Today we’re looking at William Jennings BryanBryan (3/19/1860 – 7/26/1925) was one of the most influential political figures of America's Progressive Era.Some notable feats or facts include:>born in Illinois to a family of staunch Democrats>became a fundamentalist Christian in his teens and attended college, where he became a skilled orator and a lawyer>married his wife Mary Baird when he was 19 and her 18--she outlived him by a few years and they had three children, two of whom became successful lawyers and politicians while another wrote a biography of her father>the Bryans moved to Nebraska in 1887 looking for opportunity>Bryan became involved in the Populist politics of the day, an unusual Democrat in a staunchly Republican state, and the pro-silver movement and was elected to Congress in 1892>made his epochal run for president in 1896, promoting free silver as the salvation of the indebted farmer, and ultimately lost to Republican William McKinley>Bryan served as a volunteer Army officer in the Spanish-American War, although the White House purposely kept him out of combat>ran for president a second time in 1900 against the popular incumbent McKinley and was defeated>ran a third time in 1908 against William Taft, declaring that President Theodore Roosevelt had stolen his ideas, and was again defeated>In 1913, Woodrow Wilson gave him the post of Secretary of State as a consolation prize, but Bryan resigned in a year after disagreeing with the president's Mexico policy>he remained the titular head of the Democrat Party and attended all its presidential conventions to 1924>in 1925, the aging Bryan represented the prosecution in the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial and died a few weeks later of a heart attack brought on by exhaustionWhat do you think of the man who would not be crucified on a cross of gold?Link to previous thread: >>18697300
>>18699449>derf let's create 20% inflation and crash the economy with no survivors so a couple of farmers can pay off their mortgages>sounds like a plan XD
>>18699449Even though I disagree with some of his positions, I admire his moxy
>>18699455This is 20/20 hindsight too, but discovery of gold in Alaska and other sources eased the deflationary pressures on the money supply without having to deal with the economic shock of minting a shit ton of silver at a 16:1 ratio.
>>18699471he still insisted on pushing the now irrelevant silver issue in 1900. overall the guy was well-meaning and passionate but not very smart and would have been a terrible president.
>>18699449>mf-er's final act was to defend a retarded anti-evolution law
>>18699449Wilson did not especially care for Bryan and thought him an intellectual lightweight, but he had a lot of influence in the party so it was better to offer him a post in his administration to keep him on his side.
>>18699449This disgusting S.O.B. ruined the democratic party beyond redemption. His influence is still felt there, and forever will.The problem is the Drumpf retards getting influenced by him as well
>>18699449The fact that they did run him for president three times was proof of how empty the Democrat bench was at that time. They were pathetically short of non-Southern candidates. In that time literally any Democrat governor from a northern state (and there weren't that many of those in 1897-1912) was considered presidential timber.
>>18699449The guy who transformed the Democrat Party into the grievance/wealth redistribution party.
>>18699523>The problem is the Drumpf retards getting influenced by him as wellqrd
>>18699449Amerifat historical figures are sure lame.
>>18699449One of the worst Democratic leaders of all time
>>18699584Bryant was actually very interesting
OP forgot to mention that he was the youngest-ever major party presidential candidate at 36.
>>18699594And his one of his nicknames was the “Boy Orator”
>>18699543pushing rural populism and wanting to get those rich city fatcats
>>18699449This man was one of the pioneers of New Deal liberalism. Teddy Roosevelt was either center-left or a progressive conservative but he was far less of a populist than Bryan. Bryan's energy paved the way for Wilson and FDR.>>18699535Both the Dems and GOP are anti-tax and pro boomer socialism. The Dems just think only the super rich have to pay tax.>>18699624Maga is far more descended from the Federalists and conservative Whigs/Know Nothings (nationalist, nativist,protectionist/dirigist, big government when it suits them) than the old school Democrat-Republicans and Democrat party (pro immigration, pro free trade, economic populist). Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson were in many ways surprisingly close to people like the Clintons and Bernie in regards to worldview than Reaganism/Maga, even though liberals tend to identify more with Federalists like Hamilton and shun old school Dems and Dems-Repubs. Jefferson was pro-immigrant, pro- land reform for the poor, progressive/land taxation, and supported expansion because he believed new land would allow for income equality.
>>18700291i would have disagreed with that because progressives believed in significant government centralization whereas Jeffersonian Democrats were supporters of states rights and a limited Federal government
>>18700313True, american liberals and leftists share the economic populism of their ideological ancestors, but employ federalist tools. Hamilton's industrialized centralized state won out on both sides of the isle, as the agrarian populism of jefferson and jackson was unsuited for modernization.
>>18700313That is to say most of the people who are in favor of the latter are Republicans now.
>>18700330That doesnt change the fact that new deal libs saw a direct line from jefferson/jackson and their politics. And the fusionist reagan-bush small government stuff is dying out in favor of a more orbanist and volkisch style ideology, and fusionism is an anomaly that was never truly representative of what the gop base wanted. Right wing wwc voters who left the democrats were fine with the welfare state but didnt want to pay the needed taxes, and saw the system as infested by poor minorities and migrants. And the gops wonk class that gave meat to the small government stuff has become hollowed out and sidelined. Its mainly the anti tax stuff from fusionism that has stuck on.
