William Jennings Bryan and Populism 

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Alford, Richard Francis, "An Economic Analysis of the Nomination and Candidacy of William Jennings Bryan in 1896." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1976. 156 p.  DAI 1977 37(11): 7235-7236A. 

Anderson, David D. William Jennings Bryan. 210 p.  Twayne's United States Authors Series. no. 415. Boston: Twayne, 1981. 

Bailey, John W., Jr. "The Presidential Election of 1900 in Nebraska: McKinley Over Bryan." Nebraska History. 54(4): 561-84. 1973. 

Barnes, James A. "Myths of the Bryan Campaign." Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 34(3):367-404. December 1947.  Punctures myths that Bryan got nomination because of his oratory; that 16:1 could have wrecked the country; that silver was the issue in 1896.  Says social and economic plight of farmer and industrial laborer was the issue, and the essence of campaign.  Little mention of Populists, but their influence on campaign is clear.  

Boell, Jesse E. "William Jennings Bryan Before 1896." M.A. thesis, U of Nebraska, 1929.

Browne, Waldo R. Altgeld of Illinois, 1847-1902; A Record of His Life and Work. 342 p. New York: B.W. Huebsch. 1924.  Includes a good account of the campaign of 1896.  

Bryan, William Jennings. The First Battle: A Story of the Campaign of 1896. 630 p. Chicago, W.B. Conkey, 1896.  Weak on Populists.  Includes many documents.  

Cherny, Robert W. A Righteous Cause: The Life of William Jennings Bryan. 225 p. Boston: Brown, Little, 1985. 

Coletta, Paola E. "William Jennings Bryan and Currency and Banking Reform." Nebraska History 1964 45(1): 31-57.  Bryan originally called for free silver to expand the currency.  Later, he stressed a flexible banking system that would keep pace with the expanding economy and government control of monetary policy.  These ideas were included in the Federal Reserve System legislation.  Bryan's support for the measure was instrumental to its passage. America: History and Life, 1:1833

Coletta, Paolo E. "Bryan, Cleveland, and the Disrupted Democracy, 1890-1896." Nebraska History. 41:1‑27. March 1960.   

_____. "The Morning Star of Reformation: William J. Bryan's First Congressional Campaign." Nebraska History. 37:103-20. June 1956.  Nebraska election of 1890.   

_____. William Jennings Bryan. I. Political Evangelist, 1860-1908. 478 p. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1964.   

_____. William Jennings Bryan. II. Progressive Politician and Moral Statesman, 1909-1915. 380 p. Lincoln, U of Nebraska P, 1969.  

_____. Williams Jennings Bryan. III. Political Puritan, 1915-1925. 334 p. Lincoln, U of Nebraska P, 1969.  

Diamond, William. "Urban and Rural Voting in 1896." American Historical Review. 46(2):281-305. January 1941.  Urban-rural cleavage in the Bryan vote.  

Drury, Becky Sheeler. "A Rhetorical Analysis and Comparison of the Speaking of William Jennings Bryan and George Corley Wallace Within a Political Framework of Populism." Ph.D. Dissertation (Speech Communication), Purdue University, 1976. 

Durden, Robert F. The Climax of Populism: The Election of 1896. 190 p. Lexington: U of Kentucky P, 1965.   

_____. "The 'Cow‑bird' Grounded: The Populist Nomination of Bryan and Tom Watson in 1896." Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 50(3): 397-423. December 1963.  Maintains fusion was not the "Cow-Bird" of Populism as middle-of-the-roader Henry Demarest Lloyd asserted in the wake of Bryan's nomination by Populists in 1896.  Watson's choice as the Populist's vice presidential nominee was necessary to harmonize the factions within the party. America: History and Life, 2:2387

Fite, Gilbert C. "Republican Strategy and the Farm Vote in the Presidential Campaign of 1896." American Historical Review. 65(4): 787-806. July 1960.   Populist importance implied.   

_____. "William Jennings Bryan and the Campaign of 1896: Some Views and Problems." Nebraska History. 47:247-64, illus. September 1966.   

Glad, Paul W. McKinley, Bryan, and the People. 222 p. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1964.  McKinley promoted the "Myth of the Self-Made Man" and Bryan promoted the "Agrarian Myth."  Both were essentially conservative advocates of the status quo.  Only Populists had the potential for a more progressive direction.  They believed in the Agrarian Myth, but sought a farmer-laborer alliance. 

_____. The Trumpet Soundeth: William Jennings Bryan and His Democracy, 1896-1912. 242 p. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1960.  Very readable and supportive of Bryan.   

_____. ed., William Jennings Bryan: A Profile. 251 p. New York: Hill and Wang, 1968.   

Greene, Julie. "The Making of Labor's Democracy: William Jennings Bryan, the American Federation of Labor, and Progressive Era Politics." Nebraska History 1996 77(3-4): 149-158.  Bryan's loss in 1896 convinced him that only farm-labor alliance could bring victory to the Democratic Party.  Thus, Bryan began soliciting the support of American Federation of Labor (AFL) leaders.  The alliance he forged resulted in the 1908 campaign when the AFL and the Democratic Party shared decision making on finances and strategy.  Republicans charged that organized labor, in claiming to speak for all workers, was dictating how laborers should vote.  Still, Bryan and the AFL changed the Democratic Party from a conservative, states' rights organization into a liberal, nationalist party. America: History and Life, 34:14199

Hibben, Paxton. The Peerless Leader, William Jennings Bryan. 446 p. New York: Farrar, 1929.  

