explore our nation's past. as a public service and brought to you today by your television provider. good evening and welcome to the third installment of c-span's contend series. we look at williams jennings bryant. what better way to introduce to you the man than hearing directly from him. here's a portion of the speech that he delivered at the democratic national convention back in 1896. it's commonly referred to as the cross of gold speech which led directly to his first run at the white house at the age of 36. >> we do not come as aggressors. our war is not a war of conflict. we are fighting into our homes, our families and prosperity. we have petitions, and our petitions have been scorned. we treaties and our treaties have been disregarded. we have begged and they have mocked when our calamity came. we beg no longer. we entreat no more. we petition no more. we defy them. we go forth confident that we shall win. >> the words of william jennings bryan coming to you from his home in nebraska. it's kind of referred to as fairview because it gave you a fair view of the land. william jennings bryan and his wife moved back here in 1902. we're coming to you from the first floor of his parlor. his study is just below us. he had much of his writing and entertaining in this house. we want to welcome our two guests. michael casic, he's the professor at georgetown. and author of life of william jennings bryan. gentlemen, thank you both for being here with us. >> michael, let me begin with you to set up the speech. the man who delivered it, the setting in chicago and the impact it had on democratic delegates in 1896. >> well, the country was very divided in 1896. there was a great depression on. the incumbent president grover cleveland was very unpopular as presidents usually are during great depressions. bryan comes into this depression in chicago as sort of a dark horse candidate for the presidency. everyone knows he's of order and defending free silver, helping debtors, helping people in trouble economically. and he gives a speech which people go wild when they hear it partly because he had a wonderful joycvoice. the tape that you played was 1883, not 1896, the technology did not exist to record a speech in 1886. at 36, he was robust, vigorous, he had an amazing voice that could be heard without ampfication of 10,000 people at a time. he would set this up to give a speech at a time and convention where he knew the majority of delegates were for him, but at the same time, no real speech had been given yet for the silver cause at that time. so, he had found his moment. and he used it to great effect. >> well, thomas, we want to hear more from the "cross of gold" speech and as you indicated his words recorded but here's a race in which he was challenging william mckinley. he was relatively unknown. served two terms in the house of representatives in nebraska. ran for the senate, won the popular vote but lost because the republican legislature here in nebraska gave it to the republican candidate. >> that's right. move through this period and william jennings bryan. >> sure, it was a tumultuous sometime. there had been a major railroad strike. and revealed to americans maybe how unstable the economy was and how deep the depression might become. and william jennings bryan ran as a democrat and populist in 8 1894. he contained a lot of attention in 1894. i would liken it to the lincoln-douglass debates and gave him great visibility among the political class. so, he emerged as sort of a national figure at that time. and the country was desperate for leadership. it was -- all of the parties were divided. the republicans were divided. the populists were on the scene. the republicans had won the presidential contest in nebraska in 1892. but the second place vote-getter was the populists. and the democrats, cleveland, was far behind. so the democratic party was in deep trouble in this part of the midwest. >> william jennings bryan one of 14 candidates who lost the election but changed american politics in lincoln, nebraska. here's more of the words from william jennings bryan from his famous class of gold speech. >> they tells that you the great cities are in favor of the gold standards. we areply that the great cities rest on fertile prairies. burn down our cities and our farms and your cities will spring up again as if by magic. but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city of the country. we cannot line the battle that is fought. we cannot have another nations help us, we reply then instead of having a gold standard, because england has, we were restored by medalism. and let england have by medalism, the cause that the united states has. if they dare to come in the open field we will fight them to the outer most. having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests and the toilers everywhere, we will answer the demand for the gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the bowe of labor. you should not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. >> michael, how long was the speech in 1896 and why was it referred to as a cross of gold? >> it's 45 minutes long. and drawings of gold was a powerful met tall metaphor for williams jennings bryan was a serious christian. for him, wanted to keep debtors in debt. wanted to keep interest rates high, wanted to restrict the fly of money. for bryan and many people who supported him, this was a way to keep americans who are poor, poor. americans in debt, deeper in debt. it was a way to keep the british -- the british economy was based on the gold standard. so, sounds like a very technical issue. but really it was an issue with the have against the have-nots as we saw it the way bryan saw it. so to crucify with gold would be against pontius pilate crucifying christ. in the same way bryant and populist democrats and republicans, too, thought that the american economy was being run for the interest of those who already had property. those who already had money. those who already had banks and big industries. so, there's really a class divide in american politics at that time. now, you know, we have a lot of anger about economy. but the anger is not focused on money the same way it was then. after all, remember then, every dollar people had in their pockets could be redeemed for a dollar in the treasury. first gold and then silver as well which meant a lot more dollars could have been minted in coin because there was more silver in circulation than there was gold. it was really a call for cheaper money. lower interest rates and greater economic opportunity for a small business person, for a small farmer and for a worker who wanted to be a small business person or farmer. >> in your book, you talk about his charisma. and what he meant at that time. that he essentially became a celebrity. that was receiving as many as 2,000 letters a day in the 1896 campaign. >> yes. you also wrote about something that was viewed as revolutionary which is campaigning for office as opposed to william mckinley who had the front porch strategy in ohio. can you explain. >> he was able to get checks from johnny rockefeller, other big industrialists would just write him checks. there were no restrictions whatsoever on campaign donations back in 1896. bryan, because he was running as a candidate of small farmers and workers couldn't get that kind of money so he had to go out and campaign for himself. he wasn't able to depend on a large machine to do that for him. he was a wonderful speaker. he loved to speak. for him it was a positive thing. he made necessity into riches, if you will. he traveled at least 18,000 miles. had his own jet. and his own railroad car. he spoke many times a day, for example. so, for him, this was an opportunity, as will said, to become known. and also, it was the only chance he had, he thought to really reach americans directly. >> he's also the first campaign tore use the railroad in this way. and to really campaign across the country. steven douglas had doing something similar in 1860, in the crisis of the nation trying to take a campaign swing through the south and parts of the north and revitalize the democratic party. but for the most part, after 1860, american presidential candidates sat on their front porch and other people campaigned for them. and bryan went out there and campaigned at every whistle stop town in illinois, ohio, virginia, pennsylvania, new york, traveling all over america, bringing his campaign to the people. >> as always, we want to hear from you on c-span. area code -- 2we're in lincoln, nebraska, the home referred os fairview when william jennings bryan moved here in that. let's take a step back. he ran for the house of representatives, served two terms and born in salem, illinois, walk us through the early years of william jennings bryan and how did he end up here in nebraska. >> well, he was born in 1860, and a world that transformed, obviously, the railroad growth, the civil war that followed 1860 to eight 61865. he was too young to serve in the civil war. that was something that he came back to in his life. he had not served so many of the men in his period of political activity had served in the military. so, he did not have that