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William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American orator and politician from Nebraska, and a dominant force in the populist wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as the Party's candidate for President of the United States (1896, 1900 and 1908). He served two terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Nebraska and was United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson (1913–1915). He resigned because of his pacifist position on World War I. Bryan was a devout Presbyterian, a strong advocate of popular democracy, and an enemy of the banks and their gold standard. He demanded "Free Silver" because it undermined the evil "Money Power" and put more cash in the hands of honest people. He was a peace advocate, a supporter of Prohibition, and an opponent of Darwinism on religious and humanitarian grounds. With his deep, commanding voice and wide travels, he was perhaps the best-known orator and lecturer of the era. Because of his faith in the wisdom of the common people, he was called "The Great Commoner." In the intensely fought 1896 and 1900 elections, he was defeated by William McKinley but retained control of the Democratic Party. With over 500 speeches in 1896, Bryan invented the national stumping tour, in an era when other presidential candidates stayed home. In his three presidential bids, he promoted Free Silver in 1896, anti-imperialism in 1900, and trust-busting in 1908, calling on Democrats to fight the trusts (big corporations) and big banks, and embrace anti-elitist ideals of republicanism. President Wilson appointed him Secretary of State in 1913. After the ''Lusitania'' was torpedoed in 1915, Wilson made strong demands on Germany that Bryan disagreed with, resigning in protest as a pacifist. After 1920 he supported Prohibition and attacked Darwinism and evolution, most famously at the Scopes Trial in 1925 in Tennessee. Five days after the conclusion of the Scopes case, Bryan died in his sleep.〔Jeffrey P. Moran, ''The Scopes Trial: A Brief History with Documents'' (2002)〕 ==Background and early career: 1860–1896== William Jennings Bryan was born in Salem, Illinois on March 19, 1860, to Silas Lillard Bryan and Mariah Elizabeth (Jennings) Bryan.〔 Bryan's mother was of English heritage. Mary Bryan joined the Salem Baptists in 1872, so Bryan attended Methodist services on Sunday morning with his father, and in the afternoon, Baptist services with his mother. At this point, William began spending his Sunday afternoons at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. At age 14, Bryan attended a revival, was baptized, and joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. In later life, Bryan said the day of his baptism was the most important day in his life, but at the time it caused little change in his daily routine. He later left the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and joined the larger Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. His father, Silas Bryan, of Scots-Irish and English ancestry,〔Asked when his family "dropped the 'O'" from his O'Bryan surname, he replied there never had been one. Bryan ''Memoirs of William Jennings Bryan''; Kessinger p. 22-26. Likewise there never was a "T" at the end of the name.〕 was an avid Jacksonian Democrat. Silas won election to the Illinois State Senate, but was defeated for re-election in 1860. He won election as a state circuit judge, and in 1866 moved his family to a farm north of Salem,〔Paolo E. Colletta, ''William Jennings Bryan: Colletta: Volume 1, Political Evangelist, 1860-1908'' (University of Nebraska: Lincoln, 1964) pp. 3-4.〕 living in a ten-room house that was the envy of Marion County.〔Paulo E. Colleta, ''William Jennings Bryan: Volume 1, Political Evangelist, 1860-1908'', p. 5.〕 Until age ten, Bryan was home-schooled, as many children were. The Bible and McGuffey Readers shaped his views that gambling and liquor were evil and sinful. To attend Whipple Academy, which was attached to Illinois College, Bryan was sent to Jacksonville, Illinois in 1874. Following high school, he entered Illinois College, graduating as valedictorian in 1881. During his time at Illinois College, Bryan was a member of the Sigma Pi literary society and Acacia (fraternity). He studied law at Union Law College in Chicago (which later became Northwestern University School of Law). While preparing for the bar exam, he taught high school and met Mary Elizabeth Baird,〔Paulo E. Colletta, ''William Jennings Bryan: Volume I, Political Evangelist, 1860-1908'', p. 21.〕 a cousin of William Sherman Jennings; the latter was also his own first-cousin. Bryan and Mary Elizabeth Baird married on October 1, 1884,〔Paulo E. Colletta, ''William Jennings Bryan: Volume I, Political Evangelist, 1860-1908'', p. 30.〕 and they settled in Jacksonville, which at the time had a population of two thousand. Mary also became a lawyer, and collaborated with Bryan on all his speeches and writings. He practiced law in Jacksonville from 1883 to 1887, then moved to the boom city of Lincoln, Nebraska. In Lincoln, Bryan met James Dahlman and they became lifelong friends. As chairman of the Nebraska Democratic Party, Dahlman would help carry Nebraska for Bryan in two presidential campaigns. Even when Dahlman became closely associated with Omaha's vice elements, including the breweries, as the city's eight-term mayor, he and Bryan maintained a collegial relationship.〔B.W. Folsom, ''No More Free Markets Or Free Beer: The Progressive Era in Nebraska, 1900–1924'' (1999), pp. 57-59.〕 In the Democratic landslide of 1890, Bryan was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Nebraska's First Congressional District. The growing prohibitionist movement had entered the election of 1890 with its own slate of candidates. In the three-way race in the First Congressional District, Bryan received 6,713 more votes than his nearest opponent. This was a plurality of the vote and was 8,000 votes short of a majority. Bryan was elected, only the second Democrat to be elected to Congress in the history of Nebraska.〔Paulo E. Colletta, ''William Jennings Bryan: Volume I, Political Evangelist, 1860-1908.'', p. 48.〕 In 1892, Bryan was re-elected by a 140-vote majority in a two-person race. He ran for the Senate in 1894, but a Republican landslide led to the state Legislature's choice of a Republican for the Senate seat. (At that time, state legislatures elected their representatives to the US Senate.) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Jennings Bryan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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