Hofstadter, Richard. The American Political Tradition, and the Men Who Made It. 378 p. New York: Knopf, 1948.  See "William Jennings Bryan: The Democrat as Revivalist," pp. 186-205.  A negative assessment. 

Hollingsworth, J. Rogers. The Whirligig of Politics: The Democracy of Cleveland and Bryan. 263 p. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1963.  Gives good space to Bryan's relations with Populists.  From Hollingsworth's dissertation, "A Study in Party Division: The Democratic Party, 1893-1900." U of Chicago, 1960.  

Hummel, Ray Orvin, Jr. "William Jennings Bryan, 1896-1900." Master's thesis, U of Nebraska, 1931.  

Jeansonne, Glen. "Goldbugs, Silverites, and Satirists: Caricature and Humor in the Presidential Election of 1896." Journal of American Culture 1988 11(2): 1-8.  Examines cartoons during the 1896 presidential campaign.  Republicans concentrated their satirical attacks on Bryan and free silver.  Democrats and Populists usually targeted McKinley's campaign manager, Mark Hanna, "as a bloated sinister figure with a cruel face, wearing a suit decorated with dollar signs." America: History and Life, 27:5061

Jones, Stanley L. The Presidential Election of 1896. 436 p. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1964.  Gives good coverage to Populism. 

Josephson, Matthew. The Politicos, 1865-1896. 760 p. New York: Harcourt, 1938.  Pp. 669-79, 681-84 contends Populists were betrayed in campaign of 1896.  See Durden, "The 'Cow-Bird' Grounded."  

Koenig, Louis W. Bryan: A Political Biography of William Jennings Bryan. 736 p. New York: Putnam, 1971.  Scholarly biography of Bryan.  

Ledbetter, Calvin R., Jr. "Adoption of Initiative and Referendum in Arkansas: The Roles of George W. Donaghy and William Jennings Bryan." Arkansas Historical Quarterly 1992 51(3): 199-223.  Arkansas voters approved the 1910 state constitutional amendment on the initiative and referendum.  Support came from the State Federation of Labor in 1904, the Farmer's Union, the Democratic Party, and Governor George W. Donaghy.  Bryan stumped the state in favor of the amendment. America: History and Life, 31:11811

Rice, Roy Eugene, "Religion, Democratic Ideology, and Change--A Study of the Traditionalistic Populism of William Jennings Bryan, 1896-1925" Ph.D. Dissertation (Religion), Harvard University, 1970. 

Rothlisberger, Orland A. "The Populist National Convention in Sioux Falls." South Dakota History. 1(2):155‑65. Spring 1971.  1900 convention nominating Bryan.  

Schafer, Joseph, Jr. "The Presidential Election of 1896." Ph.D. dissertation, U of Wisconsin, 1933.  

Schlup, Leonard. "Nevada's Doctrinaire Senator: John P. Jones and the Politics of Silver in the Gilded Age." Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 1993 36(4): 246-262.  US senator from Nevada during 1873-1903.  During the 1890's, Jones bolted the Republican Party, joined the Populists, and supported William Jennings Bryan for president in 1896.  Although he rejoined the GOP afterward, Jones still advocated free silver. America: History and Life, 32:8767

_____. "Charles A. Towne and the Vice-Presidential Question of 1900." North Dakota History 1977 44(1): 14-20.  Charles A. Populist Towne of Minnesota was an ardent silverite and William Jennings Bryan's own choice for running mate on the Democratic ticket in 1900.  Conservative eastern Democrats, however, forced the nomination of Adlai E. Stevenson at the Democratic National Convention. Towne campaigned hard for the ticket and probably would have been offered a cabinet position had Bryan won. 

_____, "Bryan's Partner: Arthur Sewall and the Campaign of 1896." Maine Historical Society Quarterly. 16(4):189-211.  Sewall's selection was unwise.  Unknown nationally. 

Silveus, Marian. "The Antecedents of the Campaign of 1896. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin. 1933.   

_____. "The Election of 1896 in Western Pennsylvania." Western Pennsylvania History Magazine. 16:99-124, map. May 1933. 

Stephens, Oren. "'Coin' Harvey: The Free Silver Movement's Frustrated Promoter." American West 1971 8(5): 4-9.  Author of Coin's Financial School (1894) in which he analyzed the hard time of the 1890s and advocated free silver as a panacea.  Harvey and his book figured prominently in the 1896 nomination of William Jennings Bryan by the Democratic, Populist, and Silver parties. Harvey wrote other books, including an analysis of the 1929 crash. America: History and Life, 9:2935

Stevens, S.K. "The Election of 1896 in Pennsylvania." Pennsylvania History. 4:65-87. April 1937.  

Werner, Morris R. Bryan. 374 p. New York: Harcourt, 1929.  

Westin, Alan Furman. "The Supreme Court, the Populist Movement and the Campaign of 1896." Journal of Politics. 15:3‑41. February 1953.   Supreme Court decisions and campaign issues.  

Wilson, Charles Morrow. The Commoner: William Jennings Bryan. 487 p. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1970.  

Wish, Harvey. "John Peter Altgeld and the Background of the Campaign of 1896." Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 24(4):503‑18. March 1938.  Some mention of Populists.  

Woodard, Douglas Dutro. "The Presidential Election of 1896." Master's thesis, Georgetown U, 1949.