Opinion of William Jennings Bryan?

[RINO Tom]

People dont get it, they removed Woodrow Wilson off of the school name and the Dems were states rights Dixicrats until FDR. Also, Coolidge was a terrible person, he was the very Prez that appointed Jay Edgar Hoover to FBI.  They were all discriminatory Prez until FDR, Truman, Eisenhower,  Kennedy and Johnson, whom reversed Segregation

Wait I need more !

[Rover]

Big FF. WJB had tremendous contributions to the progressive movement and public life. He had his faults. His anti-evolution activism and his views towards segregation were unfortunate.

Woodrow Wilson was indeed a racist, but he also nominated the first Jewish supreme Court justice, Louis Brandeis.
No one is perfect, we all have prejudices, biases and even racism within us. It's just human nature. The ideal, perfect person is a myth created in our heads to make ourselves feel better.

[Mr. Smith]

Massive HP. In addition to being a populist, (which is basically democratic fascism), he was anti evolution. Also, my quote.

These are features, not bugs [well maybe not-so-much evolution, but then again, evolution was pretty much the refuge of eugenicists back then so...]

[Wikipedia delenda est]

FF, but he should've let the Populists replace the dying corpse of the Democratic Party.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

FF, but he should've let the Populists replace the dying corpse of the Democratic Party.

I don't see how this was even a remote possibility. The Democratic Party was too strong in the South and the Republican Party too strong in the North for the Populists to challenge one without fusing with the other.

[HisGrace]

A backwards demagogue.

[SevenEleven]

Populist=HP
Racist=HP
Creationist=HP

What's to like about this guy?

[YE]

Populist=HP
Racist=HP
Creationist=HP

What's to like about this guy?

How is that a bad thing in WJB’s case?

[SevenEleven]

Populist=HP
Racist=HP
Creationist=HP

What's to like about this guy?

How is that a bad thing in WJB’s case?

Populism is always bad and usually leads to demagoguery or cultism. I think that's the case here as well. WJB was a narcissist who viewed himself as the only possible candidate. In fact, WJB isn't even the most interesting left-populist perennial candidate of his era, and Debs was arguably more accomplished as well. We are fortunate that FDR was able to step in eventually and clean up Bryan's mess.

[Antonio the Sixth]

We are fortunate that FDR was able to step in eventually and clean up Bryan's mess.

...that. Doesn't even begin to make sense.

[SevenEleven]

We are fortunate that FDR was able to step in eventually and clean up Bryan's mess.

...that. Doesn't even begin to make sense.

The period between Bryan's first nomination and FDR's election is the most embarrassing era in the history of the Democratic Party. Most of the disarray can be linked to WJB.

[Antonio the Sixth]

We are fortunate that FDR was able to step in eventually and clean up Bryan's mess.

...that. Doesn't even begin to make sense.

The period between Bryan's first nomination and FDR's election is the most embarrassing era in the history of the Democratic Party. Most of the disarray can be linked to WJB.

This implies that FDR somehow restored the Democratic party to the days of Cleveland, which is the opposite of what happened. As I said, it's only through Bryan's legacy than FDR's (populist) politics could prevail. The two are part of the same movement.

[Mr. Smith]

We are fortunate that FDR was able to step in eventually and clean up Bryan's mess.

...that. Doesn't even begin to make sense.

The period between Bryan's first nomination and FDR's election is the most embarrassing era in the history of the Democratic Party. Most of the disarray can be linked to WJB.

That's a rather bizarre way to describe the antebellum era up until Reconstruction collapsed.

[SevenEleven]

We are fortunate that FDR was able to step in eventually and clean up Bryan's mess.

...that. Doesn't even begin to make sense.

The period between Bryan's first nomination and FDR's election is the most embarrassing era in the history of the Democratic Party. Most of the disarray can be linked to WJB.

That's a rather bizarre way to describe the antebellum era up until Reconstruction collapsed.

I'm speaking on its ability to function as a political party. Obviously, there are worse presidencies than Woodrow Wilson's.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Yeah, the Populists who William Jennings Bryan co-opted paved the way for Teddy Roosevelt’s fifth cousin and Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of the Navy to put the New Deal in place.

Of course, the Republicans had to lose all credibility in the first couple years of the Great Depression...and the Socialists and Commies were newly resurgent, too, after the big crackdown on radicals during and after WWI. Confluence matters!

[Wikipedia delenda est]

FF, but he should've let the Populists replace the dying corpse of the Democratic Party.

I don't see how this was even a remote possibility. The Democratic Party was too strong in the South and the Republican Party too strong in the North for the Populists to challenge one without fusing with the other.

The Democrats were absolutely annihilated in the 1894 midterms, in what was probably the worst congressional landslide in history (the Republicans even won a seat in Texas). Without Bryan they would've been finished. The party needed Bryan much more than Bryan needed the party.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

FF, but he should've let the Populists replace the dying corpse of the Democratic Party.

I don't see how this was even a remote possibility. The Democratic Party was too strong in the South and the Republican Party too strong in the North for the Populists to challenge one without fusing with the other.

The Democrats were absolutely annihilated in the 1894 midterms, in what was probably the worst congressional landslide in history (the Republicans even won a seat in Texas). Without Bryan they would've been finished. The party needed Bryan much more than Bryan needed the party.

1) Not in the South, which provided the Democratic Party a base to recover from.
2) The Populists outside of the South were also wiped out in the 1894 House midterms.

