What if William Jennings Bryan won the Presidency?
Born in Illinois, William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) became a Nebraska congressman in 1890. He starred at the 1896 Democratic convention with his Cross of Gold speech that favored free silver, but was defeated in his bid to become U.S. president by William McKinley. Bryan lost his subsequent bids for the presidency in 1900 and 1908, using the years between to run a newspaper and tour as a public speaker. After helping Woodrow Wilson secure the Democratic presidential nomination for 1912, he served as Wilson’s secretary of state until 1914. In his later years, Bryan campaigned for peace, prohibition and suffrage, and increasingly criticized the teaching of evolution.
The Free Silver movement was one of the most important decision made in US history. It would impact the economy for decades and influence future economic decisions that would be made in the future. In our original timeline, the Free Silver movement never passed.
However, what would happen if William Jennings Bryan won the presidency in 1896? What would happen with the Free Silver movement now being passed? What would be the economic impacts? Or the cultural and societal impacts? Have a listen and find out!
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Podcast Transcript: https://kloka.org/go/althistranscripts
The following is a sample of the transcript:
The reason why McKinney was very successful in convincing factory workers was mainly because he used free silver, actually against William Jennings Bryan, stating that this currency, this new standard, in a sense bimetallism, would actually be based their wages, which I guarantee that ingestion workers weren't happy. And Besides that, the factory workers were also threatening to lay off people and shut down factories, actually, if they went out and voted Brian as well. So I think that definitely changed. That definitely a flip state, such as Indiana in favor of McKinley. And also Kentucky is both because Kentucky is kind of locked rust belt state, not rustling. It's kind of located industrial state more so towards the north, like Louisville. But otherwise I'm going to also touch on, for example, you're talking about the Northeast, and that's also the reason why he didn't want California because California is kind of like the home of the Western bankers, in a sense, because the bankers were anti Brian like crazy. And there's also media that was also against William Jennings Brian a sense. And otherwise let's get back on to what States in this area. I think he would honestly do in California and Oregon; which are two Western States.
