Editing William Jennings Bryan (section)

==Presidential candidate and party leader==
===Presidential election of 1896===
{{main|William Jennings Bryan 1896 presidential campaign}}

====Democratic nomination====
{{quote box
|title = The [[Cross of Gold speech]] (excerpt)<ref name="FT"/>
|quote = If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.
|width    = 30em
|align    = right
|qalign   = center
|bgcolor  = }}

By 1896, free silver forces were ascendant within the party. Though many Democratic leaders were not as enthusiastic about free silver as Bryan was, most recognized the need to distance the party from the unpopular policies of the Cleveland administration. By the start of the [[1896 Democratic National Convention]], Representative [[Richard P. Bland]], a long-time champion of free silver, was widely perceived to be the frontrunner for the party's presidential nomination. Bryan hoped to offer himself as a presidential candidate, but his youth and relative inexperience gave him a lower profile than veteran Democrats like Bland, Governor [[Horace Boies]] of Iowa, and Vice President [[Adlai Stevenson I|Adlai Stevenson]]. The free silver forces quickly established dominance over the convention, and Bryan helped draft a [[party platform]] that repudiated Cleveland, attacked the conservative rulings of the Supreme Court, and called the [[gold standard]] "not only un-American but anti-American".<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 53–55, 58</ref>
[[File:"IN BRYAN WE TRUST" political satire in 1896, from- "Bryan Money," ca. 1896 (4360222454) (cropped).jpg|left|thumb|275x275px|"UNITED SNAKES OF AMERICA" "IN BRYAN WE TRUST" [[political satire]] token of 1896, known as "[[Bryan Money]]"]]
Conservative Democrats demanded a debate on the party platform, and on the third day of the convention, each side put forth speakers to debate free silver and the gold standard. Bryan and Senator [[Benjamin Tillman]] of South Carolina were chosen as the speakers who would advocate for free silver, but Tillman's speech was poorly received by delegates from outside the South because of its sectionalism and references to the Civil War. Charged with delivering the convention's last speech on the topic of monetary policy, Bryan seized his opportunity to emerge as the nation's leading Democrat. In his [[Cross of gold speech|"Cross of Gold" speech]], Bryan argued that the debate over monetary policy was part of a broader struggle for democracy, political independence and the welfare of the "common man". Bryan's speech was met with rapturous applause and a celebration on the floor of the convention that lasted for over half an hour.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 56–62</ref>

[[File:William-Jennings-Bryan-speaking-c1896.jpeg|thumb|Bryan campaigning for president, October 1896]]
The next day, the Democratic Party held its presidential ballot. With the continuing support of Governor [[John Altgeld]] of Illinois, Bland led the first ballot of the convention, but he fell far short of the necessary two-thirds vote. Bryan finished in a distant second on the convention's first ballot, but his Cross of Gold speech had left a strong impression on many delegates. Despite the distrust of party leaders like Altgeld, who was wary of supporting an untested candidate, Bryan's strength grew over the next four ballots. He gained the lead on the fourth ballot and won his party's presidential nomination on the fifth ballot.<ref name="kazin6263"/> At the age of 36, Bryan became the youngest presidential nominee of a major party in American history, a position that he still holds.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Glass |first1=Andrew |title=William Jennings Bryan born, March 19, 1860 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2012/03/william-jennings-bryan-born-074146 |access-date=August 3, 2018 |publisher=Politico |date=March 19, 2012}}</ref> The convention nominated [[Arthur Sewall]], a wealthy Maine shipbuilder who also favored free silver and the income tax, as Bryan's running mate.<ref name="kazin6263">Kazin (2006), pp. 62–63</ref>