opportunity as a young man. instead, he read for the bar went in to practice as a lawyer in lincoln, nebraska, in the 1880s. he started his own law firm, a partnership with doth talbot. and he practiced law in a growing prairie. and that's when he became active in politics. >> if i could just add, at the time and many would still go to law school was always good training to go into politics. he always wanted to go into politics. his father was a judge in illinois. and his father helped write the illinois state constitution in the late 1850s. so, really, politics was his blood, i think. and he never -- he never thought of doing anything else but politics in a serious way. he became a lawyer because he wanted to get involved in politics. he moved to nebraska because he knew the democratic party was very weak here and he thought there would be an opportunity for a young man to rise very quickly in the democratic party in the state. >> let me go back to the way he was able to capture the imagination of the country. three times getting the democratic nomination. has that ever happened where you received the nomination and lost three times? >> the person you profiled the first time, clay, received twice in the wig party. a lot different than 100 years ago. a lot more voters, a lot more media, more money involved. this was really -- unlike clay had a very small country, america wasn't just a country by at 18th century this was a modern day. >> you say 75% to 80% of eligible voters -- >> 80%. >> cast their ballots. >> some women, actually, women voted in colorado, a couple of those state which is he won, actually but, yes, 80% of that was actually -- that's the highest percentage of eligible voters in the election, you know, from then to the present. we've never had that high percentage of voters again. >> if you could touch briefly on his senate bid in 1894. >> sure. well, he started out campaigning to get the populist and the democratic nomination. the populists, of course, were an insurgent movement in american paolitics, rapidly rising. they had secured the house in nebraska. and the irony of the 1894 senate campaign is that the republicans win the legislature. and the democratic candidate actually wins the governorship. and this was reversed of what had been the case before. so bryan's campaign largely -- actually there were two debates. one in lincoln and one in omaha. 7,000 people turned out for the debate in lincoln in october of 1894. and 15,000 people turned out for the debate in omaha. so, this was a great event, to come to this political campaign and be part of it for the public. bryan started out talking largely in the campaign about the income tax. this was an important issue. the democrats had passed the first income tax since the civil war in 1894. and bryan had been part of that. it was a 2% flat tax on everyone making $12,000 a year so on the rich. he started his debate with john thurston on that issue. then he went to the union pacific railroad and it's monopoly power. and the silver issue was down on the list in 1894. it was not as significant as it would come in 1896. >> can we point to income tax quickly? >> in 1895, the supreme court had ruled unconstitutional which was a radical thing to do to say that congress passed a law and signed that law. it helps inflame things on bryan's side. >> and to fast forward, the irony of the signing of the 17th amendment which stated what? >> yeah. the directed electi election of. bryan is, of course, expecting to get elected. and hoping to get elected. the republican majority elects john thurston to be the senator out of nebraska. another irony, thurston becomes the republican committee national chair in 1896. and the guy bryan ran against in 1894 was the republican chair. >> michael, we're going to go downstairs and look at his study in just a moment. but does this home reflect william jennings bryan. >> in many ways, it was a great home for the times. it was aconsidered a mansion. as you see, it's well furnished. he made a lot of money speaking in that respect it was a prize. he worked here with his wife mary very closely. you'll see the double desks that they worked together. that's an important thing to mention, too, about him, he and his wife were partners in his career which is often true of political wives now. you don't think of that in the 18th century that being through. >> bob pushendorf is joining us. he is in the study of william jennings bryan. thanks for your time in c-span's "the contenders" series. how large did he use the home and how often was he in the study writing? >> well, he would have used the study probably daily in lincoln. the study was the heart of the home, as he said. >> i'll have you walk in and show us what the desk looked like and some of the artifacts on top of the desk. >> well, this is the partner's desk that he and his wife shared. they would exchange conversation, compose writing, send letters and help formulate some of the positions that he may have wanted to take for the day. >> on the top of the desk, a copy of "the commoner." what was that and why was that significant in his life? i know he has signed the copy that's directly in front of you. >> well, i think it can best be stated right in a quote, the first edition of "the commoner" which i have here. it says the commoner will be to satisfy if by identity to the common people it proves to its right to be the name which it has been chosen. >> you've studied the man. you've studied his home, you've studied his life. what do you find especially interesting about william jennings bryan and how it's reflected in his home back in 1902? >> well, the home can really tell us a lot about the lifestyle of mr. and mrs. bryan and their family. i think one of the most important stories that came out of the restoration of this house was the role of his wife and the interpretation of her life which is best represented here in this office. >> and the two sat directly across from each other and worked on everything, basically, correct? >> they certainly did. bryan mentioned -- had said that his wife was a beloved wife and help mate. >> how much of the material is original? >> very few of the pieces of original bryan furnishings survived. these furnishings in this office have been collected to represent what was originally in the room, based on some very fine 1908 photographs of these spaces. >> but if he was seated in that chair adjacent to you, would he feel comfortable? would it feel like his study at the turn of the century? >> it would be very much like his study at the turn of the century. even the cluttered desk and the open bible. >> bob puschendorf at the nebraska state historical society. i'll check in with you. thank you very much. james is joining us from virginia as we welcome your calls in participation in the third in the series of looking at the life and political career of william jennings bryan. go ahead, james. >> caller: i'd like for you to talk on there about thomas mast. >> thomas mast. >> thomas mast was a great cartoonist responsible for, among other things, the most popular image we have of santa claus in this country. he was a german immigrant. very popular images -- he created the images of the democratic donkey and the republican elephant but by the time that bryan ran, 1896, i don't remember if mast was still alive or not. but what politically, besides those images, mast is best known for vitriolic images of city hall, of boss tweed. his images of boss tweed looking like a seedy devil, you might say, really helped to bring tweed down and was actually a democratic candidate at the time, an important prosecutor in new york city, samuel tilden, later on a democratic candidate in 1896, who later prosecuted tweed and was able to bring down the tweed ring. >> and we'll go to rob next in sacramento, california. go ahead, please. >> caller: thank you, my question originates from the american president series during the cleveland episode. the historian was asked what grover cleveland thought of william jennings bryan. he said that cleveland hates bryan and then he was cut off and wasn't finished. i'm wondering whether that was true. >> michael. >> i'll start and you can follow up. grover cleveland was a hard money, democratic president. he didn't like bryan's position on the silver issue. he particularly didn't like the income tax that bryan had championed in the house. and had helped to pass. but it was the silver issue and breaking it with the cleveland administration's repeal of the sherman silver purchase act that most got the ire of grover cleveland. >> yeah, cleveland was representative of the old democratic party. the democratic party of commercial interests from the east, especially new york, where cleveland was from himself, from buffalo. people who believed thomas jefferson and andrew jackson, that the government should not really do very much in the economy. during the depression of the 1890s, grover cleveland said that the people should support the government, but the government should not support the people. and this is very different from what bryan believed, bryan in our calls today was a liberal. he was a democratic liberal. he believed that the government should