William Jennings Bryan

Birth/Death:                            1860 / 1925

League Membership:             Informal League Membership

Role in League:                     Endorsed by Executive Committees for US President

Occupation:                           Politician, Lawyer, Preacher

Brief Biography

Devout Christian, Bryan was a two term Congressman from Nebraska and the youngest contender for the Presidency. He ran three times; in 1896 and 1900 against McKinley and 1908 against Taft. Bryan's most famous rhetoric revolved around bi-metalism or the introduction of silver as a support for currency. His last major political post was of Secretary of State in 1913. It was largely ceremonial because President Wilson conducted most foreign policy without Bryan, nonetheless his resignation in 1915 signaled his commitment to neutrality and some respects anti-imperialism. Although one of the loudest advocates for anti-imperialism throughout his life, political motivations always dogged the public's perception of his convictions.

Primary:

William Jennings Bryan, Jefferson vs. Imperialism, New York Journal, December 25, 1898.

———, The Army, New York Journal, January 1, 1899.

———, Will it Pay?, New York Journal, January 15, 1899.

———, The Second Battle (Chicago: W.B. Conkey Co., 1900).

———, Light for Darkness (Boston: Republican Club of Massachusetts, 1900).

———, Republic or Empire? The Philippine Question (Chicago, W.B. Conkey Co., 1900).

———, The Bryan-Beveridge Debates on the Problems of the People (Indianapolis, Bobb-Merrill Co., 1907).

———, Speech of William Jennings Bryan : with Address of Welcome by Edward M. Shepard at the Brooklyn Democratic Club, April 16, 1907 (Brooklyn: Brooklyn Democratic Club, 1907).

———, The Old World and Its Ways (St. Louis, Missouri: Thompson Pub. Co., 1907).

———, Shall the People Rule? (Chicago: Allied Printing, 1908).

———, Guaranteed Banks (New York: Isaac Goldmann Co. 1908).

———, 'Lincoln as an Orator,' The Commoner, 1909

———, Mr. Bryan's Peace Plan (Boston: World Peace Foundation, 1913).

———, The Price of a Soul (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1914).

———, Man (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1914).

———, The Value of an Ideal (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1914).

———, The War in Europe and its Lessons for Us (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1915).

———, Citizenship in a Republic (1916).

——— and William Taft, World peace; a written debate between William Howard Taft and William Jennings Bryan (New York: George H. Doran Co., 1917).

———, America and the European War (New York: Emergency Peace Federation, 1917).

———, On British Rule in India (London: British Committee on the Indian National Congress, 1920).

———, In His Image (New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1922).

———, 'America's Mission,' Modern Eloquence, Vol. 1. (1922).

———, The Menace of Darwinism (New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1922).

———, Seven Questions in Dispute (Chicago: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1924).

———, Is the Bible True? (Chicago: Bible Institute Colportage Association, 1924).

Secondary:

David D. Anderson, William Jennings Bryan (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1981).

LeRoy Ashby, William Jennings Bryan: A Champion of Democracy (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1987).

Robert W Cherny and Oscar Handlin, A Righteous Cause: The Life of William Jennings Bryan (Boston: Little Brown, 1985).

Kendrick Clements, William Jennings Bryan: Missionary Isolationist (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1982).

Paolo E. Coletta, William Jennings Bryan (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1964).

Merle Eugene Curti, Bryan and World Peace (New York: Octagon Books, 1969).

Paul W. Glad, McKinley, Bryan and the People (Philadelphia: Lippincott Press, 1964).

———, The Trumpet Soundeth (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1960).

Edward Kaplan, US Imperialism in Latin America: Bryan's Challenges and Contributions, 1900-1920 (Westport, Greenwood Press, 1998).

Alice Kosner, The Voice of the People: William Jennings Bryan (New York: Messner, 1970).

Michael Kazin, A Godly Hero: William Jennings Bryan (New York: Alfred A. Knoph, 2006).

Louis Koenig, Bryan (New York: Putnam, 1971).

Gerald Leinwand, William Jennings Bryan: An Uncertain Trumpet (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007).

Lawrence Levine, Defender of the Faith: William Jennings Bryan; the Last Decade, 1915-1925 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1965).

Willard H Smith, The Social and Religious Thought of William Jennings Bryan (Lawrence, Coranado Press, 1970).

Donald K. Springen, William Jennings Bryan: Orator of Small Town America (New York: Greenwood Press, 1971).

Wayne C. Williams, William Jennings Bryan (New York: G. P. Putnam and Sons, 1936).

Charles Morrow Wilson, The Commoner (New York: Doubleday, 1970).

M. Patrick Cullinane, Liberty and Anti-Imperialism, May 9, 2008.

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