William Jennings Bryan stood three times as the Party's candidate for the American President, being a dominant force in the Democratic Party’s populist wing; he was not only politician from Nebraska but also Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson and a prominent orator of the United States. Because of his pacifist position on First World War, Bryan resigned. He was an opponent of the gold standard and banks, a strong supporter of popular democracy and a devout Presbyterian. As a Presbyterian this man opposed bringing politics into religion or religion into politics. He believed that in the hands of the common people could be put more cash and the evil of money power could be undermined only by demanding "Free Silver." Bryan was also an opponent of Darwinism on humanitarian and religious grounds, a peace advocate and Prohibition supporter. This person was perhaps the best-known lecturer and orator of the era with his wide travels, commanding and deep voice. In an era when other presidential candidates were sitting at home, William Jennings Bryan created the national stumping tour with over 500 speeches. Calling on Democrats to embrace republicanism’s anti-elitist ideals and to fight the big banks and trusts, he promoted trust-busting (1908), anti-imperialism (1900) and Free Silver (1896) in his three presidential bids. Bryan resigned in protest as a pacifist, when Wilson made strong demands on Germany, after Lusitania was torpedoed in 1915, that Bryan disagreed with. In 1925 taking part at the Scopes Trial, he attacked evolution and Darwinism. The Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy was publicized in this trial: while the Fundamentalists stated that in the Bible the God’s word takes precedence over all knowledge of people, Modernists declared that evolution did not contradict to religion. Thus, this case can be considered as a trial on whether teachers should teach modern science in schools and a theological contest.
The views of Modernists and Fundamentalists in late 1800’s can be seen below at these two pictures.
References
William Jennings Bryan&Mary Baird Bryan. (1925). The Memoirs of William Jennings Bryan. Haskell House Publishers Ltd..