be strong enough to help people who couldn't help themselves. he wants to address the balance between corporate power and the power of workers and small farmers. and so, and also, cleveland had broken the railroad strike that will talked about, the pullman strike with federal troops. and cleveland's attorney general was actually a railroad attorney, at the same time he was breaking the strike by railroad workers. so for bryan cleveland was, in the 1890s at least, representative of all he didn't like about his party. all he didn't like about american politics. >> well, thomas, in order to get a better sense of the man. i'm going to use michael kazin's words. and he said we lack politicians filled with charisma and more mightier and more steadily deployed than a century ago. >> bryan was a champion of those who needed help. he was a man of great conviction. and one of the things that he was trying to do that was most difficult was take on the economic powerful class that had emerged in american politics, in american economy. in a way that didn't look like class warfare. that was what was so hard for bryan to be able to do. to not appear to be a demagogue. to speak seriously to not speak to tearing down but attempting to build up and that was a very hard case to make. and he did it beautifully, but it was a very difficult attempt to try to reveal the inadequacies of american society at the time, without looking like someone who is just tearing down the american ideals. >> so, those are your words. are there parallels to somebody today in american politics that would resemble a william jennings bryan? >> i'm not sure. there are people who want to be william jennings bryans. sarah palin in some ways tried to be 1896. but there are angry populists, there are people who believe a small community of elite is after the majority of americans. but, you know, bryan was representative of a movement, i think. an anti-monopoly movement. a movement of people that believed that corporate america was taking the country in a revolutionary direction. and we have, for better or worse, come to grips with, or made our peace with big business. and we can't imagine a society in which big business is not there. whereas, that was not true for bryan. >> yeah. i think just where we are here in fairview. bryan's home. we just looked at the desk that he worked with mary bryan side by side. most businesses were like that in america, in the 1870s and 1860s and 1850s. they were partnerships. they were small partnerships, small firms. in that period before 1896 was a period of enormous industrial growth. colossal corporations emerging in american society. the pennsylvania railroad employed more people than the united states post office, you know, so these were corporations with enormous resources. enormous wealth. and enormous power. and most people had experienced a very different america, one of a small partnerships. and that change was arresting. and bryan was really speaking to that massive transition in american society and american life. >> we've been talking about money and politics since the early campaigning in this country. i want to listen into the audience in the campaign in which williams jennings bryan talked about the issue of transparency knowing who is contributing to whom, here is william jennings bryan in his second of three campaigns for the house. >> an election is a public affair. it is held for the benefit of the public. and is the means through which the people select their officials and give direction as to the policies to be adopted. there is no sound reason for secrecy in regard to campaign methods. and publicity within itself to a purifying influence in politics. the necessity for publicity has increased for the favor-seeking corporations but the people ought to know what influences working the campaign that they may better decide whether they're so obligated to the great corporations as to make it impossible for it to protect the rights of the people. >> from the 1908 campaign with william howard taft. has anything changed a century late? >> it sounds like the base of citizens united, doesn't it? yeah, obviously, people of money want government to do what they won't the government to do. there's a lot of influence that you have, if you have a lot of money, obviously. and bryan actually was in favor of public financing of elections. he didn't want private individuals to be able to give any money to elections. but he realized that wasn't going to fly at the time. so, his idea at the time was at least publicize the donations that people give. let's make sure that everyone knows it's above board. for example, 1896, john d. rockefeller just wrote a check, standard oil check, $250,000 and gave it to mark hanna. and that was not known until the election was over. so bryan wanted that at least known if that happened. 1907 the first serious finance law had been passed which banned corporations from giving money directly to a campaign. individuals could give as much as they wanted to. the connection between influence and money is something that we argue about all the time and fight about all the time, and the court has ruled on it, but it's an issue which has certainly not died. >> william from detroit, good morning. >> caller: good evening, gentlemen, how are you fellows today? >> just fine. >> caller: i just caught the program, william jennings bryan was he a support of the gold as currency? >> he wanted the money supply based on gold and silver which at the time would have meant that more dollars would have been put in circulation. with more money out there, prices would have gone up, that also meant people who will produced crops would have seen their prices that they were able to get for their crops go up. and interest rates would have gone down because more money was in circulation. it sounds arcane, it sounds exotic to us today. the best way to think about it, i think, if bryan wanted cheaper money, more money in people's pockets and interest rates to go down so people could borrow more easily. >> he gets the nomination in 1896, he was renominated in 1900. what happened in 1904. >> in 1904, democrats wanted to go to a more conservative candidate. they nominated a guy who had never run for judge before, alton parker, his name was, from new york. a very gray candidate, i think it's fair to say. a man who did not go around the country giving speeches, but he was more like grover cleveland in many ways. he had some of bryan's politics, not none of bryan's charisma and none of bryan's appeal to ordinary americans. he got killed in a landslide by roosevelt. >> the party comes back to bryan in 1908. why? >> well, the party is in great need of a leader, and it's a party that's divided by region. it's had a great deal of difficulty uniting around a candidate and making its voice heard in the national election. bryan is that voice. he's a tremendous, charismatic figure. >> yet you had three republicans william mckinley that is assassinated. teddy roosevelt becomes president and william howard taft elected in 1908. let's go back to something else that was, i guess, rather revolutionary. set up the debate that took place and how that occurred technically speaking in 1908. >> there wasn't actually a debate the way we have debates now. 1908 was the first time in which both candidates recorded speeches on wax cylinders, which things you can still hear very scratchy renditions of them. perhaps you'll play one that the library of congress owns some of these copies. this was the original short-playing record. they didn't last very long. two or three minutes, but they went into studios and recorded them. this was bryan who sold these to campaign supporters. it was a way to hear bryan and taft without speaking to you directly. of course, we take that for granted now, but this was a new idea at the time. >> one of the campaign buttons of william jennings bryan in 1908, we begin with the words of william howard taft followed by william jennings bryan. >> i had known a good many people who are -- i have known a good many regular attendants in church and distant members that religiously, if you choose to use that term, refuse to contribute to foreign makers. i did not realize the immense importance of foreign missions. the truth is we have to wake up in this country. we are not all there is in the world. there are lots besides us, and there are lots of people besides us that are entitled to our airports and our money and our sacrifice to help them on in the world. >> imperialism is the policy of an empire, and an empire is a nation composed of different races living under varying forms of government. a republic cannot be an empire, for the public wrestles with the theory that government has their powers from the consent of govern and colonialism violates this theory. our experiment in colonialism has been unfortunate. instead of profit, it has brought loss. instead of strength, it has brought weakness. instead of glory it has brought humiliation. >> the words of william mckinley and william howard taft. of course, taft goes on to win the election in 1908. did william jennings bryan change as a candidate from his first race in 1896 to his third bid in 1908 and what issues dominated? >> the key issue in 1896 was the gold and silver issue and the issue of the depression and sort of class divisions in that sense. regional divisions. the big issue in 1900 was imperialism. the u.s. was fighting in the philippines to try to stop the philippine independence movement from winning a war of insurrection against the u.s. occupation of those islands. that was a big issue in that campaign. 