Summary
An illuminating and dramatic biography of William Jennings Bryan that restores him to his place of importance in American history -- as a hero and leader of the Christian left. Bryan is remembered today mostly as the fundamentalist voice in the 1925 Scopes trial. But as Michael Kazin makes clear, he was a man of exceptional accomplishment. The most popular speaker of his time, he gained a vast and passionate following among both rural and urban Americans, to whom he embodied the righteousness of a pastor and the practical vision of a reform politician. As leader of a major political party, he was able to put the fight to improve the welfare of ordinary Americans in a moral and religious frame. He preached that the nation should expand the power of the federal government and counter the overweening power of banks and industrial corporations by legalizing strikes and supporting labor unions, banning private campaign spending, giving the vote to women, instituting a progressive income tax, and prohibiting the sale of alcohol. At the 1896 Democratic convention, he delivered the famous Cross of Gold speech and made the fight against the gold standard, believing it was the cause of the nation's economic travails, his own Christian mission. Thereafter, the size of his following mushroomed: for the first time, millions outside the industrial north felt they had a champion with a chance to take power in Washington. Bryan became their "godly hero," in honor of whom they named their sons and to whom they wrote fervent letters of admiration. In 1896, 1900, and 1908, the Democratic Party nominated him to be its presidential candidate, relying on the discontent of the heartland to tip the balance in his favor. But despite his immense popularity, the Republican opposition was able to defeat him each time. Yet Bryan's legacy in American political history is enormous. He did more than any other man to transform the Democratic Party from a bulwark of laissez-faire into the citadel of liberalism we identify with Franklin D. Roosevelt. As secretary of state, Bryan helped craft the idealistic foreign policies of Woodrow Wilson before resigning in protest against the administration's drift toward entering World War I. This is the first major biography of Bryan in almost forty years--and the first to draw on the countless letters Bryan received from his followers as well as on his speeches and the lively journalism of his time. The result is a clarifying portrait both of a seminal figure in the history of our national politics and religion and of the richly diverse and volatile political landscape in America during the early twentieth century.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Kazin (Barons of Labor) attempts a revisionist portrait of Bryan (1860-1925), whom scholars have long dismissed as a rabid white supremacist, bullying fundamentalist and braying pacifist/isolationist. But Kazin errs in downplaying such popular characterizations of Bryan as a closed-minded Bible-thumper and bigot. In a speech delivered, ironically, on July 4, 1906, Bryan argued that "blacks carried away into slavery have been improved by contact with the whites." Clarence Darrow referred to his Scopes trial nemesis as "the idol of all Morondom." And H.L. Mencken, after observing Bryan at the Scopes trial, wrote: "He seemed... deluded by a childish theology, full of an almost pathological hatred of all learning, all human dignity, all beauty...." In the place of these popular negative images of Bryan, Kazin argues without much success for appreciation of the attorney, orator, congressman, presidential candidate and secretary of state as 20th-century America's first great Christian liberal: an eloquent voice and leading force in the fields of anti-imperialism, consumer protection, regulation of trusts and campaign finance reform. But the fundamentalist bigot in Bryan trumps the earnest populist at every turn. In sum, Kazin's heroic Bryan is simply not to be believed. (Feb. 10) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A biography of populist politician William Jennings Bryan that demonstrates that progressive evangelicalism is nothing new. Kazin (History/Georgetown; The Populist Persuasion, 1995, etc.) summarizes in just one chapter Bryan's first 30 years: birth in 1860, Illinois childhood, study of law, marriage to Mary Elizabeth Baird. The biographer's real interest lies in Bryan's public career, jumping quickly into Bryan's move to Nebraska and subsequent terms in Congress, beginning in 1890. The author argues that his subject was the first politician to envision a government that, through its expansive powers, could do great things for ordinary people. (Well, some ordinary people: Bryan's concern extended only to white folks.) His populism sprang from his Christianity, and if his "progressive interpretation of the Gospels" never got him elected to the White House (he ran for president three times), it did earn him the enthusiastic devotion of tens of thousands of Americans. A gifted orator, Bryan frequently lectured on tariffs and the gold standard. Later, he took up the causes of anti-imperialism, prohibition and women's