9/28/2004:
On this date in 1916, William Jennings Bryan spoke to more than 3,000 people gathered at the Grand Forks city auditorium. He was in the state to support the Democratic ticket, and it was his ninth speech in the state that day.
Sixteen years earlier, Bryan spoke before a crowd of 5,000 people in the Grand Forks baseball park. At that time, he was running for president. The Democratic Party of that era is often associated with Woodrow Wilson, but it was Bryan’s support that gave Wilson his party’s nomination in 1912. That year, the Democratic Convention was deadlocked after 46 ballots and William Jennings Bryan, known both as “the Great Commoner” and the “Boy Orator of the Platte” was the one who changed the course of the convention to favor Wilson.
Bryan graduated from an Illinois law school in 1883 and moved to Nebraska, where he felt he would find more opportunities. Seven years later, he was elected to Congress. He was devoutly religious and fiercely Democratic.
Bryan’s skill as a speaker was unsurpassed, and he soon gained the support of “free-silver” Democrats who advocated free coinage of silver as a way to relieve crippling farm debt. At the Democratic convention in 1896, Bryan gave his “Cross of Gold” speech, which is considered one of the greatest political speeches in American history. In it, he denounced the attempts of the “great cities” to impose a gold standard. “You will not,” he thundered, “press down on the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.” With this speech, he was nominated for president. He was only 36.
Bryan lost to William McKinley in that election. Twice more he ran for president, losing again to McKinley in 1900 and later to Teddy Roosevelt’s candidate, William H. Taft. Despite these losses, he had tremendous influence within his party. By 1912, he was essentially the Democratic “king maker” – if a candidate wanted to win, he had to get Bryan’s endorsement.
Woodrow Wilson's presidency took place in the years leading up to World War I. For his Secretary of State, he appointed Bryan. Both men were determined to stay neutral on the European war, but Bryan’s commitment to American neutrality was greater than Wilson’s. When Wilson adopted a hard line against German submarines, it signaled the beginning of America’s entry into the war, and Bryan resigned in protest.
Bryan is remembered as a lifelong defender of the common man, but it was his final court case, often called the “Scopes Monkey Trial,” that’s most remembered. He prosecuted John Scopes, a 24 year-old science teacher, who was accused of teaching evolution in the classroom. Scopes and others were testing the Butler Act, a newly passed law that made it a crime to teach “anti-creationist theories” in Tennessee public schools.
The American Civil Liberty Union maintained the law conflicted with the right to free speech, and the great Clarence Darrow defended Scopes pro bono. Bryan’s deep religious beliefs clashed head-on with Darrow’s agnostic convictions, making for a highly charged trial. At one point, Darrow put Bryan, himself, on the stand and proceeded to ridicule Bryan’s literal belief in the Bible. The trial lasted 8 days, during which Darrow was charged with contempt, for which he later apologized. In the end, Bryan won his case, and Scopes was given a $100 fine. Five days after the trial ended, William Jennings Bryan died in his sleep.
Dakota Datebook written by Merry Helm