Title: William Jennings Bryan Papers

Date/Date Range :   1912

Extent: 0.1 linear feet

Abstract:

This collection contains a 1912 letter from William Jennings Bryan to R.S. Hazen of Knoxville, TN, about Woodrow Wilson's election as president. It also contains a photograph of Bryan from Nashville, TN, and the folder that held it.

Call number: MS-2193

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

Collection purchased in May 2004.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], William Jennings Bryan Papers, MS-2193. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of a single folder.

William Jennings Bryan (1860--1925) was born in Salem, Illinois. He graduated from Illinois College in 1881 and studied law. He began a practice in Jacksonville, IL, then moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1887. In 1890 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives but was defeated in 1894. The next two years he spent as editor in chief of the Omaha World-Herald. He became one of the nation's greatest orators and became the Democratic presidential candidate in 1896 and 1900 with a platform for free silver. Bryan then started the Commoner, a widely read weekly, in 1901. He was again the Democratic presidential nominee in 1908.

In 1912 he supported the Democratic nomination of Woodrow Wilson, who when elected named Bryan Secretary of State. He negotiated treaties, providing for investigation of all disputes, with about 30 nations. Antiwar leanings made Bryan more conciliatory than Wilson toward Germany, and his Latin-American policies caused a good deal of friction. Bryan was so against Wilson's second Lusitania note that he resigned on June 9, 1915, rather than sign it. However, he continued to support Wilson during the 1916 election and after war was declared.

In his later years Bryan devoted himself to the defense of fundamentalism. He urged measures against teaching evolution and appeared for the prosecution in the famous "Scopes Monkey Trial" in Tennessee. Although he won the case in the trial court, defense lawyer Clarence Darrow ridiculed Bryan's beliefs in an examination. Five days after the trial, Bryan died in his sleep.

This collection contains a 1912 letter from William Jennings Bryan to R.S. Hazen of Knoxville, TN, about Woodrow Wilson's election as president. It also contains a photograph of Bryan from Nashville, TN, and the folder that held it.

• Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924.
• United States -- Politics and government -- 1909-1913.