suffrage; as Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of State, he was a strong advocate of peace. Americans today, however, remember him mostly as the diehard opponent of evolution depicted in the popular play Inherit The Wind. Kazin revisits the well-known scene from the 1925 Scopes trial, in which Bryan, lawyer for the prosecution, actually took the stand as a witness and wilted under Clarence Darrow's sharp-tongued questions about biblical literalism. (Bryan died six days later.) But Kazin also usefully contextualizes Bryan's hostility toward the theory of evolution: In addition to believing that it "opened the door wide to immoral behavior," he worried about the slippery slope from Darwinism to eugenics. History that remains solidly relevant today, and a real eye-opener for anyone who thinks that fierce debates over tax reform, corporate power, imperialism and evolution are recent developments in American politics and culture. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Today, evangelical Christianity, particularly the fundamentalist strain, is generally aligned with political conservatism and often seems indifferent to issues, broadly defined, of social justice. But a century ago, many Christians, inspired by the social gospel, aligned with so-called political progressives and even radicals to form the dynamic force of populism. The personification of that force was William Jennings Bryan. History professor Kazin traces the life of this brilliant, charismatic, and flawed giant from his boyhood in Illinois to his exciting, if futile, campaigns for the presidency to his tragicomic end at the Scopes Monkey Trial. Kazin is clearly sympathetic to both Bryan and to the goals of the populist movement. The young Bryan, as some rarely seen photographs reveal, was lean, muscular, and strikingly handsome. With his booming voice and oratorical flourishes, Bryan inspired millions, and his advocacy of causes such as direct election of senators, a graduated income tax, and federal insurance for bank deposits are now well established. But Kazin also concedes the darker side of both Bryan and populism. Bryan was often rigid, frustratingly self-righteous, and blind or indifferent to the oppression of African Americans. Populism was tinged with racism and a chronic tendency to view society from an us versus them perspective. This superbly written biography greatly enhances our knowledge of the man and a recurring movement in American politics. --Jay Freeman Copyright 2006 Booklist
Choice Review
A three-time loser for the presidency and a committed Christian for whom Jefferson and the Bible were political guideposts, Bryan has for decades seemed deader than dead. Kazin (Georgetown Univ.) thinks otherwise. In this exhaustively researched biography, Kazin describes Bryan as the idea man and voice of the democracy, inveighing against Wall Street, imperialism, and the trusts. Kazin describes Bryan's impressive oratorical skills, his rapid raise in politics, and his nearly constant campaigning through good and bad years for his party. Along with Woodrow Wilson, Bryan served as the bridge between the laissez-faire party of Grover Cleveland and the activist democracy of Franklin D. Roosevelt. In some respects, Bryan was a Wilsonian without the sanctimony, but also without the savvy that enabled Wilson to govern effectively until the League of Nations struggle. Sympathetic to Bryan, even in his final phase as a foe of the teaching of evolution in the public schools, Kazin nonetheless relates his subject's unwillingness to challenge white supremacy and his inability to compromise, notably during a rocky tenure as Wilson's secretary of state. This is a model biography with a political kick: a tangible reminder that religious conviction and a politically progressive outlook are compatible. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. M. J. Birkner Gettysburg College
Library Journal Review
Kazin (history, Georgetown Univ.; The Populist Persuasion: An American History) places the "Great Commoner" squarely in the context of his times. Bryan (1860-1925) was both a religious man and a very political man, at home teaching Bible classes or railing against tariffs. His Christianity stressed charity and social justice, and his campaigns were always more crusades than mere political contests. Bryan changed presidential politics by barnstorming in his own three presidential campaigns as well as for later Democratic nominees. His reformist ideas turned the Democrats toward progressivism and reform, which culminated in such measures as the popular election of U.S. senators and votes for women as well as many other hallmarks of the presidencies of Wilson and FDR. Kazin pulls no punches: Bryan defended Jim Crow laws passed by Democrats in the South and used gunboat diplomacy when he was secretary of state under Wilson. Though Bryan was quick to invoke religion in his causes and, as a fundamentalist, aided the prosecution in the 1925 Scopes trial, he was nothing like the champion of Babbitry that historians and Hollywood have heretofore made him out to be. Strongly recommended for public and academic libraries.-Duncan Stewart, Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.