The cross of gold speech. It was from his first run at the white house. We do not come as aggressors. Our war is not a war of conquest. We are fighting in defense of our families and prosperity. We have traditions and our traditions have been scorned. We have entreaties, and our entreaties have been disregarded. We have begged and they have balked when our calamity came. We beg no longer. We entreat no more. We petition no more. We defy them. We go forth confident that we shall win. The words of William Jennings bryan. We are coming to you from his home and office in the state capital of nebraska. It is commonly called fairview, because it gave you a fair view of the land. William Jennings Bryan and his wife moved here in 1902. It is now part of the brian g h Medical Center. We are coming to you from the first floor. His study is just below us. He did much of his writing and entertaining here in this house. We welcome our guest, a professor of history at Georgetown University. He also wrote a godly hero. Were also joined by the chair of the department of history at the university of nebraska here in lincoln. Thank you both for being with us. To set up this speech, the man that delivered it and the impact that it had on democratic delegates. The country was very divided. There was a Great Depression. The democrats were split down the middle. The incumbent president was very unpopular. As president s usually are during a Great Depression. Bryan comes into this convention in chicago as a dark horse candidate. Everyone knows he is a wonderful orator. He is defending the cause of free silver. This is to help people in trouble economically. She gives this speech, which people go wild when they hear it, partly because he had a wonderful voice. This was actually recorded later. The technology did not exist to record his speech in 1896. Q does not sound like a 36yearold man. The speech was from 1896. He was robust, vigorous. He had an amazing voice. It could be heard without amplification by 10,000 people at a time. He has really stepped this up so he could give a speech at the time when he knew that the majority of delegates were for him but at the same time, no really riveting speech had been given for the silver cause at that time. He had found his moment and he used it to great effect. As you indicated, his words were recorded in 1923 but here is a race in which he was challenging William Mckinley. He was relatively unknown. He served only two terms in the house of representatives. He ran for the senate. He won the popular vote but lost because a Republican Legislature here in nebraska gave it to the republican candidate. It was a tumultuous time in american politics. There has been a major strike a , Railroad Strike that tore the country apart and revealed to americans just how unstable the economy was and how deep this depression might become. William Jennings Bryan ran as a democrat and a populist for the u. S. Senate and ran against a railroad attorney named John Thurston. He gained a lot of National Attention with this Senate Campaign in 1894. I would like to connect it to the lincolndouglas debates. He had a series of debates and this gave him great visibility across the nation. He emerged as a National Figure at that time. And the country was desperate , for leadership. All of the parties were divided. The republicans were divided. The populists were on the scene. The republicans had won the president ial contest in nebraska in 1892. The second place votegetter was the populist. The democrat cleveland was far behind. The Democratic Party was in deep trouble in this part of the midwest. He is one of 14 president ial candidates who lost the election but changed american politics. From nebraska, more of the words from William Jennings bryan. From his famous cross of gold speech. 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 the farms, and your cities will spring up again as though by magic. Destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city of the country. We care not what line the battle is fought. England has a Gold Standard. We will restore bimetallism. Let england have bimetallism. If they dared to come out and defend the Gold Standard, we will fight them to the uttermost. Supported by the commercial interest, the labor interests and the labor is everywhere, we will answer the demand for the Gold Standard. You shall not push down against labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. How long was this speech in 1896 . Why was it referred to as the cross of gold . It was about 45 minutes long. Cross of gold was a powerful metaphor for most people. William Jennings Bryan was a very serious evangelical christian. For those who wanted to keep the country on the Gold Standard, they wanted to restrict the supply of money. They wanted to keep Interest Rates high. For many people that supported him, this was a way to keeping the americans who were in debt deeper in debt. It was a way of keeping the british economy the supreme economy in the world. The british economy was based on the Gold Standard. It sounds like a technical issue this was but this was an issue of the haves against the have nots. That is the way that bryan saw it. To crucify mankind on a cross of gold was connected to pontus pilate crucifying christ. In the same way, they thought that the American Economy was run for the interest of