====General election====
Conservative Democrats, known as the "[[National Democratic Party (United States)|Gold Democrats]]", nominated a separate ticket. Cleveland himself did not publicly attack Bryan but privately favored the Republican candidate, [[William McKinley]], over Bryan. Many urban newspapers in the Northeast and Midwest that had supported previous Democratic tickets also opposed Bryan's candidacy.<ref>Kazin (2006), p. 63</ref> Bryan, however, won the support of the Populist Party, which nominated a ticket consisting of Bryan and [[Thomas E. Watson]] of Georgia. Though Populist leaders feared that the nomination of the Democratic candidate would damage the party in the long term, they shared many of Bryan's political views and had developed a productive working relationship with Bryan.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 63–65</ref>

The Republican campaign painted McKinley as the "advance agent of prosperity" and social harmony and warned of the supposed dangers of electing Bryan. McKinley and his campaign manager, [[Mark Hanna]], knew that McKinley could not match Bryan's oratorical skills. Rather than giving speeches on the campaign trail, the Republican nominee conducted a [[front porch campaign]]. Hanna, meanwhile, raised an unprecedented amount of money, dispatched campaign surrogates and organized the distribution of millions of pieces of campaign literature.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 65–67</ref>

[[File:ElectoralCollege1896.svg|thumb|1896 electoral vote results]]

Facing a huge campaign finance disadvantage, the Democratic campaign relied largely on Bryan's oratorical skills. Breaking with the precedent set by most major party nominees, Bryan gave some 600 speeches, primarily in the hotly-contested Midwest.<ref>{{cite book|author=William Safire|title=Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EKkO4JBxtVkC&pg=PA922|year=2004|publisher=W.W. Norton|page=922|isbn=978-0-393-05931-1}}</ref> Bryan invented the national [[stump speech (politics)|stumping tour]], reaching an audience of 5 million in 27 states.<ref>Richard J. Ellis And Mark Dedrick, "The Presidential Candidate, Then and Now" ''Perspectives on Political Science'' (1997) 26#4 pp. 208–216 [http://www.uvm.edu/~dguber/POLS125/articles/ellis.htm online]</ref> He was building a coalition of the white South, poor northern farmers and industrial workers and silver miners against banks and railroads and the "money power". Free silver appealed to farmers, who would be paid more for their products, but not to industrial workers, who would not get higher wages but would pay higher prices. The industrial cities voted for McKinley, who won nearly the entire East and industrial Midwest and did well along the border and the West Coast. Bryan swept the South and Mountain states and the  wheat growing regions of the Midwest. Revivalistic Protestants cheered at Bryan's semi-religious rhetoric. Ethnic voters supported McKinley, who promised they would not be excluded from the new prosperity, as did more prosperous farmers and the fast-growing middle class.<ref>{{cite book|author=Michael Nelson|title=Guide to the Presidency|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fK_lCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA363|year=2015|publisher=Routledge|page=363|isbn=978-1-135-91462-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Karl Rove|title=The Triumph of William McKinley: Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q_agDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA368|year=2016|pages=367–369|publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4767-5296-9}}</ref>

