A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan Book

WJB is the most famous person to come from my hometown and there's not a lot of books out there about him, so I had to pick this up. It starts on page 1 describing his birth town(he didn't stay long) and says you have to drive 25 miles to go to the nearest movie theater. Ouch! WJB probably doesn't get much credit as he falls in a period in which there is not much going on in terms of great wars, but instead the main issue seems to be the gold vs silver standard. WJB is nominated for President by the Democrat Party three times and fails each time. To a certain extent, though, what he supported in the last 19th Century did eventually become part of the platform for Woodrow Wilson (who named WJB Secretary of State) and even moreso FDR and the New Deal, WJB may not have ever gotten enough votes to be elected, but what stands out is how much his supportewrs loved him. It's hard to think of anyone in this day or age that drives that amount of passion. Ron Paul probably comes closest in this era. WJB supporters wrote long letters and named children after him. WJB may also be the father of partisianship. Before him, people supported political parties according to their region, race, religion and how their families (you know, nothing like today) and even Democrat Grover Cleveland would fit well into today's GOP. Bryan put his liberal views out there, gathering support across many different crowds. At times, WJB did the politically expedient thing, so you don't see him taking on the racist part of the party (whereas Bryan often spoke for the poor and the Brotherhood of Man) or even compromising his views on war and prohibition. Of course, WJB was known for his oratory which drew strongly from Jesus and Jefferson. It's hard to imagine that type of person now, but he spoke strongly of Social Justice and God's plan. Bryan never was able to get elected (He couldn't beat McKinley's money or Teddy Roosevelt's charisma. Bryan never ran against TR directly, but it was TR's campaigning in 1900 and TR's handpicked successor Taft in 1908). However, in many ways he was an advocate for ideas that gave him a stage he would not have had as an incumbent (indeed, as Secretary of State, Bryan had to choose between his ideals and best practice). We don't hear much about Bryan the poulist, which is likely because Bryan dies right after the Scopes Monkey Trial, which has become his defining moment. When Ralph Reed says WJB is his political hero, it is this WJB he is referring to. WJB would probably not agree. Even Bryan at his most liberal, had critics to the left like Eugene Debs and famously criticzed by HL Mencken. Had Bryan not died right after the trial, perhaps his legacy would be focused elsewhere, but he did and it did, and Hollywood has helped cement that anymore. Kazin's book is a pretty good read. It is a little dense if you are not interested in Bryan, but it's a fairly good read, and I was interested in Bryan. I have been reading some really excellent political history books lately, and I love political history and biographies, but if they are not your thing. then this may be a bit tough.

One cannot read it with wondering how a character (and if, at all, someone) like WJB would exist in 21st Century politics. Someone espousing such a strong Christian justification for living, but using it to espouse left-of-center ideas. Maybe if Joel Osteen ran for office as a Democrat. Bernie Sanders has the political ideology while you dont have to go to Pat Robertson or Gary Bauer to find someone on the right who quotes the Bible. So why are the two so mutually exclusive? Kazin writes an excellent epilogue that explains that. Indeed, my hometown area has strongly been a Conservative Democrat area and only in the last 10-16 years has saw any thing different from that- liberal minded with a social conservative streak. In the last few years has the GOP had any kind of success. Kazin postulates that there is no real place for someone with these two stands (with the notable exception of minorities which are probably the only examples you can think of - King, Jackson, Sharpton, Chavez,etc). While certainly people like Mario Cuomo and John Kerry have strong faith, even these examples from a post-Reagan landscape are people you think of as political and not religious leaders. Kazin does state some of the obvious moves by the right which have been well-covered, probably most famously and most well done by Thomas Frank, but he also understands it is because the Left as well. The Left and the Democrat Party seems to marginalize ideologues. Surely as guilty of this marginalization as the Right. It's an interesting theory and one hard to dispute.