1908 there were several issues. bryan tried to make the power of the trust, the power of big corporations the issue. his slogan "shall the people rule." taft was perceived as progressive at the time. he had been the secretary of war under roosevelt. roosevelt is a progressive president. in many ways similar it to if some of your listeners remember, some of your viewers remember, george h.w. bush in 1988 running as sort of the hand-picked successor to ronald reagan. george h.w. bush was not a tremendously charismatic figure certainly, but if people liked reagan, they thought if you like reagan, i guess i can vote for bush. similarly, people liked roosevelt tend to think, we'll be safe with taft. that's why he won. so bryan tried to use a lot of the same rhetorical techniques. he went out to talk to hundreds of thousands of people in that campaign as he had done before, but it wasn't very successful. the country was prosperous again after a sharp recession in 1907. so times are fairly good. taft was popular because he was the hand-picked successor to a very popular president theodore roosevelt, so bryan couldn't get much traction that year. >> his closest race was 1896, as we look at the election results. from 1900 and 1908 we're joined by marie joining us from connecticut. welcome to the conversation. go ahead, marie. >> caller: thank you very much. i'd like to know how did william jennings bryan come to live in miami, florida? >> in fact, boca raton, florida -- coral gables, florida. >> his wife mary contracted very bad, really crippling arthritis when she lived in this house, actually. she didn't want to -- really couldn't live in the winter climate of nebraska any longer. so miami was beginning to be a place for older people to go if they could afford to, and also he had been in the south before, he had a lot of strong supporters in the south. so they'd go to miami and stay at friends' houses before and they decided to move there. it was a very good move for mary certainly. >> you tell a story in the book about how he was used to help bring other people to coral gables, including the venetian pool that's still there today. >> he became a promoter. in the 1920s, after he had given up all hope of becoming president, he began to make some money giving speeches for land promoters. this was not one of his, you know, more sort of honorable ventures, perhaps. but after all, he needed to make money, and he did. >> again, just to understand this period, we move into 1912, and a democrat finally wins the white house but it's not william jennings bryan. >> right. it's woodrow wilson. and the democrats had struggled for some time, and bryan had led much of the struggle against the republican party, and really for the votes of working people, i think, and the broad middle class. the republicans were able over that period to co-op many of the issues that the populists and democrats had brought forward and develop their agenda as a progressive party. theodore roosevelt was the master of this, and bryan and the democrats had a very difficult time reaching that broad middle class and convincing voters that they could bring progressive change, not radical change, but progressive change. wilson was able to do that. he was a professor at princeton, he was governor of new jersey, a very moderate reformer but a progressive reformer, and he was able to succeed where bryan was not. >> you want to follow-up? >> emphasize the only reason wilson won is the republican party split in 1912. taft proved not to be a really progressive successor to roosevelt, at least roosevelt doesn't think so and he tries to wrest the nomination away from taft in 1912. fails to, then goes out and becomes a nominee of this new progressive party. so if the republicans had stayed united, we'll never know what would have happened, but it's quite possible wilson would not have been elected. >> michael kazin, the author of "a godly hero, the life of william jennings brian." and josh joins us from phoenix. good evening. welcome to the program. >> caller: yes, hi, good evening. great show. thank you for your show. i wanted to ask something a little different. i wanted to see if the gentlemen could speak to mr. bryan's foreign policy attitude and what he thought about, say, the spanish-american war or american european colonialism. if he ever went abroad, and what would the gentlemen think how he would handle, for example, now afghanistan and iraq and the invasion? i mean, what was his mindset back then in terms of, you know, how the major colonial powers around the world were going into other countries and, you know, controlling them and such? what was his theory about that, about all of that and how did he feel? in general his foreign policy. thank you very much. >> josh, thanks for the call. he served as our 41st secretary of state. maybe that best reflects his views on foreign policy. >> in some ways really before that it does. after all, he served in the spanish-american war, but once the war ended, he opposed -- as i said before, the occupation of the philippines. he was an anti-imperialist. at a time when there was a very large anti-imperialist constituency in the united states. he did travel around the world for the whole year with his family from 1905-1906, financed by william randal vi, who he wrote articles for. he went to indonesia, which was then controlled by the dutch, india controlled by the british. he stopped and denounced the european powers who controlled those not countries. in principle, he was opposed to rich countries dominating and owning poor countries. that doesn't mean he was opposed to all wars. he was opposed to what he thought of as unjust wars. when secretary of state, he resigned as secretary of state in 1915 because he thought united states was about to enter world war i. after the lusitania, very large passenger ship had been torpedoed by a german u-boat. the u.s. did not get into the war at that time, but he resigned as secretary of state because he was so opposed to world war i. he thought world war i was an insane war the united states shouldn't be part of. >> take it a step further. what was his relationship like with woodrow wilson both during the campaign in 1912 and his tenure as secretary of skate? >> 1912 he does come around to supporting wilson in the convention in baltimore in 1912. he supports wilson in that convention, and it helps to put wilson over the top at a time when you needed over 2/3 of the delegate votes to win. it was an old-style convention, 46 ballots. but he and wilson never were close. wilson had not supported bryan in 1896. wilson was a more conservative democrat up until 1908-1909, and so the two didn't really trust each other. wilson came to this house at one point, came to fairview and was not impressed by it. he was an intellectual and bryan was an non-intellectual. he was disparaging of bryan's intelligence and interest in the world. the two were not close. bryan became secretary of state in large part because it was a political appointment. at the time it was not unusual for the leading figure in the party, who was not the nominee, to be nominated secretary of state by an incoming president. in many ways wilson expected to be his own secretary of state. one of the reasons bryan was unhappy as secretary of state was he didn't get the responsibility he would have wanted. one thing he did do, which shows something about his views about war and peace, he put together -- he convinced various foreign powers to sign peace treaties with one another saying they would not go to war with one another. these were symbolic but he gave them each a little bronze plow share with the line from isaiah being your source into plow shares as a symbol of these treaties. in the end, the treaties did not stop world war i. for bryan as a good christian showing a humanitarian face to the world was one way of acting in more humanitarian ways. >> larry is joining us from delaware. welcome to the program. go ahead, please. >> caller: thank you for listening to me. i do have a religious question about bryan's religion. but first let me say that i applaud his efforts to level the playing field for the common man against big business. free enterprise defeating communism, about to defeat democracy. what impact does your panel think bryan's fundamental christian religious beliefs have an impact on his election results? >> thanks for the call. we should point out, too, the bible is open to the book of ezekiel in his desk directly below where we're alt. we're at the parlor in fairview. what about the role of religion in his life and his wife's life? >> it's a big question. one of the things about bryan that's important is he never separated religion and politics. we think of that now as some more conservative people think