those who already had property or money or banks. There was a real class divide at that time. Now, we have a lot of anger about the economy but this is not focused on money in the same way as it was then. Every dollar that people had in their pockets could be redeemed in the federal treasury for some , gold, and silver as well. And there was more silver in circulation than there was gold. It was really a call for cheaper money, lower Interest Rates, and greater economic opportunity. For a Small Business person, a small farmer and for a worker who wanted to be a Small Business owner or a farmer. You talk about his charisma and what he meant at that time. He essentially became a celebrity. He was receiving as many as 2000 letters a day in the 1896 campaign. You also write about something that he did which was viewed as revolutionary which was campaigning for the office as opposed to the front porch strategy in ohio. Mckinley had a lot of money. He was able to get checks from john a. Rockefeller. Other big industrialists could just write him checks. There was no restrictions on campaign donations. Brian bryan could not get that kind of money. He had to go out and campaign for himself. He could not depend on a large machine to do that for him. He was a wonderful person and he loved to speak. He made necessity a virtue. She traveled 18,000 miles on passenger trains. He spoke as many as 6000 times in that one campaign, many times a day. For him, this was an opportunity to become known. Also, it was the only chance he had to reach americans directly. He is the First Campaigner to use the railroad in this way and Campaign Across the country. Stephen douglas had done something similar in 1860. He was trying to take up a Campaign Swing throughout the south and through parts of the north and revitalize the Democratic Party. For the most part, american president ial candidate sat on their front porch and other people campaigned for them. Bryan campaigned at every town in illinois, ohio, virginia and pennsylvania and new york and traveled all over america bringing his campaign to the people. As always, we want to hear from you. We are in lincoln, nebraska. The home referred to as fairview. William Jennings Bryan and his wife moved here in 1902. Lets take a step back. He ran for the house of representatives, and yet he was born in salem, illinois. Walk us through the early years of William Jennings bryan. How did he end up in nebraska . He was born in 1860 into a world that was being transformed. Obviously, the railroad growth the civil war that followed, 18621865. He was too young to serve in the civil war that followed, 18621865. He had not served in the military. Many men in politics in his period had served in the military. He did not have that opportunity. Instead, he read for the bar and went into practice as a lawyer in lincoln, nebraska. He started his own law firm, a partnership. He practiced basic law in a growing urban environment. That is when he became active in politics. At the time and in many ways still, to go to law school is good training to go into politics. His father was a judge in illinois. His father had helped write the Illinois State constitution. Politics was in his blood. He never thought of doing anything else but politics in a serious way. He became a lawyer because he wanted to get involved in politics. He came to nebraska because he knew that the Democratic Party was very weak here. He thought there would be a Good Opportunity for a young man to rise quickly within the Democratic Party. Let me go back to the way he was able to capture the imagination of the country. Three times getting the democratic nomination. Has that ever happened where you receive the nomination and he lost all three times . Henry clay received the nomination three times. This was a little bit different 100 years ago. There were a lot more voters, and a lot more media. More money involved. Unlike clay, who had a pretty small country. America was an industrial country by the early 20th century, so this was a modern campaign. As you write in your book, 14 million americans voted in that election in 1896. 80 of eligible voters cast their ballots. They voted in colorado. A couple of western states, which he won. That is the highest percentage of eligible voters of any election from then until the present. We have never had that a High Percentage of eligible voters again. Can you touch on his senate bid in 1894 . Sure. He started out campaigning to get the populist and democratic nomination. The populists were an Insurgent Movement in american politics rapidly rising. They had secured the house in nebraska. The irony of his 1894 Senate Campaign is that the republicans win the legislature and the democratic candidate actually wins the governorship. This reverses what had been the case before. There was two debates, one in lincoln and one in omaha. 7000 people turned out for the debate in october of 1894. 