The one correction I’d make is that Bryan did not think he was pulling the Democratic Party away from its roots but rather believed he was restoring the true spirit of Jefferson and Jackson. They themselves had a history of promoting democratic ideals and fighting big businessmen like bankers in the name of the common American but Bryan updated their ideas for modern industrial times in the face of the big business friendly Bourbon Democrats.
@@dashx1103 Thank you! Bryan and the Populists were the clear, shall we say, transitionary fossil between the Jacksonians and the New Dealers. There seems to be a major concerted effort in trying to divide them in the public consciousness. Which usually involves ignoring Bryan and pretending Theodore Roosevelt was the first one to appear on the scene to deal with the turn of the century labor strife. Lol
@@OliverdeClisson Trump was a culture warrior before he was a class warrior. Bryan had elements of the former to be sure but was far more of a radical than Donald. Calling for currency reform, electoral reform, labor reform, government relief, trust-busting and economic nationalization. Controlling for the time and place that he lived in Bryan to my mind was clearly more of a Bernie Sanders than a Trump. I mean, just look at key excerpts from his Cross of Gold Speech: “Upon which side will the Democratic Party fight; upon the side of "the idle holders of idle capital" or upon the side of "the struggling masses"? That is the question which the party must answer first, and then it must be answered by each individual hereafter. The sympathies of the Democratic Party, as shown by the platform, are on the side of the struggling masses, who have ever been the foundation of the Democratic Party.” “There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that, if you will only legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea, however, has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous, their prosperity will find its way up through every class which rests upon them. You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard; we reply that the great cities rest upon our broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave 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 in the country.” With the exception of the somewhat dated references to agrarianism, those are themes I’d expect for a radical Democrat to run on as opposed to any stripe of modern Republican, even an outlier as far afield in many was as Trump is. Bryan was accused of his enemies of being a socialist and indeed socialists did back his campaign despite him not quite actually being one. Nobody would think to do that with Donald.
This is an accurate depiction of Bryan. However, we must not make the mistake of judging him according to the play "Inherit the Wind." As it says in the play's preface, "'Inherit the Wind' is not history, it is theatre."
2:00 "cross of gold" speech - applause for an hour! Crazy! 4:48 Bible thumper tried to remove evolution from school curricula, Scopes trial 5:56 FDR New Deal - Bryan's ideas rebranded?
In every aspect, this is an accurate portrayal of Bryan’s and Woodrow Wilson’s philosophy of liberalism. Its one glaring contradiction is on race relations. Bryan actually had an uncritical view of the KKK during the disastrous 1924 Democratic Convention in New York. Bryan supported William Gibbs McAdoo, a progressive who was for prohibition and had Klan support. Wilson similarly was an unreconstructed southerner and racist whose career was launched as the progressive governor of New Jersey after a transformative period as president of Princeton University.
The one correction I’d make is that Bryan did not think he was pulling the Democratic Party away from its roots but rather believed he was restoring the true spirit of Jefferson and Jackson. They themselves had a history of promoting democratic ideals and fighting big businessmen like bankers in the name of the common American but Bryan updated their ideas for modern industrial times in the face of the big business friendly Bourbon Democrats.
Nice comment!
@@dashx1103 Thank you! Bryan and the Populists were the clear, shall we say, transitionary fossil between the Jacksonians and the New Dealers. There seems to be a major concerted effort in trying to divide them in the public consciousness. Which usually involves ignoring Bryan and pretending Theodore Roosevelt was the first one to appear on the scene to deal with the turn of the century labor strife. Lol
@@johnweber4577 he was donald trump before donald trump where born. his aims/goals and political views are similar to trumps.
@@OliverdeClisson Trump was a culture warrior before he was a class warrior. Bryan had elements of the former to be sure but was far more of a radical than Donald. Calling for currency reform, electoral reform, labor reform, government relief, trust-busting and economic nationalization. Controlling for the time and place that he lived in Bryan to my mind was clearly more of a Bernie Sanders than a Trump. I mean, just look at key excerpts from his Cross of Gold Speech:
“Upon which side will the Democratic Party fight; upon the side of "the idle holders of idle capital" or upon the side of "the struggling masses"? That is the question which the party must answer first, and then it must be answered by each individual hereafter. The sympathies of the Democratic Party, as shown by the platform, are on the side of the struggling masses, who have ever been the foundation of the Democratic Party.”
“There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that, if you will only legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea, however, has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous, their prosperity will find its way up through every class which rests upon them. You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard; we reply that the great cities rest upon our broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave 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 in the country.”
With the exception of the somewhat dated references to agrarianism, those are themes I’d expect for a radical Democrat to run on as opposed to any stripe of modern Republican, even an outlier as far afield in many was as Trump is. Bryan was accused of his enemies of being a socialist and indeed socialists did back his campaign despite him not quite actually being one. Nobody would think to do that with Donald.
I’m watching this for school and I must say that this is the best video I’ve seen before about him!
Fascinating history. I never knew this.
This is my 4th great grandfather. He was known as “The Great Orator”
WOW! Your great great great great grandfather was a cool dude!
Thanks for sharing! Helped with genealogical research! God bless
This is an accurate depiction of Bryan. However, we must not make the mistake of judging him according to the play "Inherit the Wind." As it says in the play's preface, "'Inherit the Wind' is not history, it is theatre."
Economic investigator Frank G Melbourne Australia is still watching this very informative content cheers Frank ❤
2:00 "cross of gold" speech - applause for an hour! Crazy! 4:48 Bible thumper tried to remove evolution from school curricula, Scopes trial 5:56 FDR New Deal - Bryan's ideas rebranded?
In every aspect, this is an accurate portrayal of Bryan’s and Woodrow Wilson’s philosophy of liberalism. Its one glaring contradiction is on race relations. Bryan actually had an uncritical view of the KKK during the disastrous 1924 Democratic Convention in New York. Bryan supported William Gibbs McAdoo, a progressive who was for prohibition and had Klan support. Wilson similarly was an unreconstructed southerner and racist whose career was launched as the progressive governor of New Jersey after a transformative period as president of Princeton University.
Corporate America saying we can't do good things because inflation.. sounds familiar
Once again, no mention of Huey Long of Louisiana. Share Our Wealth. Long had enough power to defeat Roosevelt so he was murdered.
He could talk chrome off a trailer hitch
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