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BRYAN, WILLIAM JENNINGS

From Encyclopedia of U.S. Political History
1860-1925 Three-time Democratic Presidential Candidate and U.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan was one of the most prominent politicians bridging the Populist and Progressive eras. Known for his immense oratorical skills, Bryan brought the rhetoric of populism into the mainstream of America's politics. A national leader of the free silver movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Bryan ran three times unsuccessfully for president as the Democratic Party's candidate (1896, 1900, 1908) and served as secretary of state under Woodrow Wilson until Bryan's pacifist views led to his resignation in 1915. Early Life Bryan was born in Salem, Illinois, on March 19, 1860, to Silas Bryan and Mariah Elizabeth Jennings Bryan. Silas Bryan had migrated from Virginia, bringing with him a deep loyalty to the Democratic Party. His commitment to the Democratic Party was based on a Jeffersonian belief in a republic run by independent artisans and yeoman farmers and the…
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William Jennings Bryan (The Library of Congress)
William Jennings Bryan spent a lifetime giving speeches and running for office but is best remembered for his involvement in one of the most publicized legal battles of the twentieth century. Bryan was born in Salem, Illinois, on March 19, 1860, and was introduced to the legal world at an early age…
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Full text Article Bryan, William Jennings

From The Great American History Fact-Finder
Politician. Called the “Boy Orator” for his skills as a public speaker, Bryan served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1891 to 1895, where he advocated the free coinage of silver at a fixed rate with gold of 16:1. When he was nominated for president by the Democratic and Populist parties in…
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Full text Article Bryan, William Jennings (1860–1925),

From The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History
a powerful orator first elected to Congress from Nebraska in 1890. William Jennings Bryan won the Democratic Party's 1896 presidential nomination after delivering his electrifying Cross of Gold speech at the party convention in Chicago. The Populist Party also nominated him, and he ran on a platform…
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Full text Article Bryan, William Jennings 1860-1925

From Encyclopedia of Chinese-American Relations
William Jennings Bryan, the "Boy Orator of the Platte," represented the Populist sentiment of American politics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bryan came from Nebraska, and his rural, Protestant Mid-Western origins shaped his world- view. To his end, he believed that American democracy…
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Full text Article Bryan, William Jennings (1860–1925)

From Encyclopedia of Cuban-United States Relations
Prior to serving as secretary of state from 1913–1915, Bryan was a congressman from Nebraska and three-time Democratic presidential candidate (1896, 1900, and 1908). He was an outspoken critic of imperialism and significantly influenced his party's platform on the issue from 1900–1908. Bryan spoke…
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US lawyer, Democratic politician and pacifist. Elected to Congress in 1890, he ran unsuccessfully in two presidential elections (1896, 1900). Appointed Secretary of State by Woodrow Wilson (1913), he resigned in 1915 over the USA’s second Lusitania note to Germany. There are two ideas of government. …
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Full text Article Bryan, William Jennings (1860 to 1925)

From Chambers Dictionary of World History
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Full text Article Bryan, William Jennings

From Encyclopedia of the American Presidency
Three-time Democratic candidate for the U.S....
(b. 1860–d. 1925) politician and orator William Jennings Bryan was the standard-bearer of the Democratic Party in three losing efforts to claim the presidency. Bryan, born in Illinois in 1860, graduated from Union College of Law in 1883 and settled afterward in Lincoln, Nebraska, from where he was…
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William Jennings Bryan, 1902
Overview William Jennings Bryan was born in Salem, Illinois, in 1860. He graduated at the top of his class in 1883 from Illinois College and earned a law degree from Union College of Law in Chicago two years later. In 1890 he won a surprising victory in a congressional election and became the first…
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Full text Article Bryan, William Jennings

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
William Jennings Bryan, c. 1908. Credit:Library...
(born March 19, 1860, Salem, Ill., U.S.—died July 26, 1925, Dayton, Tenn.) U.S. politician and orator. He practiced law at Jacksonville, Ill. (1883–87), before moving to Lincoln, Neb., where he was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1890. In the U.S. House of Representatives (1891–95), he became the…
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