The Best Hope for A Third Party in American History
And the Interesting Life of William Jennings Bryan
Most people have not heard of The People's Party, but with up to 45% of the electorate in some states, it was the best hope and strongest showing for a third party movement in American history. It attracted disgruntled members from a broad spectrum of parties and associations such as the Farmers' Alliance, Democratic Party (unlike today, the party advocated state rights against a powerful Federal government), Labor movements (such as Knights of Labor and Union Labor Party, advocating for 8-hour work days and equitable conditions and wages for laborers), Bimetallists and Silverites (advocating for silver as an added currency reserve and opposing the corruptible gold transactions between the government and J. P. Morgan), the Greenback Party (opposing Gold-backed currency and advocating for fiat money), American Anti-Imperialist League (opposing American annexation of the Philippines and forced expansion, and advocating self-government for other countries and non-intervention for America), Socialists and Nationalists (like activist Eugene V. Debs and author Edward Bellamy), Prohibition Party (opposing sale and consumption of alcohol), and American Protective Association (against unrestricted immigration to America including by the catholic and Chinese).
In 1892 Presidential Elections, the People's party candidate (James Weaver) won 8.5% of the popular vote and carried four Western states, becoming the first third party since the end of the American Civil War to win electoral votes. In 1896, William Jennings Bryan, the “fusion” Presidential candidate of the Democrats and the People's Party, was defeated by Republican candidate1 William McKinley who was heavily funded by businessman Mark Hanna (a friend of John D. Rockefeller). Thanks to the connections and funding of Hanna, most major newspapers favored McKinley who was an advocate of foreign interventions and later lied to the American public in 1898 asserting that Spain had blown up the USS Maine warship in Havana Harbor, Cuba. That lie led to the Spanish-American war.
Thanks to his millionaire and industrialist donors, McKinley defeated Bryan again in the 1900 presidential election. McKinley’s second term ended early when he was assassinated in 1901 by an anti-Imperialist anarchist.
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Bryan, on the other hand, became a fierce opponent of American imperialism after serving as a colonel in the 3rd Nebraska Infantry Regiment during the Spanish–American War. Because of his faith in the wisdom of the common people, Bryan was often called "the Great Commoner." He later served as the Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson from 1913 to 1915 and advocated for American neutrality in World War I as well as Wilson’s reduced tariff rates (opposing protectionism), progressive income tax, new antitrust measures, and establishment of the Federal Reserve System. Bryan was particularly influential in ensuring that president Wilson, rather than private bankers, was empowered to appoint the members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
Bryan was a man of principle so he resigned after Wilson had sent Germany a note of protest with a veiled threat of war. After leaving office, Bryan retained some of his influence within the Democratic Party, but he increasingly devoted himself to Prohibition (of alcohol) and opposing Darwinism and evolutionary theories.
Remember, unlike today, the Republican party of the 19th and early 20th century advocated for a more powerful centralized Federal government (as opposed to state rights).