that you should have a christian government and america is a christian nation. but for bryan his christianity was applied christianity. it was the social gospel. he believed if you were a good christian, you want to go out and save the world. you want to go out and help will poor. you weren't to go out an help workers and level the playing field, as the caller mentioned. so for him his religion and politics were not separate. in some ways, i think, this hurt him among some people that were not evangelical protestants, which most americans weren't at the time, but protestants, jews were lest enthusiastic about him because he was such a crusader and also he supported prohibition in 1910 and was a very big supporter of what became the 18th amendment to the constitution. this was a very, you know, divisive issue in american life. he came to prohibition because he wanted to purify the american body politic. to him this was a christian issue. that meant a lot of people from 1910 on didn't trust him because he was a prohibitionist. >> one side note, he did not drink, but he did enjoy eating. >> oh, yeah. sometimes when he was on the campaign trail, giving all these speeches a day, sometimes he ate as many as six meals a day. and he was known, he could devour three chickens at one sitting. >> if you're just tuning in, this is c-span's contenders series, we're looking at 14 candidates for the presidency all 14 lost, but in their own way, they shaped american politics and in many cases resonate today with the issues they put forth. we're coming to you from his home in lincoln, nebraska referred to as fairview. it's now part of the medical center here in the state capital, and our phone lines are open. 202-737-0001 for viewers in the eastern and central time zones and 202-737-0002 for the mountain and pacific time zones. this is an exterior view of what the home looks like. you can see the bryan lgh medical center directly adjacent. this home is open to the public. it does offer tours for those of you who travel through lincoln nebraska. nadine is joining us from palm springs, california. go ahead, please. >> caller: hello, this is nadine from desert hot springs near palm springs in california. i have like a kodak picture in my files. he has a relationship with my family. >> how so? >> caller: and i have genealogy. i'm not a mormon. either just my hobby and i research my family. i have 6200 names in it. and i would like to know about buying the book or speeches of what you have and how much it is and where i send the money. >> well, before you get an answer to that question, we want to ask you who is in the photograph, and what is your connection with william jennings bryan, at least through your own family research? >> caller: as far as i know, he's in a car in this picture. it's like a kodak picture, and he's in the car with -- it's a single -- looks like a single seater with the top down. and i always thought the other man was the one whose name i can't remember who didn't believe in religion. >> clarence darrow. >> caller: i'm 94 years old and almost 95. i can't remember his name now. but i have this, and he's in my family. i have 6,200 names i've researched, and, you know, on my computer. i don't say i'd like to have that one. i research them to make sure they're my relative. >> well, nadine, i'm going to ask you to stay on the line and we're going to try to get your phone number, if there's a way we can, and get you connected with mr. kazin directly and his book is called "a godly her o." but stay on the line. we'll get your phone number, and she brings up another part of his life. dayton, tennessee, the monkey scopes trial and clarence darrow. >> i was just going to tell her that we have put all of his speeches from 1896 online on our digital project. if she'd like to use her computer to look at those speeches, there are hundreds of them. every speech he gave in the 1896 presidential campaign is online on the "railroads in the making of modern america" website that we started here at the university of nebraska, lincoln. >> all the material from this series is available online, 14 weeks looking at presidential contenders, thecontenders.cspan.org is the website. michael kazin, the scopes trial. >> in many ways william jennings bryan is known, if he's known at all for americans, is because he was one of the prosecutors in this trial in tennessee in july 1925, which was prosecuting a teacher named john scopes who was teaching the theory of evolution in high school, in dayton, tennessee. you know, what's interesting about this is this issue is still very much alive with us, of course. a large number of americans believe that the bible, you know, the book of genesis is the truth, is what -- how the earth was formed. bryan believed that, too. but it's important to remember also that for bryan, one of the things he disliked about the theory of evolution, he thought it was not just darwinism but social darwinism. he believed it taught the survival of the fittest, that might makes right. he put out a series of lectures about evolution before the scopes trial, which was entitled "brother versus brute." for him to be a good christian meant that you were against the theory, the social theory of evolution. he didn't really understand the science very well, but he believed, rightly or wrongly, that the way the science was being applied by some people that did very well in american society, by some people in the military was that those who were doing well in society were those who should do well, who were biologically inclined to come out on top. this is one of the things he disliked about the theory. again, he was a fundamentalist and he believed what the bible said was true. so he thought school children should not be learning something which could counteract that. >> there is an iconic photograph of clarence darrow and william jennings bryan in 1925 in tennessee. how did the two come together for this historic moment in american history? >> well, bryan was asked by the prosecution to help in the trial. this was a state law that was passed that year in tennessee. they knew that if bryan helped them this would draw a lot of attention to the case. similarly, once clarence darrow, this great defense lawyer, defense lawyer for labor candidates, labor figures like eugene debs and many others, when you hear bryan, a former friend, by the way, was going to work for the prosecution, darrow said he had to be on the other side of the aclu, the american civil liberties union, that begun several years before financed the defense of scopes. one thing that people should know about this. people might have seen the famous movie "inherit the wind" with spencer tracy and the darrow character and frederick march as the bryan character. in fact, unlike what the movie shows you, scopes never went to jail. scopes was basically a -- he agreed to be a defendant because he knew a trial was going to take place somewhere in tennessee. his town of dayton, tennessee, where he taught high school was hurting economically. he wanted to bring business to dayton, tennessee. that's why the trial took place there. scopes was basically a -- he agreed to be a defendant because he knew a trial was going to take place somewhere in tennessee. his town of dayton, tennessee, where he taught high school was hurting economically. he wanted to bring business to dayton, tennessee. >> not only was it broadcast on the radio and tens of thousands of americans listened to it, it was a courtroom. for bryan to try to defend his christianity and creationism in the courtroom, it was the conte context of the courtroom and cross-examination that made it so difficult for bryan to say what he meant and what he was trying to convey about the importance of creationism in his thinking and about the social darwinist logic that, as he saw it, was infecting american society, as michael pointed out. he ends his life sort of as a man out of context. unlike 1896, the context of the -- it was perfect for the cross of gold, the context in dayton, tennessee proved very challenging for bryan. >> peter is on the point. good evening, welcome. >> caller: how are you doing? >> caller: i'd like to make one point and then i'll get off you're a -- >> we'll go to mark next. we apologize for that phone call. we'll go to mark in arlington, texas. go ahead, please. >> caller: hi, i'm calling because i've noticed the gold standard debate appears to have made a comeback with networks like cnbc having debates whether the gold standard should come back. and then people will come out arguing against the gold standard and against the federal reserve and government's ability to print its own currency. those people in particular almost always seem to quote william jennings bryan for their argument. he seems to be making a comeback in that regard. my question for the panel was, if they themselves see any ways in which in 1986 was relevant to the america we live in today. >> ron paul has talked about the federal reserve and even governor perry has been critical of ben bernanke. so to the point of what he was talking about a century ago. >> the gold and silver standard, the legacy of that debate was among other things a federal reserve