The Bryan Era

The Sixth in a 20 part series on the history of the Democratic Convention

1896: The Cross of Gold Speech

Date: July 7 – 11, 1896

Venue: Chicago Coliseum, 63rd and Stony Island Avenue. The building burned down in 1897. The site today is a baseball diamond in Jackson Park, in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood. This is very close to the site of the future Barack Obama Presidential Center.

Events: William Jennings Bryan became the youngest presidential nominee in history at the age of 36. For the first three rounds, Missouri Congressman Richard “Silver Dick” Bland was in the lead. Bryan overtook Bland on the fourth ballot, and then swept the fifth ballot with 652 votes.

Bryan captured the attention of the crowd with one of the most dramatic speeches ever given at a national political convention, blasting the gold standard. “"You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold” was the conclusion to his speech. Easterners generally favored the gold standard, while western and southern delegates favored silver coinage.

Earlier Bryan asked “Upon which side will the Democratic Party fight; upon the side of "the idle holders of idle capital" or upon the side of "the struggling masses"?” That debate is still going on in the Democratic Party.

November: While Bryan would win the South and most of the west, Ohio Governor William McKinley captured the heavily populated northern states, and won the electoral college 271 to 176. McKinley also got more votes than Bryan, 7.1 million to 6.5 million.

1900: Harry Truman’s First Democratic Convention

Dates: July 4 – 6, 1900

Venue: Kansas City Convention Hall, 13th and Central, Kansas City, Missouri. The building was torn down in 1936 to make way for the Municipal Auditorium. The original convention hall burned down on April 4, and the citizens of Kansas City managed to build a new one in only three months.

Events: Democrats once again chose William Jennings Bryan, this time on the first ballot. Admiral George Dewey, the hero of the Spanish-American War, was a potential candidate, but dropped out after several gaffes. Adlai Stevenson, who had served under Grover Cleveland as Vice President, was chosen by delegates to be the VP candidate. He faced token opposition from former NY Senator David and former MN Congressman Charles Towne.

There were several notable firsts at the 1900 Convention. Elizabeth Cohen of Salt Lake City became the first woman to serve as a delegate. Prince David Kawananakoa, the heir to the throne of Hawaii, represented the newly acquired US territory, the first time royalty was at a convention. And being as it was in his hometown, future president Harry Truman (age 16) served as a page at the convention.

Democrats also came out against imperialism, which had been displayed in the recent Spanish-American war, especially in the Philippines.

November: Bryan once again faced off against McKinley, and lost again. McKinley beat Bryan by an even bigger margin, 292 to 155 and by 850,000 votes out of 13.6 million cast. McKinley did not enjoy his victory long; he was assassinated in September 1901, and Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th President.

1904: Money Men defeat Hearst

Dates: July 6 – 10, 1904

Venue: St Louis Coliseum, Olive and 13th Street. The Coliseum was an expansion of the Exposition Building where the 1888 Convention had been held. The building was torn down in 1907 to make way for the St Louis Central Public Library.

Events: After two defeats with Bryan, the conservatives in the Democratic party regained control. Their choice was Alton B Parker, a New York State Appeals Court judge. Parker received almost two thirds on the first ballot (658 of 1000), which prompted enough delegates to shift to give him the nomination. His chief rival was newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, who was also a congressman at the time.

For Vice President, Delegates chose 81 year old Henry W Davis, who had served two terms as a Senator from West Virginia. Davis was a coal mining millionaire (as befits a senator from West Virginia), and Democrats hoped he would finance the presidential campaign.

The convention returned to support of the gold standard, a position Bryan was unable to block. However, Democrats also came out in favor of building the Panama Canal and for the direct election of US senators.

November: The young vigorous Theodore Roosevelt blew away Parker and Davis, winning 336 to 140. Roosevelt also swept the popular vote by 2.5 million votes, with an 18.8 percent margin of victory. Socialist Eugene Debs won over 400,000 votes in his first bid for the White House.

Ironically, radicals in the Democratic Party saw Parker as too conservative, while conservatives in the Republican Party viewed Roosevelt as too liberal.

1908: Bryan Returns in the West

Dates: July 7 – 10, 1908

Venue: Denver Auditorium, which was built in 1908 specifically for the Democratic convention. At the time, it was the second largest auditorium in the country, after Madison Square Garden. Much of the building was torn down in 1953, and the rest became the Arena. Today, the site at 14th and Curtis Street is occupied by the Buell Theatre and the Ellie Caulkins Opera House.

Events: Figuring “third times a charm,” Democrats once again nominated Nebraska populist William Jennings Bryan. He won on the first ballot with 888 votes. For Vice President, Democrats nominated John W Kern, who had run unsuccessfully for Governor of Indiana in 1900 and 1904. Kern would be elected to the US Senate in 1910, and became the first Senate Majority Leader.

The 1908 convention was the second with women delegates, who were from western states where women had the right to vote. For the record, they were Mary C.C. Bradford (Colorado) and Elizabeth Pugsley Hayward (Mrs. Henry J. Hayward) (Utah).

November: While Theodore Roosevelt wasn’t on the ballot, his hand-picked successor, Secretary of War William Howard Taft, was. It was three strikes and out for Bryan. Taft defeated him 321 to 162 in the electoral college, and by almost 1.3 million votes in the popular vote. Labor leader Eugene Debs was once again on the ballot, and would again get over 400,000 votes for the Socialist Party.