McKinley won the election by a fairly comfortable margin by taking 51 percent of the popular vote and 271 [[Electoral College (United States)|electoral votes]].<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 76–79</ref> Democrats remained loyal to their champion after his defeat; many letters urged him to run again in the [[1900 United States presidential election|1900 presidential election]]. William's younger brother, [[Charles W. Bryan]], created a card file of supporters to whom the Bryans would send regular mailings to for the next thirty years.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 80–82</ref> The Populist Party fractured after the election; many Populists, including James Weaver, followed Bryan into the Democratic Party, and others followed [[Eugene V. Debs]] into the [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist Party]].<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 202–203</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
! colspan="6" | 1896 United States presidential election<ref>{{cite web|author=David Leip|publisher=Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas|url=https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1896&fips=42&f=1&off=0&elect=0&minper=0|title=1896 Presidential General Election Results – Pennsylvania|access-date=March 24, 2018}}</ref>
|-
! colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! style="width: 5em" |Votes
! style="width: 7em" |Percentage
! style="width: 5em" |Electoral votes
|-
! style="background-color:#FF3333; width: 3px" |
| style="width: 130px" | '''[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]'''
| '''[[William McKinley]]'''
| align="right" | '''7,108,480'''
| align="right" | '''50.99%'''
| align="right" | '''271'''
|-
! style="background-color:#3333FF; width: 3px" |
| style="width: 130px" | [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| ''William Jennings Bryan''
| align="right" | 5,588,462
| align="right" | 40.09%
| align="right" | 
|-
! style="background-color:#CCFFCC; width: 3px" |
| style="width: 130px" | [[Populist Party (United States)|Populist]]
| ''William Jennings Bryan''
| align="right" | 907,717
| align="right" | 6.51%
| align="right" | 
|-
! style="background-color:#777777; width: 3px" |
| style="width: 130px" | [[Silver Party|Silver]]
| ''William Jennings Bryan''
| align="right" | 12,873
| align="right" | 0.09%
| align="right" | 
|-
! style="background-color:#B2BEB5; width: 3px" |
| style="width: 130px" | Total
| William Jennings Bryan
| align="right" | 6,509,052
| align="right" | 46.69%
| align="right" | 176
|-
! style="background-color:#FFC02D; width: 3px" |
| style="width: 130px" | [[National Democratic Party (United States)|National Democratic]]
| [[John M. Palmer (politician)|John Palmer]]
| align="right" | 134,645
| align="right" | 0.97%
| align="right" | 0
|-
! style="background-color:#FF00FF; width: 3px" |
| style="width: 130px" | [[Prohibition Party|Prohibition]]
| [[Joshua Levering]]
| align="right" | 131,312	
| align="right" | 0.94%
| align="right" | 0
|-
! style="background-color:#DD051D; width: 3px" |
| style="width: 130px" | [[Socialist Labor Party of America|Socialist Labor]]
| [[Charles Matchett]]
| align="right" | 36,373
| align="right" | 0.26%
| align="right" | 0
|-
! style="background-color:#f09; width: 3px" |
| style="width: 130px" | [[Prohibition Party|National Prohibition]]
| [[Charles E. Bentley (politician)|Charles Bentley]]
| align="right" | 19,367
| align="right" | 0.14%
| align="right" | 0
|-
! style="background-color:#FFFFFF; width: 3px" |
| style="width: 130px" | ''No party''
| [[Write-in candidate|Write-ins]]
| align="right" | 1,570
| align="right" | 0.01%
| align="right" | 0
|-
|-bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
| colspan="3" align="right" | '''Totals'''
| align="right" | '''13,940,799'''
| align="right" | '''100.00%'''
| align="right" | '''447'''
|}

===War and peace: 1898–1900===
====Spanish–American War====
{{see also|Presidency of William McKinley}}
Because of better economic conditions for farmers and the effects of the [[Klondike Gold Rush]] in raising prices, free silver lost its potency as an electoral issue in the years after 1896. In 1900, President McKinley signed the [[Gold Standard Act]], which put the United States on the [[gold standard]]. Bryan remained popular in the Democratic Party and his supporters took control of party organizations throughout the country, but he initially resisted shifting his political focus from free silver.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 83–86</ref> Foreign policy emerged as an important issue due to the ongoing [[Cuban War of Independence]] against [[Spain]], as Bryan and many Americans supported Cuban independence. After the explosion of the [[USS Maine (ACR-1)|USS ''Maine'']] in [[Havana Harbor]], the United States declared war on Spain in April 1898, which began the [[Spanish–American War]]. Though wary of [[militarism]], Bryan had long favored Cuban independence and so supported the war.<ref name="kazin8689">Kazin (2006), pp. 86–89</ref> He argued that "universal peace cannot come until justice is enthroned throughout the world. Until the right has triumphed in every land and love reigns in every heart, government must, as a last resort, appeal to force".<ref>Sicius (2015), p. 182</ref>

[[File:American Colonies.png|thumb|The United States and its colonial possessions after the Spanish–American War]]

