William Jennings Bryan - Wikipedia

William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American orator and politician from Nebraska. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the Democratic Party, standing three times as the party's nominee for President of the United States. He also served in the United States House of Representatives and as the United States Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson. Because of his faith in the wisdom of the common people, he was often called "The Great Commoner".[2]

Born and raised in Illinois, Bryan moved to Nebraska in the 1880s. He won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1890 elections, serving two terms before his defeat in the 1894 Senate elections. At the 1896 Democratic National Convention, Bryan delivered his "Cross of Gold speech" which attacked the gold standard and the eastern moneyed interests. In a repudiation of incumbent President Grover Cleveland and his conservative Bourbon Democrats, the Democratic convention nominated Bryan for president, making Bryan the youngest major party presidential nominee in U.S. history. He was 36 years old at the time, one year older than the minimum age limit of 35. A supporter of bimetallism, Bryan was also nominated by the Populist Party and the Silver Republican Party. In the intensely fought 1896 presidential election, Republican nominee William McKinley emerged triumphant. With over 500 speeches in 1896, Bryan invented the national stumping tour in an era when other presidential candidates stayed home.

Bryan retained control of the Democratic Party and won the presidential nomination again in 1900. In the aftermath of the Spanish–American War, Bryan became a fierce opponent of American imperialism, and much of the campaign centered on that issue. In the election, McKinley again defeated Bryan, winning several Western states that Bryan had won in 1896. Bryan's influence in the party weakened after the 1900 election, and the Democrats nominated the conservative Alton B. Parker in the 1904 presidential election. Bryan won his party's nomination in the 1908 presidential election, but he was defeated by William Howard Taft.

After the Democrats won the presidency in the 1912 election, Wilson rewarded Bryan's support with the important cabinet position of Secretary of State. After the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German submarine in 1915, Wilson made strong demands on Germany that Bryan disagreed with, as he hoped to avoid entering World War I. Bryan resigned from office in 1915, and the United States entered the war two years later. Bryan remained active in public life, supporting Wilson's re-election and advocating for the enactment of Prohibition. He opposed Darwinism on religious and humanitarian grounds, most famously at the Scopes Trial in 1925 in Tennessee. He also became a promoter of Florida real estate, contributing to the Florida land boom of the 1920s. Five days after the conclusion of the Scopes case, which he won, Bryan died in his sleep.