirligig of Politics, an examination of lems 01 the nation," but as "superbly pacifism. Bryan seems to be the symbol the Democrats during the leadership of equipped to win public of/ice." Ginger of virtually every error that is con Cleveland and Bryan (1963), was also even implied that Bryan 's career dem demned by contemporary crities o/Ihe critical of Bryan. Hollingsworth ap onstrated the danger that, in a democ American diplomatic tradition." proached the Democratic Party of the racy, the voters might elect to the presi- Chal\ener fully endorsed the realist cri· 1890s as a case study in the failure of
188 Bryan and the Historians party leadership to maintain a vi
189 Nebraska History - FaU/Winter 1996 on a reconsideration of the primary ism, Ashby specified that Bryan "helped unacknowledged coeditor of Bryan 's l sources. :; 10 sketch out Ihe protective i:Il1U wella,,:! newspaper, The Commoner, and some In 1982 Kendrick C1emenLs. for e..x responsibilities of the modem stale . ~·~ have noted her role as coauthor for ample, produced a perceptive analysis John Milton Cooper, in a recent essay some 01 Btyan's speeches or writings , of BlYan's altitude..~ toward and influ on the Democratic Party. described no one has made an effort to examine ence on foreign policy. Clemenls's study Bryan as u one of the country's Ihree her lile at any depth or length. to study began as his dissertation at Berketey, most significant leaders during the first Bryan's Career from her perspecllve. from which he received his Ph .D, in third of the twentieth century, ranking and to present her own quite impressive 1970, He labeled Bryan a "missionary with Theodore Roosevelt and Wilson." career in its own right. Another unex isolationist" lor his belief that "the plored dimension is Bryan's medical United States had a special duty to Im history. Some historians have argued prove and serve the world while at the Ihal Blyan's behavior and politics same time remaining free oj most en chunged around the lime he served as tanglements." He argued that Bryan's at· secretary of state: others have denied titude toward foreign affairs was formed any such shill. No one, however. has not from careful analysis 01 the national considered .he possibility that a change interest or of evenLs overseas but in in his personality may have had a can· stead from h is Christian principles and nec.lion to hIS diabetes. which WclS first his intuitive feel lor the "fears and de diagnosed 10 1914 and was controlled sires" of his followers. Clements denied thereafter by diet. that Bryan had ever been a pacifist be However. there seem lew such llnex cause he never completely ruled out Ihe plored corners in the Bryan mansion , use of force, and he argued thaI, in fact, and . at the same time, Ihere has Bryan's belief in the 5uperionty of emerged a consictpri'lhlf' c:-nn<;p.n<;II." rp· American institutions and values "made garding Bryan's place In the history of i. easy for him to rationalize imposing American politics. Since the 1920s most those values on others." Bryan was, historians and political sdentists who therefore, a "militant missionalY." Thus, have studied BlYan at length have pre Clements argued that Bryan's belief in sented him as guided by a principled democracy made it easier for him to "ra commit men! 10 popular democracy and tionalize the use of force," as in 1898 to a positive use of govemmentto foster and 1917, when he was convinced that the well-being of ordinary people In gen force was being used in furtherance of eral and specifically to counteract Ihe the will of the majority, Clements w"s great concentrations of economic power ... 1<;0 C'Mf'11I1 to srpcify thi'll Bry
190 Bryan and the Historians
of senators, prohibition, and woman suf frage . Many recent scholars have agreed, too , Ihat, under Bryan's leader ship. the Democralic Party jettisoned most of the commitment to minimal govemment that had been the party's mosl prominent characteristic from An drew jackson to Grover Cleveland. In stead, Bryan and his allies fused Ihe antimonopolism of Jackson to a com· mitment to governmenlal inlervenlion on behall 01 "Ihe people" and against powerful economic interests. Thus. many Bryan scholars have presented him as a cenlralligure-sornelimes even the cenlralligure-in Ihe birth of the twenl ielh-c en tuty Democratic Party. 11 is important not to claim too much in this regard . Afler all, Bryan left the Democratic Party a minority, and it was Al Smith and especially Franklin D. Roosevell who Iransformed it into Ihe majority. Though Bryan argued force fully lor a stronger governmental role In Ihe economy in order 10 constrain great concentrations of economic power, II was the New Deal thai grafted the no tion of economic redistribution onlo Ihe regulatory slate Ihal had been created during the Progressive era . Bryan's role nonelheless emerges as pivotal. (or ;1 was under his leadership that the Demo cratic Party separated the two central el ements in its jacksonian legacy, kept ils commitment to working people and farmers, but discarded its beliel in mini· mal government. Bryan instead argued passionately for Ihe use of an activist state to defend ordinary citizens from greal concenlralions of economic power. In doing so, he laid Ihe basis for the party 01 Woodrow Wilson, Franklin fl( ILINI) 1 STIL '" Roosevelt. and Lyndon johnson.