At Governor [[Silas A. Holcomb]]'s request, Bryan recruited a 2000-man regiment for the Nebraska National Guard and the soldiers of the regiment elected Bryan as their leader. Under Colonel Bryan's command, the regiment was transported to [[Camp Cuba Libre]] in [[Florida]], but the fighting between Spain and the United States ended before the regiment had been deployed to Cuba. Bryan's regiment remained in Florida for months after the end of the war, which prevented Bryan from taking an active role in the [[1898 United States elections|1898 midterm elections]]. Bryan resigned his commission and left Florida in December 1898 after the United States and Spain had signed the [[Treaty of Paris (1898)|Treaty of Paris]].<ref name="kazin8689"/>

Bryan had supported the war to gain Cuba's independence, but he was outraged that the Treaty of Paris granted the United States control over the [[Philippines]]. Many Republicans believed that the United States had an obligation to "civilize" the Philippines, but Bryan strongly opposed what he saw as [[American imperialism]]. Despite his opposition to the annexation of the Philippines, Bryan urged his supporters to ratify the Treaty of Paris. He wanted to quickly bring an official end to the war and then to grant independence to the Philippines as soon as possible. With Bryan's support, the treaty was ratified in a close vote, bringing an official end to the Spanish–American War. In early 1899, the [[Philippine–American War]] broke out as the established Philippine government, under the leadership of [[Emilio Aguinaldo]], sought to stop the American invasion of the archipelago.

====Presidential election of 1900====
{{Main|William Jennings Bryan 1900 presidential campaign}}
[[File:Rogers cartoon about William Jennings Bryan reconstructing the Democratic Party platform.jpg|thumb|Conservatives in 1900 ridiculed Bryan's eclectic platform.]]
The [[1900 Democratic National Convention]] met in [[Kansas City, Missouri]], where some Democratic leaders opposed to Bryan had hoped to nominate Admiral [[George Dewey]] for president. Nevertheless, Bryan faced no significant opposition by the time of the convention and he won his party's nomination unanimously. Bryan did not attend the convention but exercised control of the convention's proceedings via telegraph.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 98–99</ref> Bryan faced a decision regarding which issue his campaign would focus on. Many of his most fervent supporters wanted Bryan to continue his crusade for free silver, and Democrats from the Northeast advised Bryan to center his campaign on the growing power of trusts. Bryan, however, decided that his campaign would focus on anti-imperialism, partly to unite the factions of the party and win over some Republicans.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 95–98</ref> The party platform contained planks supporting free silver and opposing the power of trusts, but imperialism was labeled as the "paramount issue" of the campaign. The party nominated former Vice President Adlai Stevenson to serve as Bryan's running mate.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 99–100</ref>

In [[Imperialism speech|his speech]] accepting the Democratic nomination, Bryan argued that the election represented "a contest between democracy and plutocracy". He also strongly criticized the U.S. annexation of the Philippines and compared it to Britain's past rule over the [[Thirteen Colonies]]. Bryan argued that the United States should refrain from imperialism and should seek to become the "supreme moral factor in the world's progress and the accepted arbiter of the world's disputes".<ref name="Kazin 2006, pp. 102–103">Kazin (2006), pp. 102–103</ref> By 1900, the [[American Anti-Imperialist League]], which included individuals like Benjamin Harrison, [[Andrew Carnegie]], [[Carl Schurz]] and [[Mark Twain]], had emerged as the primary domestic organization opposed to the continued American control of the Philippines. Many of the leaders of the League had opposed Bryan in 1896 and continued to distrust Bryan and his followers.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 91–92</ref> Despite the distrust, Bryan's strong stance against imperialism convinced most of the league's leadership to throw their support behind the Democratic nominee.<ref name="Kazin 2006, pp. 102–103"/>

