Christian Americans You Should Know! William Jennings Bryan |
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Have you ever heard of William Jennings Bryan? If so, you
probably
Bryan was nominated for President again in 1900 and 1908. His
support was crucial to Woodrow Wilson’s getting the nomination in
1912 on the 46th ballot. In return, Wilson named him Secretary of saw him portrayed as the “loser” in the
famous “Scopes Monkey Trial” of 1925.But there is so much more you should know about this man, (and even what you’ve heard about that part of his story is probably false). Born in Illinois right before the War Between the States, William Jennings Bryan accepted Jesus Christ as Savior at age 14 in a church revival. After finishing law school he moved to Nebraska where he was twice elected to the U. S. House of Representatives before becoming the Democrats' nominee for President in 1896. The 36-year-old was one of the youngest major party candidates in history. He was defeated by William McKinley in a very close race. State, a post he held from 1913-1915. A good friend of Billy Sunday, Bryan worked for the cause of Prohibition from within the government. Even while Secretary of State, he refused to serve alcoholic beverages at state dinners. One startled Russian diplomat later confided it was the first time in years that he had tasted water! After his retirement from active political life, Bryan continued his career as a public speaker. He crossed the country giving what were known as “Bryan Bible Talks” in defense of a literal, inerrant Bible and against evolution. His Bible lessons appeared in over a hundred newspapers with an estimated readership of fifteen million. Bryan taught a weekly Bible class in Miami that grew to 5,000 and had to meet in a park. He founded and edited The Commoner, a weekly paper which ran for 23 years and had a circulation of 140,000. He also wrote nearly twenty books and numerous pamplets. His famous lecture and pamphlet, “Is the Bible True?” helped encourage the passage of Tennessee's Butler Act which prohibited teaching evolution in public schools. When the state prosecuted John Scopes for violating the Butler Act, Bryan served as a prosecuting attorney. Revisionist history has painted Bryan as the loser in the “Monkey Trial,” but Scopes was convicted by the jury. The heat and stress of the trial aggravated Bryan’s already weak physical condition, and just five days after the trial ended, William Jennings Bryan died. He is buried in the national cemetery |
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