I I 'II , Bryan provIded fodder (or the illustrated weeklies long after McKJnley was In hIs grove. Notes JUdg9, June 6, 1908. NSHS Museum ColleGtion~-11055-2066 An eartier draft of Ihis essay was prese-nled as slightly enlightened for his lime. rocated in the form of a popular follow the aUlhor's presidential address 10 the Society for Perhaps most importantly, most his ing with few parallels in American polio Hisiorians of Ihe Gilded Age and Progressive Era. torians have agreed that, as a political tics. Many have agreed, 100, that this during the annual meeting of the Organizalion 01 Amencan Historians. on Mal1:h 29. 1996. leader, Bryan had a sincere and unshak large lollowing gave Bryan a significant able confidence in Ihe ability of the role-sometimes, perhaps, the most sig I tn the 19505. D. C. Heath puLJlished. in ils Prob· lems in American Civilization series, a litle on Will· nificant role-in the passage of such re people to govern themselves, and that lam Jenmngs Bryan and Ihe Cnmpoign 01 J896. but his confidence in the people was recip forms as the income tax, direct election il was actually miSlitled because il focused on
191 Nebraska History - Fall/Winler 1996
Bryan's entire career and scarcely even men ideas IheCL There is no indication nl h,s prefer· tion 10 Long and Hibben as Ibe standards. see tioned poor McKinley. The lille, however. suggests ence lor presidenl in I~YIi (allhough Nore does Ueorge 1". Wllicher, ed ,. William .lennlng.> Bryan a number of other uowriuen anlhologies: Alfred lind some sussesl,on lhal he may have followed nnril/II! Cafl/poign of 1896 (Boston: D. C. Heath, Landon and the CompO/gn Df 1936. Michael hi, family's Republican proclivities). and in 1900 1953), 108. Horace Samuel Menill, Gourbon De DuJ/ukis and !he Campaign 01 1988. he was In England. mIJCTOCY 01 the MIddle West, J865· 1896 (Baton Rouge: LiJuisiana Stale Unlversily Press, 1953), • Richard Lee Melcalfe, Life and Palriotif. Sem!ces " Charles A. Beard, Contemporary American His· 282, ciled only Hibben. 0,(",- Handlin el al .. of HDn Williom J Bryan, Ille Feurless and Brilliant lory (New Y(lrk: Macmillan, 191-1). 161 , 1~4·96, as Harvard GU/tle to Amerltnn 1I,;sIOry (Cambridge: Leader of the J'eople and Candidale lor Preslrfent 01 quoled in Nore. Beard, 67 . HarvaId University Press , 19~~) . 191, listed only the Uniled Simes (Omaha: Edgewnod Publtshin~ "Charles A, Beard, 77lf! Amencon Party BOllfe Wemer. Arthur LIIlK, Woudrow Wi/~U/1 rmr/llr€Pro Company, 1895); Melcalfe, tomp., The Real Bryun (New YOlk: "",,,cmillan , 1928). chs, 6-8. esp, 108, gressive Em (New York: Ha~r and Row, 19S4). Gelng ExlfllelS from fhe Speeches and Writings of III , 118; see also Charles A. Beard and Mal)l R. 294, liSI~d Hibben. Werner, Williilms, and Long, "A Wel/·Rounded Man" (Des Moines: Personal Beald, A Gosic History ofth" /fnlled Sicile> (New but dismL<;.<€d Ihem all as "eilher overly erillcal or Help Publi~hing Company, 19O5); Mary B;,ird York. Doubleday, Doran. l!lH), 33,1·35, where Ihe else wOf';hipful," Faulkner, in Polilics, Reform and Bryan, biogruphical sketch, In Life olld Sp,*-clles 01 Beards describe Bryan's 1&:4t; campaign as having Ex/Jun ,~ion . 1890-1900 (New York: Harper and /ton, Wm, Jennmgs Bryan (Baltimore. rt 1-1, "vibraled wilh revolulional)l J~rvor" and as aliracl· ~ow , 1959). 285-86, Clled Hibben and Werner as Woodward, 1900), 1%5, and bi{l!1Taphicallnlw ing "nearly illilhe discontenl wilh the course of "popular and mildly s~lirica1" and LonS and Will ducllon, Spee(IIe.~ 01 Wil/wm Jennings Br),an, 2 nationill affairs thai had be~n made manHesl by iillTlS as '·more apprecialive." bUI also nOled Ihal