Again, I don't see how it was a remote possibility for the Populists to replace the Democratic Party when they had zero appeal to urban labour and Catholics/ethnic voters. Maybe they can become the main opposition to the Republican Party in the West. Maybe they can challenge the Democratic Party in the South, although considering Southern elites happily used violence and outright electoral fraud against Populist candidates this is probably much more difficult. But becoming a national party was beyond them unless they could significantly broaden their appeal in the Midwest and Northeast.

[Alben Barkley]

I like that the most loved populist in American history by the mainstream is one who loses constantly.

I mean, I would consider FDR or Truman or LBJ or Bill Clinton populists in most senses.

The latter three at least are absolutely not populists. Even FDR is a stretch. Certainly compared to someone like Bryan or Huey Long.

[Alben Barkley]

WJB was not really that racist for his time and place. Here's an endorsement he got from a group of African-Americans in 1900:

https://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1244

As noted, they weren't exactly big fans of McKinley, so focusing on Bryan being some terrible racist seems like a real stretch and presentism.

He was progressive for his time on many issues, including (as noted in that piece) foreign policy and women's suffrage. And his championing of bimetallism actually turned out to be more sound monetary policy than the goldbugs had.

Yes, he was a creationist, but it came from a sincere and well-meaning Christian faith like all his other beliefs, and again it was a very different time, so I don't hold it against him too much.

His biggest problem for me is his support for prohibition, but that was hardly unique among progressives at that time.

Overall I don't think he was truly a FF or HP, but closer to the former than the latter.

[Mr. Smith]

We are fortunate that FDR was able to step in eventually and clean up Bryan's mess.

...that. Doesn't even begin to make sense.

The period between Bryan's first nomination and FDR's election is the most embarrassing era in the history of the Democratic Party. Most of the disarray can be linked to WJB.

That's a rather bizarre way to describe the antebellum era up until Reconstruction collapsed.

I'm speaking on its ability to function as a political party. Obviously, there are worse presidencies than Woodrow Wilson's.

I see no need to change what I said, because the antebellum era was by far the least functional time for any political party.

[SevenEleven]

I like that the most loved populist in American history by the mainstream is one who loses constantly.

I mean, I would consider FDR or Truman or LBJ or Bill Clinton populists in most senses.

All four of those you mentioned are pragmatists.

[TDAS04]

His heart was in the right place.  I don’t agree with his creationism, but he wanted society to take care of its vulnerable.  Much better than a creationist who’s also a Social Darwinist.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

After Woodrow Wilson name was taken down from university,  Dixiecrats shouldn't be celebrated by AA. AA have a different perspective on  politics and Jennings would have done the same exact thing as Wilson and Alton Parker whom ran against Teddy Roosevelt. It took Earl Warren to convince Clark, Black, Minton and Reed, Dixiecrats on SCOTUS to vote for Brown. Vinson, whom died of a heart attack during adjudication of Brown, told Southerners to vote against Brown and affirm Jim Crow, desegregation wasnt in Constitution

But, the ultimate betrayal and when the R party become a conservative was when Calvin Coolidge appointed Jay Edgar Hoover to FBI, that would not be forgotten

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

He fundamentally helped reshape American liberalism as a movement that wants to use government intervention as a means to uplift the lower classes - while before American liberalism was mostly anti-government, believing that its intervention would only mean subsidies and favors to the wankers bankers and the ruling classes. And that is his most important legacy.
But more specifically:
He was a populist, anti-imperialist hero (good)
He attacked snob and wealthy city-dwellers (good to an extent)
He supported women's suffrage (good)
He accepted Jim Crow laws (very very bad)
He supported Prohibition (I'm inclined to say good)*
He was a full-fledged creationist (bad)**
So I voted narrowly for "FF".

*I will be roasted for this... guess I should befriend ExtremeRepublican

**Although most evolutionists at the time were full-fledged eugenicists...
By the way, H. L. Mencken, the journalist who popularized the Scopes trial and attacked WJB in his articles about it, was a f***ing misanthropic resentful man who wrote scathing articles on pretty much everything that came to his mind. He loved Nietzsche, and indeed had the same f***ing "men are ignorant and stupid monkeys fooled by religion and democracy" attitude of Nietzsche, coupled with a big "racist towards everyone" one too.

[Mr. Smith]

He fundamentally helped reshape American liberalism as a movement that wants to use government intervention as a means to uplift the lower classes - while before American liberalism was mostly anti-government, believing that its intervention would only mean subsidies and favors to the wankers bankers and the ruling classes. And that is his most important legacy.
But more specifically:
He was a populist, anti-imperialist hero (good)
He attacked snob and wealthy city-dwellers (good to an extent)
He supported women's suffrage (good)
He accepted Jim Crow laws (very very bad)
He supported Prohibition (I'm inclined to say good)*
He was a full-fledged creationist (bad)**
So I voted narrowly for "FF".

*I will be roasted for this... guess I should befriend ExtremeRepublican

**Although most evolutionists at the time were full-fledged eugenicists...
By the way, H. L. Mencken, the journalist who popularized the Scopes trial and attacked WJB in his articles about it, was a f***ing misanthropic resentful man who wrote scathing articles on pretty much everything that came to his mind. He loved Nietzsche, and indeed had the same f***ing "men are ignorant and stupid monkeys fooled by religion and democracy" attitude of Nietzsche, coupled with a big "racist towards everyone" one too.

Nah, Prohibition was hardly a terrible idea on paper, I agree with that.

I reckon I'd support Hoover over Smith for precisely those reasons, since they were mostly identical otherwise.