system, also getting off the gold standard eventually in the early 1930s. what bryan wanted, the people on his side wanted, was a more flexible money supply. they wanted in hard times interest rates to go down, more money in circulation. in prosperous times, they were happy to have them go up. the kind of thing the fed does today. at the time america was in great reform. we get in economic trouble now, people look for panaceas, going back to the gold standard. as a historian, i think one of the many what's we've been able to avoid economic downturn between the great depression and now is because we had a flexible money supply and the fed has been able to take charge when necessary. will may have a different idea. >> i think one of the big issues bryan was trying to confront with the silver issue and gold standard was the great contraction of the american economy. we've lived through a similar contraction in the american economy recently, so i think it's not surprising that some of these issues are coming forward when they are right now. i think the difference is, of course, that bryan's efforts to broaden the money supply were mainly aimed at trying to rescue a class of americans who were struggling deeply with their financial well-being in their situation. and so -- so i don't see that quite playing out today in the same way when the gold standard is being brought up. >> two history professors representing georgetown and university of nebraska at lincoln. michael kazin is the author of a book about william jennings bryan, and also author of "the iron way," the making of modern america." harold is joining us from youngstown, ohio. good evening. >> caller: good evening. it seems rather ironic that many of the parallels from william jennings bryan's day and our day is just amazing. again, we're arguing soft money versus hard money. we do see the class warfare argument. this time it's coming from rich against the poor as opposed to poor against the rich. like i say, the irony in my mind is just amazing. >> who would like to take that point? >> well, i think it is interesting to look back at that time, because for bryan, making the argument not only about the money supply and silver issue but also about the income tax and the monopoly power he saw all around and the corruption in politics and the trust. all of those things together, he was accused by the republicans of practicing a form of demagoguery or class warfare, of opening the door to class warfare by even mentioning these things and bringing them up. bryan was trying to lead or from what he saw, he was trying to lead americans to see that the class in power was not necessarily looking out for their own interest. that was his main argument. but he had to frame it in a way that it didn't become class warfare. americans didn't want class warfare. they had seen a series of strikes in the last 20 years that looked an awfully lot like class warfare or something they feared from europe, communist organization and conflict. so that fear of class warfare is very vital to the period of the 1890s when bryan is campaigning. it turns out that the strike of 1877, for example, with the militia and federal government bringing out gatling guns and mowing down american workers that were striking, that didn't sit well with american people. so bryan was walking this thin line trying electroraise the issue but not class warfare. >> he was born in illinois, moved for nebraska where he practiced law, ran for congress, served two terms, and became the democratic presidential nominee in 1896. he moved to this home in 1902 with his wife mary. bob, with the nebraska historical society is down below. my question is how did they use the home back in 1902 when they first moved here? >> it's an interesting combination of uses. the second floor, right above where you're sitting was the family bedrooms and sleeping chambers. the first floor was meant primarily for entertaining. you can see the wide spaces, the open spaces where they would entertain their friends. the lower level was more a dining area and, of course, the office in which we had seen earlier. >> as you research the home and visitors of the home, who would have been here? >> well, there were a number of prominent guests. woodrow wilson being one of them. but a number of social acquaintances would have been visitors to the house. >> we talked earlier about the name of the home, fairview, because it did give you a sense of the nebraska landscape. now, of course, it's the home of the medical center. >> that's correct. bryan said the house was one of the most beautiful vistas of farmland he had ever seen. they acquired the land east of lincoln and chose this site for their new home in 1901. thomas, here in lincoln, nebraska? >> i think he's one of the most famous sons. i think his name is widely recognized by nebbans and nationwide. i think nebraskans are proud we have generated people of his stature, even though he did not win the presidency. it was an important aspect in nebraska's political life to have such a character. >> this, of course, being a lapped mark, his legacy will, thomas? >> i think he does bring the democratic party into nebraska's history. of course there were democrats here before william jennings bryan's campaigns but he elevates the democratic party in its stature in nebraska. here, obviously he's a major figure in nebraska history, and -- but the local legacy, of course, is this home and the hospital which bears his name. >> john is joining us from san francisco, as we look at the life and political career of william jennings bryan. go ahead, please. >> caller: bryan publicly defended the ku klux klan in 1924 democratic national convention. did he also privately embrace the practice of lynching in the south? >> he did not defend the klan in 1924. i'm not defending him retro speculatively. there was a debate in the convention in new york city was about whether to denounce the klan by name or not. he believed that democrats should win over the klan rather than denounce them. you know, he certainly had supporters who were in the klan. it's unfair to say he was a supporter of the klan. he was not. he was a racist against african-americans, and we consider him that now, but he did not support violence against them. he denounced lynchings, but he was a white supremacist. but i wanted to clarify, his racial views are not so simple as to say he was a klansman or in favor of lynching people without a trial. he wanted -- he supported the views of most white southerners and white northerners as well, which is they thought european americans were superior to other people. so in that sense, he was certainly not a modern figure. >> i think he's certainly a democratic political figure in the sense -- from that period in the sense that he broadly believes in white supremacy. he's appealing to votes in the democratic south, really, on those terms as well. >> what would he think of the democratic party today, which counts so much of african-americans as a core constituency? >> he would have been surprised. >> he was a democrat with a small d as well as large d. for him the majority of the people in the country were white. he was mostly concerned with their welfare, it's fair to say. he didn't know very many black people. the nebraska side is interesting. in 1896, there was a group of what we called silver republicans, african-americans in omaha, who did support him in that campaign. he had african americans to fairview at different occasions to visit. but politically, he wanted to stay as far from that issue as he could. in fact, 1908 campaign, w.b. du bois, black intellectual and activist and founder of the naacp wanted to support bryan and did support bryan against william taft, but bryan would not be with him and acknowledge his support because he was afraid he would lose parts of the white south if he did. >> our next caller from memphis, tennessee. chuck is on the phone. good evening, good to hear from you. >> caller: good evening. this series has been fascinating, and your guests are very interesting. i had heard at one time that "the wizard of oz" was an allegorical novel about the election of 1896 where william jennings bryan was actually depicted as the cowardly lion. i would be interested in your guests thoughts on that. >> had either of you heard that? >> that's one of the great myths of american history. unfortunately -- i used to give lectures about this. it's a wonderful way to teach students about the election of 1896. different figures in that -- in the first oz book corresponding to figures in that campaign. unfortunately if you look at l. frank baum's biography, it doesn't bear out. he was a window dresser. he dressed windows in department stores. for him, the artifice of the design of the department store windows was one way he saw american society developing. for him "the wizard of oz" was a figure of sort of commercial artifice. so baum, i think, would have been surprised by the allegorical meanings that people found. even though it's an entertaining way to look at it, unfortunately it's probably not true. in 1999 we sat down with ka he karl rove and he talked about how he tried to take some of the lessons from