What do you guys think of William Jennings Bryan?

[jbrace]

I'm reading a book called the godly hero for a poli sci class and its about his life/political career. Are any of you all familiar with him? I dont believe with everything he believes in but his fight for the average man and Jeffersonian views are very compelling. His stage presence and political following reminds me kind of our man Ron Paul.

[nate895]

He wasn't a Jeffersonian. He was a government interventionist, and believed in inflation.

[emazur]

Everything I know about Bryan I learned form The Creature from Jekyll Island. According to the book, Bryan's support was key to getting the Federal Reserve Act passed. It says he didn't like the idea of private bankers controlling the money supply, but when the bill was rewritten to give the appearance of government control, he voted for it, and it was game over for America. For his support, he was appointed Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of State. Not very good so far, but it does say he resigned b/c of the corruption involved in sinking the Lusitania.

[Imperial]

I liked him until I discovered a little tidbit about him.

Bryan was opposed to imperialism, which was very good. In 1898, we had war with Spain. One part of that war was our acquisistion of the Philippines, done because TR as Undersecretary of Navy had ordered future Admiral Dewey of the Asiatic Squadron to strike that nation when war with Spain came.

Dewey did so, blasted apart a weak Spanish fleet, and took Manila a day after the war ended. A deal was made to buy this up since it was post-war. All of this was subsumed in a Treaty of Paris. Other terms were that Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam all fell to the US.

Cuba had been promised its freedom by the US in the Teller Amendment; however, for the Philippines no such promise had been made. The Treaty of Paris came before the Senate with an understanding the decision was between imperialism and nonintervention.

At first, it appeared it would not pass, such was the opposition of the Democrats and anti-war Republicans. Suddenly, Bryan used his influence as the Democratic standardbearer to swing some Democratic Senators to vote for the Treaty. With that, millions of Filipinos, including betrayed Aguinaldo, were doomed to a backwater.

Why did Bryan, vocal opponent of imperialism, support the Treaty? He planned to run for president in 1900, and wanted to argue against imperialism as his central plank.

And so, Bryan chose a losing run for president over the freedom of millions. Ironically, he lost because he refused to compromise away his free silver policy, where apparently he could not sacrifice his principle. I cannot respect him as I once would have.

[jbrace]

I'm not very far into the book yet but does give speeches where he says banks should be under government control not privatized. He does have some social views that get from the bible. ( Most of his convictions, and views are from the bible). This is why he is more of a socialist because feel in equality amongst men. He said to be a socialist because he wants to spread the wealth. One could argue he wants his main concern is with the greedy, elitest of his time. A qoute I've liked so far is " The poor man is called a socialist if he believes that the wealth of the rich should be divided among the poor, but the rich man is called a financier if he devises a plan by which the pittance of the poor can be converted to his use. The poor man who takes property by force is called a thief, but the creditor who can by legislation make a debtor pay a dollar twice as large as he borrowed is lauded as the friend of sound currency. The man who wants the people the government is an anarchist, but the man who wants the government to destroy the people is a patriot. "

[jbrace]

I liked him until I discovered a little tidbit about him.

Bryan was opposed to imperialism, which was very good. In 1898, we had war with Spain. One part of that war was our acquisistion of the Philippines, done because TR as Undersecretary of Navy had ordered future Admiral Dewey of the Asiatic Squadron to strike that nation when war with Spain came.

Dewey did so, blasted apart a weak Spanish fleet, and took Manila a day after the war ended. A deal was made to buy this up since it was post-war. All of this was subsumed in a Treaty of Paris. Other terms were that Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam all fell to the US.

Cuba had been promised its freedom by the US in the Teller Amendment; however, for the Philippines no such promise had been made. The Treaty of Paris came before the Senate with an understanding the decision was between imperialism and nonintervention.

At first, it appeared it would not pass, such was the opposition of the Democrats and anti-war Republicans. Suddenly, Bryan used his influence as the Democratic standardbearer to swing some Democratic Senators to vote for the Treaty. With that, millions of Filipinos, including betrayed Aguinaldo, were doomed to a backwater.

Why did Bryan, vocal opponent of imperialism, support the Treaty? He planned to run for president in 1900, and wanted to argue against imperialism as his central plank.

And so, Bryan chose a losing run for president over the freedom of millions. Ironically, he lost because he refused to compromise away his free silver policy, where apparently he could not sacrifice his principle. I cannot respect him as I once would have.

hmm that's really interesting, it's such a contradiction to the platform he try's to run on.

[Imperial]

I am sure he rationalized it that he would be able to help more in the White House, ignoring the negative of what he had done plus its irreversible nature if he won.

FYI, Aguinaldo was an early example of blowback, when we brought him in to sway the Philippines to our side and he rebelled, costing thousands of lives more than the Spanish-American War did and making a prolonged debacle.

On free silver, he does have a point that the gold standard hurt primary producers of crops, livestock and minerals, something Milton Friedman has expounded upon. Somebody is always hurt by a change in value of a good. Which is why I like legalization of competing currencies after balancing the budget to allow the market to choose an alternative. Free silver still hurts consumers and allows corporate inflation.

[Xenophage]

He gave a very famous anti-gold speech in the late 19th century that is typically quoted by goldbugs, called the "Cross of Gold" speech. Look it up.

This speech however is often misinterpreted as an argument for fiat money. Jennings Bryan was actually in favor of bimetallism, and at the time the greatest political question was: a single gold standard, or a dual gold and silver standard?

Ultimately, the gold standard won out.