William Jennings Bryan: Founder of Religious Right and Populous Left!
William Jennings Bryan, the seminal figure in American politics and history, often over-looked. Bryan really was the founder of the Populists left but now he is epitomized by The Occupy Wall Street movement and the Religious Right that is now epitomized, of course, by the protestant evangelicals, and you probably could throw the Tea Party into that mix too. They all come from William Jennings Bryan’s ideology. Bryan was the democratic candidate for President in 1896 against William McKinley, in 1900, beat McKinley, and 1908 when he lost to Taft. He served as the Secretary of State under Wilson, resigned after three years because he opposed World War I, and then became one of the main witness, actually I think the attorney for the state, in the Scopes Monkey Trial in which he attacked the teaching of evolution, an incredible career. But what draws all of this together? On the one hand he supported women’s suffrage, was one of the first to propose the income tax, was one of the first to propose primaries to nominate candidates so the bosses wouldn’t control it, was one of the leaders in the effort for initiative and referendum and recall in the western states. But on the other hand was one of the leaders in the efforts for Prohibition and in favor of strict constructionism of the Bible, opposing the teaching of evolution, the founder Relief Creationism as an issue in politics and the dedicated pacifist, opposed to war.
Now, in modern lexicon that’s very confusing, expands the whole range of all political ideology, but for Bryan it came from one fundamental core, the gospel. He believed that he was applying Christ’s gospel to politics in literal form. He opposed war because it said, Thou shalt not kill. He opposed creationism because Genesis said otherwise. He wanted equality for the farmers and for the populists, and opposing the money changers in Wall Street because Jesus opposed them when they were in the temple. His politics was straight out of his Christianity. Since then it has splintered and that unity has divided. And, of course, the evangelical movement is now strongly opposed to many of the precepts of feminism, whereas, with Bryan he was its early advocate.
Bryan began his career in 1896 when he spoke at the Democratic National Convention and was so electrifying, saying that you shall not press down upon laborers’ brow this crown of thorns, and you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. He was opposing the gold standard that he said protected the integrity of the dollar at the expense of the prosperity of most of the American people, and again the biblical metaphor ran through his efforts. The campaign of 1986 was a crusade of the west and the south embracing populist values against the north-east defending Wall Street, and William McKinley the defender of Wall Street won.
The movie "The Wizard of Oz" was really written based on that campaign of 1896. He went on in 1900 and 1908, but while he lost the presidency three times, his agenda became, at first, the core of Theodore Roosevelt’s agenda, particularly, in his second term, and the going on to his Bull Moose run for a third term in 1912 and became the basis of Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom agenda in the race of 1912. And of course got fruition with the passage of women’s suffrage, direct election of senators, a prohibition, and the income tax. All four amendments passed within a few years of each other largely in response to Bryan’s agenda. He was a fascinating man and the place to start in understanding the early evangelical movement, the early Christian coalition movement, and the early populist liberal anti-Wall Street movement.