that campaign for george w. bush in 2000. >> one of the things the 1896 campaign did, it established republican party in presidential elections and most congressional as the majority party. there was really no majority party in the gilded age from 1868 to roughly '72, until '86. -- 1896. what karl rove wanted to do was produce a new republican majority based on what he would have seen as the most forward-looking elements of the business community and also a pretty heterogenous group of middle-class american voters. one of the ways he wanted to do this was include hispanic vote, a very large group growing. mckinley tried to appeal to european immigrants. he was able to win over german american voters who had for the most part been democrats before. most of them became republicans for various reasons. so rove saw not just mckinley but hannah, impresario of his career and campaigns producing this new public majority. it didn't happen. george w. bush was not a successful president as william mckinley. >> coming to you from nebraska where william jennings bryan served two terms in the house of representatives. went on to run for presidency on two separate occasions, 1896. frank is joining us from salem, illinois. go ahead, please, the birthplace of william jennings bryan. >> caller: yes, his birthplace is open to the public on as you call it that. my question is, how much influence did w.j. have in getting his brother nominated hin 1924 to be his vice presidential candidate? >> yes. that's a side light people don't really know about. in 1924 then governor of nebraska -- what's his first name again. terrible, forgetting his first name. charles bryan, younger brother of william bryan was vice presidential candidate of democrats coming out of that tumultuous convention in 1924. it was more because of his name than because his older brother pushed him. at that time william jennings bryan was a divisive figure in the party, partly because of the klan debate, partly for other reasons. but the bryan name was still sort of -- the democrats hoped would enable them to win a lot of rural votes, especially in the midwest, which they were afraid -- progressive rural votes, they were afraid it would go to independent campaign. so charles bryan, his nomination as vice president by the democrats was an attempt to keep some of the progressive farm vote on their side. for the most part, it did not succeed. >> terry is joining us from easton, pennsylvania, as we look more at the study of william jennings bryan. go ahead, terry. >> caller: gentlemen, very talk interesting talk. you stated that william jennings bryan was a fundamentalist and progressive. i believe states like kansas and nebraska, which had large fundamentalist populations were also during his day very progressive. today they are extremely conservative. what happened? >> will thomas, what did happen? >> that's a great question, i think it had to do with the day. the property peter that came forward in american life changed that in the 20th century in ways they couldn't have predicted. in terms of today's conservativism, bryan also foreshadows some of that in his commitment in faith and public life. his faith, as michael pointed out, was based around the social gospel movement and applied christianity. helping those in the cities, helping those in need, and that branch of christian thought and experience did not grow in the same way as the fundamentalist movement. >> chris is joining us -- did you want to follow up? >> just one quick question -- what will said is right. both liberalism and conservativism changed their views and postures towards very active christianity and public life. liberals generally -- especially white liberals got soured on public religiosity. they became much more identified with the christian right in the 1970s. the issues were different, too. abortion and gay marriage were not issues for bryan. and the iron way, the rail civil war, work of will thomas. you've been patient, chris, thank you for waiting, from austin texas. >> caller: thank you for taking my call. bryan was populist in both ways, in economics and social issues. economics that meant progressism, socialism meant conservatism. there was a similar move in europe as the advent of christian democracy going on as well. it seems there's no really outlet for -- for a position like that within today's two major parties, but i was wondering, you know, i think that there's actually a big constituency for that if there was an outlet for it. i wanted to get your take on what you think the possibilities of a bryan type of position would have today in american politics? >> thanks for the call and the question. >> well, you know every politician today, whatever their ideological position, in a sense has to be at least -- at least has to appear to be a religious person, whether they go to church or not. so in that sense, everybody who has a chance is a religious person, and so far as a christian. but i think, though, most people on the liberal side of politics mistrust people who talk to much about their religion in politics. and most people on the conservative side want that religious talk to be focused primarily, i think, on issues of the body, you might say, issues of personal piety, personal responsibility, abortion, same-sex marriage, this kind of thing, stem cells and so forth. so the kind of social christianity that, as you say, many christian democrats in europe stood for and certainly bryan stood for, i don't see that really as a real possibility, at least in the near future. one actually figure who is important to realize is we have a national holiday named after him is martin luther king, jr. he was very left wing in economics but obviously he was an evangelical minister at the same time. so we in some ways, there is a lot of differences between bryan and king, race and others. but it's interesting we have a national holiday after somebody who did try to put together what you call conservative -- not quite fundamentalist but conservative of biblical truth and also a very left wing belief about economic issues. >> on a separate note, connection between william jennings bryan and arbor day. what is it? >> this goes to nebraska again. his mentor in the democratic politics in nebraska was a man who was a leading figure, but never elected in his own right, but became the father of arbor day. it was a way of bring -- getting sterling moreton, bring more business, really to this part of the plains. >> joining us from washington. good evening. >> caller: my question was about the australian ballot or lack of one, secret, 1908. did bryan ever talk about the need for a secret ballot, or if they had one at the time would it affect the outcome? i had read anecdotally, where there were -- where employees put in the right ballot, things like that. is that true? did bryan ever talk about it? >> thanks for the call. who would like to take that? >> i'll take it. bryan did talk about the secret ballot. it was a subject of some discussion in 1894 and 1896. it wasn't a major issue but it came up in context like the potential corruption of companies that would bring in voters to vote for elections or require voters to vote in a certain way, that is, their employees. these accusations made especially in nebraska with regard to the burlington railroad. it had, in fact, released all of its men from its western job sites and brought them into omaha or lincoln and told them which way to vote. so that kind of activity led politicians like bryan and others to object and to call for the kind of secret ballot that would allow individuals to vote for who they wanted without the pressure of corporate interests in the election. >> our next caller comes to us from reno nevada. go ahead, please. you're on the air. let's go to nancy. >> go ahead. okay. caller, are you with us? we'll try one more time. we're getting some feed back, so let's go to nancy next joining us from another town important to william jennings bryan, dayton, tennessee. go ahead, nancy. >> caller: i am nancy sawyer, and i'm from dayton, tennessee, home of the scopes trial. i'm not old enough to remember it, i'm just 70 something, but i know several people that were there. it was a carnival like. and the drug stores was there for many years, and the table where it all started, and as i understand, it just started as let's do something exciting or unusual. let's do this. so that's how it got started as the older people have told me. dayton has grown into a booming little town. it has a play on the anniversary depicting the trial, and it is a very interesting place for people to come from all over the united states to see, and i -- i just wanted to say that we were kind of dubbed as the monkey town for a long time, but now we're known as home of the scopes trial. i did not know william jennings bryan, but i did meet clarence darrow at a tea held for him by the women of dayton. we're glad that it happened there. as i was told, it was kind of started for chattanooga, and chattanooga didn't really want it, so they decided to bring it to dayton. it has brought much economy to the city of dayton. >> well, nancy, thank you for calling and sharing your firsthand account to that