Why william jennings bryan never became president

House of Representatives in and served until , championing Populist causes such as the free coinage of silver, national income tax, and direct election of Senators. After mounting an unsuccessful bid for the U. The Democratic Party nominated Bryan again as its candidate for President in and , although he lost both elections. President Woodrow Wilson selected Bryan, one of the elder statesmen of the Democratic Party, as his Secretary of State following the presidential election.

He campaigned all over the country by train. He made hundreds of speeches. But he lost to William McKinley who stayed in Ohio and campaigned from his front porch. Bryan did not give up. He ran for president two more times. In he lost again to McKinley. The economy came out of depression and the country entered the Spanish-American War. But silver was no longer the rallying point it had been. So, Bryan took up the anti-imperialism cause — he argued that it would violate the essence of American democracy if the U.

Bryan was defeated by Taft again. This time he came home and began publishing the newspaper The Commoner from Lincoln. The page weekly paper was mailed to up to , progressive supporters.

That exposure, along with an aggressive schedule of speaking engagements, kept Bryan as a major figure in the Democratic party. That election was the first to make use of recorded campaign speeches issued by the two opposing candidates. Some phonograph dealers put on "phonograph debates" with mannequins propped up in the stores as stand-ins for Bryan and William H.

These were popular with the public and proved to be great fun. Despite his oratorical skills, Bryan lost the election to Taft. He served for two years, negotiating peace treaties with 29 nations. He also helped Wilson push through a series of domestic reforms known as the "New Freedom" measures.

But when Wilson began to push the country towards involvement in the First World War, Bryan resigned. His support was significant in passing the latter two causes. At the end of his life, he was more and more concerned with religious issues and he became even more famous for his prosecution of the Scopes monkey trial.

He argued against the teaching of evolution. Beneath his eyes is the protuberant flesh which physiognomists say is indicative of fluency in language and which was one of the most striking features in the face of James G. The New Road , 26 July, Mr. Bryan at Home. Bryan's wife, who has been a close figure in all his public life, cannot go unmentioned. She was Miss Mary E. Baird, and was the only daughter of a prosperous merchant in Perry, Ill.

She has a pure, handsome, thoroughbred face, and is withal a woman of rare mental endowments. After the birth of her first child Mrs. Bryan began the study of law, with her husband as instructor, taking one course prescribed by the college from which he graduated. She was admitted to the bar in She never thought to practice. Her only motive was to aid her husband in his life work, and she might be safely credited with at least half of all there is good and honest and successful in the Nebraska man.

Bryan has a great liking for politics, and accompanies her husband on many of his Nebraska jaunts. Her tastes are essentially literary and she has written much for various causes. She is a charming woman, and is as great a favorite in Lincoln as her husband.

She was one of the organizers of Sorosis, the leading woman's club of Lincoln, and is also a member of the W. Bryan says she is invaluable to him in suggestions and the preparation of material and in advice as to points and methods.