DEFENDER OF THE FAITH: William Jennings Bryan: The Last Decade 1915-1925

by Lawrence W. Levine ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 8, 1965

From the week of his resignation from the Wilson Cabinet to the week of his death, the silver-tongued Orator's part in American public life is pictured here in minutely documented detail. Levine explains how Bryan, the man of peace, came to be an opponent of the League to Enforce Peace, and why when war was declared he supported the nation's war effort. Discussing Bryan's involvement in Temperance, Woman Suffrage, and Anti-Evolutionism, Levine demonstrates that the fundamentalist Nebraskan saw no difference between causes of this kind and his battle against monopolies, excess profits, and militarism. Bryan, who believed in absolute majority rule, refused to be wooed by either the Progressives or the Prohibitionists, on the humble theory that he owed all he had and was to the Democratic Party. To him the essence of the good life lay in ""Democratic and Christian solidarity in the war upon materialism and injustice."" Levine provides background on Bryan's part in Wilson's 1916 re-election, his opposition to Lame Duck Congresses, his interest in a ""national bulletin"" to solve the problem of newspapers controlled by private interests, and his efforts to propel America into the League of Nations, as well as the part he actually played in the Scopes trial.

Pub Date: April 8, 1965

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Oxford

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1965

Categories: NONFICTION