[[File:ElectoralCollege1900.svg|thumb|1900 electoral vote results]]
Once again, the McKinley campaign established a massive financial advantage, and the Democratic campaign relied largely on Bryan's oratory.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 104–105</ref> In a typical day Bryan gave four hour-long speeches and shorter talks that added up to six hours of speaking. At an average rate of 175 words a minute, he turned out 63,000 words a day, enough to fill 52 columns of a newspaper.<ref>Coletta (1964), p. 272</ref> The Republican Party's superior organization and finances boosted McKinley's candidacy and, as in the previous campaign, most major newspapers favored McKinley. Bryan also had to contend with the Republican vice presidential nominee, [[Theodore Roosevelt]], who had emerged a national celebrity in the Spanish–American War and proved to be a strong public speaker. Bryan's anti-imperialism failed to register with many voters and as the campaign neared its end, Bryan increasingly shifted to attacks on corporate power. He once again sought the vote of urban laborers by telling them to vote against the business interests that had "condemn[ed] the boys of this country to perpetual clerkship".<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 105–107</ref>

By election day, few believed that Bryan would win, and McKinley ultimately prevailed once again over Bryan. Compared to the results of the 1896 election, McKinley increased his popular vote margin and picked up several Western states, including Bryan's home state of Nebraska.<ref name="kazin107108">Kazin (2006), pp. 107–108</ref> The Republican platform of victory in war and a strong economy proved to be more important to voters than Bryan's questioning the morality of annexing the Philippines.<ref>Clements (1982), p. 38.</ref> The election also confirmed the continuing organizational advantage of the Republican Party outside of the South.<ref name="kazin107108"/>

===Between presidential campaigns, 1901–1907===
{{See also|Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt|Alton B. Parker 1904 presidential campaign}}
[[File:Bryan 10 commandments PUCK 1906.jpg|thumb|William J Bryan in 1906 as Moses with new 10 commandments; Puck September 19, 1906, by [[Joseph Keppler]]. Tablet reads: '' l-Thou shalt have no other leaders before me. II—Thou shalt not make unto thyself any high Protective Tariff. Ill—Eight hours, and no more, shalt thou labor and do all thy work. IV—Thou shalt not graft. V—Thou shalt not elect thy Senators save by Popular Vote. VI—Thou shalt not grant rebates unto thy neighbor. VII—Thou shalt not make combinations in restraint of trade. VIII—Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's income, but shall make him pay a tax upon it. IX—There shall be no more government by injunction. X—Remember Election Day to vote it early. P.S.— When in doubt, ask Me.''<ref>source [[Joseph Keppler]] in [[Puck (magazine)]] September 19, 1906; reprinted in: Smylie, James H. "William Jennings Bryan and the Cartoonists: A Pictorial Lampoon, 1896—1925". ''Journal of Presbyterian History'' 53.2 (1975): 83–92 at p 88 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23327569 online].</ref> ]]

After the election, Bryan returned to journalism and oratory and frequently appeared on the [[Chautauqua]] circuits to give well-attended lectures across the country.<ref>Kazin (2006), p. 122</ref> In January 1901, Bryan published the first issue of his weekly newspaper, ''[[The Commoner]]'', which echoed his favorite political and religious themes. Bryan served as the editor and publisher of the newspaper; Charles Bryan, Mary Bryan and Richard Metcalfe also performed editorial duties when Bryan was traveling. ''The Commoner'' became one of the most widely-read newspapers of its era and boasted 145,000 subscribers approximately five years after its founding. Though the paper's subscriber base heavily overlapped with Bryan's political base in the Midwest, content from the papers was frequently reprinted by major newspapers in the Northeast. In 1902, Bryan, his wife and his three children moved into [[William Jennings Bryan House (Lincoln, Nebraska)|Fairview]], a mansion located in Lincoln; Bryan referred to the house as the "[[Monticello]] of the West", and frequently invited politicians and diplomats to visit.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 111–113</ref>