famous trial. thoughts from either of you? >> actually talking about tourism, there's a very good museum in the basement of the courthouse in dayton, tennessee, about the trial and about the reception of it around the world. you can also visit the courtroom itself. i've sat in the judge's chair. the famous cross-examination, darrow cross-examining bryan was actually not held in the courtroom itself, it was held on the lawn outside. if you think about it, as many as 3,000 people were probably in attendance listening to and watching this cross-examination. this is the kind of trial -- we don't have that kind of trial today. but it was, as she said, a carnival. it did help the economy of daytona good deal. it was an economy that needed help. >> let's talk about the legacy of william jennings bryan when it came to women's rights and prohibition and income tax and population election of u.s. senators. will thomas. >> i think the legacy and michael handles this beautifully in the book. the legacy is damaged by the end of the scopes' trial and particularly the obituary of bryan, which depicts bryan as just a bumbling back country misguided figure in 1924, '25, that period. so his legacy is tarnished, really, at the end of his career by this. michael's book, i think, recovers bryan's legacy beautifully. all of the reforms that he championed, women's rights in particular, the right to vote, the suffrage, which was an active issue in the 1870s, 1880s, 1890s and bryan was at the forefront of it and other issue as well, as you just mentioned, were ones that he was deeply involved with from the beginning. >> i think -- i emphasize this in the book. i think one of the legacies is in many ways without bryan you don't get wilson or franklin roosevelt. i think he was a major figure of remaking the democratic party as a party you think of today, for those that like it big government problem, those that don't, more economically liberal party. he does 1908 forge for the first time a very strong relationship with the labor, democratic party, a relationship that for the most part has remained for the last century between that movement and that party. so he wasn't obviously the only figure who did this, but i think he was the key figure in the depression of the 1890s in helping make the democratic party into the kind of party we think of it as today. that is wanting the government to be stronger to serve the interest of working people, of people who are down on their luck. so in some ways, that is an important legacy, which doesn't often get credit for. >> this is a what if question very briefly. had he been elected, what kind of president would he have been? >> i don't think a very good one. his skill as an ora tore or agitator, but he probably wasn't a very good administrator. he wasn't very good as secretary of state. as president he would have been a very divisive figure and i think it would have been difficult to work with the opposition party in congress. >> time for one more call. mark is joining us from dallas. go ahead, please. >> yes, in 1900, did a senator joseph blackburn run against william jennings bryan for the nomination, and did he tie with him? can you tell me about that? >> blackburn got a few votes. 1900, most democrats rallied around bryan. it was not really a close contest. it was pretty much decided by the time they get to the convention, which was unusual at the time. usually they were tempestuous affairs. the nomination was really decided at the convention. that was not 1900. 1900 by the time they got to kansas city where the convention was held, it was pretty clear that the nomination would go to bryan again. >> two other famous speeches at democratic conventions in 1984, mario cuomo delivers the keynote that propels him to the national stage. in 2004 state senator barack obama delivers keynote address, and many say that propelled him to the presidency. are there parallel to william jennings bryan? >> obama in that sense was a par let. though, as will said, he was better known in 1896 to americans than obama was in 2004, which may seem surprising given all the media we have. bryan was giving speeches all around the country in 1896 to pro silver crowds. great convention speeches, hubert humphrey gave a famous speech for civil rights, democratic convention, which put the u.s. -- put the democratic party on record as being for civil rights, which it never had been before. we have no other parallel in american political history where someone gives a great speech and at the same convention gets the nomination? >> what about today, are there parallel to other modern politicians? >> i think obama's speech in that way is similar. it vaults him to national prominence. michael is right, bryan had already achieved much of that. but the sense of party unity that both of them brought to those speeches and the kind of sincerity and speaking across a broad range of the public and really speaking outside of their party as well, both of them are able to do that in those settings. they are different in other ways. there is a similarity. >> william thomas is the chair of the history department here at the university of nebraska in lincoln. michael kazin teaches history at georgetown university. you put the book "a godly hero" together when? >> i started doing research on it around 1996, about 100 years after. it was published in 2006. >> we thank you for your perspective on the life and career of william jennings bryan. our thanks to the staff at the william jennings bryan home who opened their doors to the c-span cameras and to the staff and administration at the bryan lgh medical center, which makes up the campus we're at at the bryan home often called fairview. we'll leave you with more words of william jennings bryan as we continue to look at his life and career. check it out online c-span.org, the conterpd series. in the words of what made an ideal republic, here is what he had to say. >> a republic resting securely on the foundations, founded by revolutionary patriots from the mountain of eternal truth. a republic in practice and proclaiming to the world the self-evident propositions that all men are created equal, endowed with inalienable rights, governments are instituted among men to secure these rights and that governments arrived just powers from the concept of the governed. behold the public, religious liberty stimulate all endeavor and restrains every hand uplifted for a neighbor's injury. a republic in which every citizen is a sovereign, but in which no one cares to wear a crown. >> weeknights this month on american history tv, we're featuring "the contenders" our series that looks at 14 presidential candidates who lost the election but had a lasting effect on u.s. politics. tonight we feature eugene debs, a five-time candidate for the socialist party. watch tonight beginning at 8:00 eastern and enjoy american history tv this week and every weekend on c-span3. >> "the presidents" available in paper back, hard cover and ebook, public affairs presents biography of every president, conversations with noted historians about the leadership skills that make for a successful presidency. as americans go to the polls next month to decide who should lead our country, this collection offers perspectives into the lives and events that forged each president's leadership style. to learn more about all our presidents and the book's featured historians, visit c-span.org/thepresidents and order your copy today wherever books are sold. you're watching american history created by america's cable television companies as a public service and brought to you today by your television provider. >> up next on history book shelf, robert merry talks about his book. he describes the president's role in the spanish american war, acquiring hawaii in the philippines and liberating cuba from spain and a implementing an open door policy with china. this was recorded at the kansas city public library in kansas city, missouri, in 2017. it's just over an hour.

Related Keywords

Australia , Nevada , United States , Arlington , Texas , United Kingdom , China , California , India , Netherlands , Blackburn Run , Pennsylvania , Spain , Chicago , Illinois , Miami , Florida , New York , Philippines , Chattanooga , Tennessee , Dayton , Ohio , Missouri , Washington , Kansascity , Kansas , Virginia , Togo , Indonesia , Germany , Iraq , New Jersey , Nebraska , Princeton , Colorado , Phoenix , Arizona , Dallas , Hawaii , Americans , Australian , Nebraskans , Spanish , Dutch , German , British , American , Theodore Roosevelt , Nancy Sawyer , Ronald Reagan George , Ron Paul , William Randal , Mary Bob , Spencer Tracy , Howard Taft , Samuel Tilden , L Frank Baum , Jennings Bryans Sarah Palin , Hubert Humphrey , Ben Bernanke , William Jennings , Boca Raton , Karl Rove , Charles Bryan , Williams Jennings , William Jennings Bryan , Alton Parker , Johnny Rockefeller , Grover Cleveland , Bryan Cleveland , Fairview Bryan , Roosevelt , Steven Douglas , Woodrow Wilson , Andrew Jackson , Bryan Peter , Jennings Bryan , Martin Luther King Jr , William Howard Taft , Klux Klan , America Harold , George W Bush , Mary Bryan , William Thomas , Clarence Darrow , William Bryan , Mario Cuomo ,