15,000 people turned out for the debate in omaha. This was a great event to come to this Political Campaign and be a part of the public. Bryan started out talking about the income tax. This was an important issue. The democrats had passed the first income tax since the civil war in 1894. Bryan had been part of that. It was a 2 flat tax on anyone making more than 4,000 so on the rich, and they started his debate with John Thurston on that issue. And then you went to the Union Pacific railroad and its monopoly power. The silver issue was down on the list in 1894. It was not as significant as it would become in 1896. In 1895, the Supreme Court ruled that the income tax was unconstitutional. As you can imagine, it is a radical thing for the highest court to do, to say Congress Passed a law, the president signed the law, but this law is not constitutional. This helped to enflame the things on bryans side. And the irony that in 1913, the signing of the 17th amendment, which stated what . The direct election of senators. Bryan is expecting to get elected and hoping to get elected. The republican majority elects John Thurston to be the senator from nebraska. Thurston becomes the National Committee chair in 1896. Bryan runs for president and gets the nomination and the man that he ran against was the republican Committee Chair for mckinley. You have spent some time in this home. Does this home reflect William Jennings bryan . It was considered quite nice for the time. As you can see, it is well furnished. He made a lot of money speaking. In that sense it was a prize for , his career. He worked here. He worked here with his wife. Youll see a double desk that they worked on together. That is important to mention about him. He and his wife were partners in his career, as is often true of political wives now, but you do not think that much about the 19th century. It was certainly true of them. Were joined by bob puschendorf. Thank you very much for sharing your time and insight. Thank you for having me. How did he use this home and how long was he in that study writing . He would have used that probably daily. The study was the heart of the home. Why dont you show us what the desk looked like . Also some of the other artifacts that are on top of the desk. This is the partners desks that he and his wife shared. They would exchange conversation, they would compose writing and letters, and they would formulate some of the positions he would want to take. On the top of the desk, a copy of the commoner. What was that . Why was that significant in his life . I know he has signed the copy in front of you. It can best be stated right in a quote in the first edition. It would be to satisfy it by identity to the Common People and proves its right to the name which it has chosen. How does this reflect him when he moved in in 1902 . The home can tell us about the life style of mr. Bryan and their family. One of the most important stories that came out of the restoration of this home was the role of his wife, a representation in this office. The two sat directly across from each other and work on worked on everything, correct . They certainly did. His wife was a beloved wife and helpmate. How much of the material there is original . Very few pieces of original furnishings survived. These furnishings and this office have been collected to represent what was originally in the room based on some very fine photographs of these spaces. He was seated in that chair, adjacent to you. Would he feel comfortable, would it feel like his study at the turn of the century . It would feel very much like his office at the turn of the century. Even a cluttered desk and the open bible. We will check in with you, bob puschendorf, throughout the program. Thank you for opening up this home to cspan cameras. James is joining us from west virginia. We welcome your calls and participation. This is the third of our series, looking at the life and political career of William Jennings bryan. Caller i would like you to talk about thomas nast. Thomas nast. He was a cartoonist who was responsible for the image that we have of santa claus. He was a german immigrant. Very popular images that he created of the democratic donkey and the republican elephant. But by the time that bryan ran, i do not remember if nast is still alive or not, but besides those images, he is best known for the really vitriolic images of boss tweed, the corrupt boss of tammany hall in new york. His images of boss tweed looking like a seedy devil really help to bring tweed down. He was a democratic candidate at the time. There was a prosecutor who was able to bring down the tweed ring. Later on, a democratic president ial candidate. We will go now to sacramento, calif. Go ahead, please. Caller my question originates from the american president s series. During the Grover Cleveland episode, the historian was asked about what Grover Cleveland thought of William Jennings bryan. He said that Grover Cleveland hated William Jennings bryan and he was not able to finish. I am curious, what did he hate him for and if that was true. I will start. You can follow up. Grover cleveland was a hard money democratic president. He did not like bryans position on this over issue. He particularly did not like the income tax that bryan had championed in the house and helped pass. It was the silver issue and breaking with the Cleveland Administration of the purchase act that most got the ire of Grover Cleveland. Cleveland was representative of the old Democratic Party, of commercial interests, especially from the east where cleveland was from. People who believed in Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson that the government should not do very much in the economy. During the depression of the 1890s, Grover Cleveland said that the people should suppor