Bryan's defeat in 1900 cost him his status as the clear leader of the Democratic Party and conservatives such as [[David B. Hill]] and [[Arthur Pue Gorman]] moved to re-establish their control over the party and return it to the policies of the Cleveland era. Meanwhile, Roosevelt succeeded McKinley as president after the [[assassination of William McKinley|latter's assassination]] in September 1901 at the [[Pan-American Exposition]], in Buffalo, New York. Roosevelt prosecuted antitrust cases and implemented other [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]] policies, but Bryan argued that Roosevelt did not fully embrace progressive causes. Bryan called for a package of reforms, including a federal income tax, pure food and drug laws, a ban on corporate financing of campaigns, a constitutional amendment providing for the direct election of senators, local ownership of utilities, and the state adoption of the [[Popular initiative|initiative]] and the [[referendum]],<ref name="Kazin 2006, pp. 113–114">Kazin (2006), pp. 113–114</ref> and provisions for old age.<ref>William Jennings Bryan Volume 1 By Paolo Enrico Coletta, 1964, P.441</ref> He also criticized Roosevelt's foreign policy and attacked Roosevelt's decision to invite [[Booker T. Washington]] to dine at the [[Booker T. Washington dinner at the White House|White House]] in 1901.<ref>Kazin (2006), p. 114</ref>

Before the [[1904 Democratic National Convention]], [[Alton B. Parker]], a New York and conservative ally of David Hill, was the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination. Conservatives feared that Bryan would join with the publisher [[William Randolph Hearst]] to block Parker's nomination. Seeking to appease Bryan and other progressives, Hill agreed to a party platform that omitted mention of the gold standard and criticized trusts.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 114–116</ref> In the event, Bryan did not support Parker or Hearst, but rather [[Francis Cockrell]], a Missouri senator whose career had been almost wholly unremarkable.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://elections.harpweek.com/1904/cartoon-1904-large.asp?UniqueID=7&Year=1904|title=HarpWeek &#124; Elections &#124; 1904 Large Cartoons|website=elections.harpweek.com}}</ref> Bryan's motivation was not any belief that Cockrell could defeat Roosevelt in the election, but rather that he would lose decisively, thus paving the way for Bryan to be re-nominated in 1908. However, the possibility of Hearst getting the nomination alarmed the party's moderates enough that they moved to support Parker, who was narrowly nominated on the first ballot at the convention, with Cockrell finishing a distant third place.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kennedy|first1=Robert C.|title=Citizen Parker|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0820.html|access-date=October 8, 2015|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Bryan would nonetheless get his desired outcome when Roosevelt won by the biggest popular vote margin since [[James Monroe]] was re-elected without opposition in 1820. Afterwards, Bryan published a post-election edition of ''The Commoner'' that advised its readers: "Do not Compromise with Plutocracy".<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 119–120</ref>

Bryan traveled to Europe in 1903, meeting with figures such as [[Leo Tolstoy]], who shared some of Bryan's religious and political views.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 126–128</ref> In 1905, Bryan and his family embarked on a trip around the globe and visited eighteen countries in Asia and Europe. Bryan funded the trip with public speaking fees and a travelogue that was published on a weekly basis.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 121–122</ref> Bryan's travels abroad were documented in a study called "The Old World and its Ways", in which he shared his thoughts on different topics such as those related to progressive politics and labor legislation. Bryan was greeted by a large crowd upon his return to the United States in 1906 and was widely seen as the likely 1908 Democratic presidential nominee. Partly due to the efforts of [[muckraker|muckraking]] journalists, voters had become increasingly open to progressive ideas since 1904. President Roosevelt himself had moved to the left, favoring federal regulation of railroad rates and meatpacking plants.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 142–143</ref> However, Bryan continued to favor more far-reaching reforms, including federal regulation of banks and [[security (finance)|securities]], protections for union organizers and federal spending on highway construction and education. Bryan also briefly expressed support for the state and federal ownership of railroads in a manner similar to [[Germany]] but backed down from that policy in the face of an intra-party backlash.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 145–149</ref>