192 Bryan and the Historians
Abundancl! and the Amen'can Character (Chicago: varsity 01 Nebraska Press. 19fiO). ""p. 176. of William Jennings Bryan (New York: G. P. UnivelSilY 0/ Chicago Press, 195~): Lou is Hanz, Putnam's Sons, 1971), 10-12. 11 Lawrence Levine. Defender ofthe FGJth. Will· The Liberal Trodltion in America An Interpretation /GmJennlflgs Bryon ' The Last Decade, 1915·1925 " Willard H. Smi th, The Sodol and Religious ofAmerican Poillicol Thoughl Since the Revollllion (New York: Oxford University Press, 1965), viii, 5-1. Thollght of William Jennings Bryan (Lawre nee, (New York: Harcoun. Brace, 1955), 66. 128, 181. 224·25. 257, 358, 361-64. Whi Ie gener· Kan.: Coronado Press, 1975): Donald K. Springen, 10 Ho/stadler, Amencan Po/l/icol Tradl/ion, vii, xi. ally iudicious and balanced in his judgments on W,lliam Jennings Bryan' Orolor ofSmall-Town For the transition from the Progressive paradigm Bryan, Levine was much too hallih in his conclu· America (New York: Greenwc-od Press, 1991). to consensus paradigm, see the sources al· sion that Btyan's altitude loward soumern African me " Kendrick A. Clements, William JenninBS Bryan ready noled in note 3, especially Wise. Amerrcans was "worthy 01 any Klan member" MISSIOnary Isola/ionisl (KnOxville: University 0/ (257), a claim thai even Ginger dispuled. JI Ho/stadler, American Polllicol Trad/llon, 186 Tennessee Press. 1982). xii, 153-55, 205, esp. 190, 193-94, 196, 198.202. " Paolo E. Coletta, William Jennings Bryan. 3 ., Wilham Jennlflgs Bryan, Twayne's United vaIs. (Lincoln: University 0/ Nebraska Press, 1964, :n Ginger. Bryan' 5elec/ions, xiii'xlv, esp . xlii, Slates authors series (BOSlon: Twayne Publishers, ~~~ii. ~nv, xxxvi. xl, xliii. 1909). 1981) , " Colella, Bryan, I: vii. 74·75, IOMI, 198 13 Richard Chaliener, "William Jennings Bryan: 66-68, .. Raben W. Cherny, A Righleous Couse: TIle Life in An Uncertain Tradition: Amencon Secretaries 01 n148. Colella also demonstraled conVincingly Ihat of William Jenfllngs Bryan, Little Brown's Library 01 State In the Twenlleth Century. ed, Norman A. Bryan 's oft·ciled commenllhal -I don'l know any· American Biogrnphy, edited by Oscar Handlin Graebner (New York: McGraw·Hill, 1961),80,99. Ihing about free silver. The people 0/ Nebraska are (Boston: Ullle, Brown, 1985; reprint ed .. Nonnan: lor Iree silver and I am from free silver. I will look University of Oklahoma Press, 1994). leRoy '" J. Rogers HOllingsworth. The Wh"Jig,g of Poll· up Ihe 3TgllmenlS later: was made well aner he had Ashby. William Jennings Bryon: Champion of De· lies: The Democracy of Cleupland and 8,yon (Chi· spent a great deal a/time studying rhe arguments. mocracy, Twayne's Twentieth·century American cago: University 01 Chicago Press . 1963), ix. 236 Biography Series (Boslon: Twayne Publishers, 11. "Ibid.. 1:13845. 1987). esp. xvi. .. David A. Shannon. Twenlleth Century America: " Ibid.. 2:361. ., John Milton Cooper, 'Wilsonian Democracy: The Uniled States since Ihe I 890's (Chicago: Rand "lbid,,3:285. in Democrats (lnd the AmenC(Jfl Idea: A BfcenlennlGl McNally. 1963), ~9. " Ibid., 3:294, Appraisal. ed. Peter B. Kovler (Washington, D.C. : ,. Paul W, Glad, The Trump~1 S{llmdeliJ' Willinm Cenler lor National Policy Pr~. 1992), 213-11, Jennings Bryan and His Democracy (Lincoln: Uni· II Louis W. Koenig. Bryan' A Political Biography
A °transparency" from the 1896 campaign. A I~ 1fT cloth cover with a po litical slogan or por trait was stretched over a light wooden frame and illuminated HOW DO YOU LIRE IT! from WithIn by a lorch light. Courtesy of Osceolo Masonic Lodge No. 65. Osceola. Nebrasko
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