===Presidential election of 1908===
{{Main|William Jennings Bryan 1908 presidential campaign}}
[[File:William Jennings Bryan at the 1908 DNC (1) (cropped1).jpg|thumb|Bryan speaking at the [[1908 Democratic National Convention]]]]
[[File:Wm j bryan campaign button.jpg|thumb|Presidential Campaign button for Bryan]]
[[File:EDIS-SRP-0190-15.mp3|thumb|Speech by Bryan on the railroad question, 1908.]]
Roosevelt, who enjoyed wide popularity among most voters even while he alienated some corporate leaders, anointed Secretary of War [[William Howard Taft]] as his successor.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 151–152</ref> Meanwhile, Bryan re-established his control over the Democratic Party and won the endorsement of numerous local and state organizations. Conservative Democrats again sought to prevent Bryan's nomination, but were unable to unite around an alternative candidate. Bryan was nominated for president on the first ballot of the [[1908 Democratic National Convention]]. He was joined by [[John W. Kern]], a former state senator from the swing state of Indiana.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 152–154</ref>

Bryan campaigned on a party platform that reflected his long-held beliefs, but the Republican platform also advocated for progressive policies, which left relatively few major differences between the two major parties. One issue that the two parties differed on concerned deposit insurance, as Bryan favored requiring [[National Bank Act|national banks]] to provide [[deposit insurance]]. Bryan largely unified the leaders of his own party and his pro-labor policies won him the first presidential endorsement ever issued by the [[American Federation of Labor]].<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 154–157</ref> As in previous campaigns, Bryan embarked on a public speaking tour to boost his candidacy but was later joined on the trail by Taft.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 159–160</ref>

Defying Bryan's confidence in his own victory, Taft decisively won the 1908 presidential election. Bryan won just a handful of states outside of the Solid South, as he failed to galvanize the support of urban laborers.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 163–164</ref> Bryan remains the only individual since the Civil War to lose three separate U.S. presidential elections as a major party nominee.<ref name="kazinxix"/> Since the ratification of the [[Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twelfth Amendment]], Bryan and Henry Clay are the lone individuals who received electoral votes in three separate presidential elections but lost all three elections.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Klotter |first1=James C. |title=Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press | page=xvii | isbn=978-0-19-049805-4}}</ref> The 493 cumulative electoral votes cast for Bryan across three separate elections are the most received by a presidential candidate who was never elected.

[[File:ElectoralCollege1908.svg|thumb|1908 electoral vote results]]
Bryan remained an influential figure in Democratic politics, and after Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in the [[1910 United States elections|1910 midterm elections]], he appeared in the House of Representatives to argue for tariff reduction.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 179–181</ref> In 1909, Bryan came out publicly for the first time in favor of [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]]. A lifelong [[teetotaler]], Bryan had refrained from embracing Prohibition earlier because of the issue's unpopularity among many Democrats.<ref>Kazin (2006), pp. 172–173</ref> According to biographer Paolo Colletta, Bryan "sincerely believed that prohibition would contribute to the physical health and moral improvement of the individual, stimulate civic progress and end the notorious abuses connected with the liquor traffic".<ref>Coletta (1969, Vol. 2), p. 8</ref>

In 1910, he also came out in favor of [[women's suffrage]].<ref>Kazin (2006), p. 177</ref> Bryan crusaded as well for legislation to support the introduction of the [[Popular initiative|initiative]] and [[referendum]] as a means of giving voters a direct voice while he made a whistle-stop campaign tour of Arkansas in 1910.<ref>Steven L. Piott, ''Giving Voters a Voice: The Origins of the Initiative and Referendum in America'' (2003) pp. 126–132</ref> Although some observers, including President Taft, speculated that Bryan would make a fourth run for the presidency, Bryan repeatedly denied that he had any such intention.<ref>Kazin (2006), p. 173</ref>