专八人文知识需知的美国名人--威廉.詹宁斯.布莱恩

专八人文知识需知的美国名人--威廉.詹宁斯.布莱恩

　　英语专八人文知识涵盖的知识面较广，考生们需要平时多积累小常识，这样在专八考试中才能游刃有余，新东方在线整理了专八人文知识需知的美国名人系列知识点供考生们参考。

　　William Jennings Bryan

　　威廉·詹宁斯·布莱安(William Jennings Bryan)不但是一位天生的演说家、名律师、参选三次的总统候选人，也是一位虔诚的新教徒。他出生于伊利诺州的塞勒姆(Salem)，却在内布拉斯加州展开政治生涯。1890年他在美国众议院中取得席位。苦于东北部农作物交易价格过低的中西部及南部的贫苦农民便组成了人民党(Populist Party)，布莱恩为这些农民及劳动者(也就是所谓的平民)所做的努力，为他赢得「伟大的平民」的称号。

　　身为Omaha World-Herald 的编辑，他发表了一篇激情洋溢的致辞，被称为“黄金十字架”(Cross ofGold)，使他赢得了民主党的候选人的资格。在1896年与威廉·麦金莱竞选时失败，也因此导致了人民党的解体。三次代表民主党竞选总统(1896、1900、1908)，均失败。威尔逊总统上台后任命他为国务卿，后因对于卢西塔尼亚号事件的意见与威尔逊不一致而辞职。他是虔诚的基督教信徒，反对进化论。

　　William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party,standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States (1896, 1900 and 1908). Helost, each time by a bigger margin. He served in Congress briefly as a representative from Nebraskaand was the 41st United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1916.Bryan was a devout Presbyterian, a supporter of popular democracy, an enemy of gold, banksand railroads, a leader of the silverite movement in the 1890s, a peace advocate, a prohibitionist,and an opponent of Darwinism on religious grounds. With his deep, commanding voice and widetravels, he was one of the best known orators and lecturers of the era. Because of his faith in thegoodness and rightness 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 retainedcontrol of the Democratic Party. With over 500 speeches in 1896, Bryan invented the nationalstumping tour, in an era when other presidential candidates stayed home. In his three presidentialbids, he promoted Free Silver in 1896, anti-imperialism in 1900, and trust-busting in 1908, callingon Democrats to fight the trusts (big corporations) and big banks, and embrace anti-elitist ideals ofrepublicanism. President Wilson appointed him Secretary of State in 1913, but Wilson's strongdemands on Germany after the Lusitania was torpedoed in 1915 caused Bryan to resign in protest.

　　After 1920 he was a strong supporter of Prohibition and energetically attacked Darwinism andevolution, most famously at the Scopes Trial in 1925. Five days after winning the case, he died inhis sleep.

　　First campaign for the White House: 1896

　　In 1893, the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act resulted in the collapse of the silver market.Bryan delivered speeches across the country for free silver from 1894 to 1896, building a grass-roots reputation as a powerful champion of the cause.

　　At the 1896 Democratic National Convention, Bryan lambasted Eastern monied classes forsupporting the gold standard at the expense of the average worker. His "Cross of Gold" speechmade him a sensational new face in the Democratic party. That same year he became the firstpresidential candidate to campaign in a car (a donated Mueller) in Decatur, Illinois.

　　The Bourbon Democrats who supported incumbent conservative President Grover Cleveland weredefeated, and the party's agrarian and silver factions voted for Bryan, giving him the nominationof the Democratic Party. At the age of 36, Bryan became—and remains—the youngest presidentialnominee of a major party in American history.

　　Disappointed with the direction of their party, Gold Democrats invited Cleveland to run as a third-party candidate, but he declined. Cleveland did, however, support John M. Palmer, nominee of theGold Democrats, rather than Bryan.

　　In addition, Bryan formally received the nominations of the Populist Party and the Silver RepublicanParty. Without crossing party lines, voters from any party could vote for him.In 1896, thePopulists rejected Bryan's Democratic running mate, Maine banker Arthur Sewall, and named as hisrunning mate Georgia Representative Thomas E. Watson. People could vote for Bryan and Sewell,or for Bryan and Watson.

　　The Republicans nominated William McKinley on a platform calling for prosperity for everyonethrough industrial growth, high tariffs, and sound money (gold). Republicans ridiculed Bryan as aPopulist. However, "Bryan's reform program was so similar to that of the Populists that he hasoften been mistaken for a Populist, but he remained a staunch Democrat throughout the Populistperiod." This is because, despite having used many of the Populist ideas, Bryan kept all of hisDemocratic views while simply adding the Populist views to gain their votes.

　　Bryan depicted as a Populist swallowing the Democratic Party; 1896 cartoon from the Republicanmagazine Judge.Bryan demanded Bimetallism and "Free Silver" at a ratio of 16:1. Most leadingDemocratic newspapers rejected his candidacy. Despite this rejection by the newspapers, Bryanwon the Democratic vote.

　　Republicans discovered in August that Bryan was solidly ahead in the South and West, but farbehind in the Northeast. He appeared to be ahead in the Midwest, so the Republicans concentratedtheir efforts there. They said Bryan was a madman, a religious fanatic surrounded by anarchists,who would wreck the economy. By late September, the Republicans felt they were ahead in thedecisive Midwest and began emphasizing that McKinley would bring prosperity to all Americans.McKinley scored solid gains among the middle classes, factory and railroad workers, prosperousfarmers, and the German Americans who rejected free silver. Bryan gave 500 speeches in 27states. McKinley won by a margin of 271 to 176 in the electoral college.

　　Presidential election of 1900

　　He ran as an anti-imperialist in 1900, finding himself in alliance with Andrew Carnegie and othermillionaires. Republicans mocked Bryan as indecisive, or a coward, a point spoofed by the Bryan-like Cowardly Lion in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in the spring of 1900.[10]

　　Bryan combined anti-imperialism with free silver, saying:

　　The nation is of age and it can do what it pleases; it can spurn the traditions of the past; it canrepudiate the principles upon which the nation rests; it can employ force instead of reason; it cansubstitute might for right; it can conquer weaker people; it can exploit their lands, appropriate theirproperty and kill their people; but it cannot repeal the moral law or escape the punishment decreedfor the violation of human rights.

　　In a typical day he gave four hour-long speeches and shorter talks that added up to six hours ofspeaking. At an average rate of 175 words a minute, he turned out 63,000 words, enough to fill52 columns of a newspaper. In Wisconsin, he once made 12 speeches in 15 hours.[12] BeforeBryan held any political office there remained a need for income; public speaking would notbecome any less of a passion as it also became a source of income for Bryan and his family. Bryanheld an estate in Nebraska as well as a 240-acre (0.97 km2) ranch in Texas, of which both werepaid for with earnings from publications of The Commoner as well as speaking fees. Bryan's rateswere noted as $500.00 per speech in addition to a percentage of the ticket sales profit. He held hisbase in the South, but lost part of the West as McKinley retained the Northeast and Midwest androlled up a landslide. McKinley won the electoral college with a count of 292 votes compared toBryan's 155. Bryan lost more states than he had in 1896.

　　Presidential election of 1908

　　The 1908 election was Bryan’s third attempt at gaining the presidency. The Democrats nominatedBryan by wide margin at the Democratic convention held in Denver and decided on John Kern, apolitician from Indiana, as his running mate. Bryan ran against the Republicans, and TheodoreRoosevelt’s hand-picked nominee William Howard Taft.

　　The GOP ran its campaign on the benefits of the Roosevelt administration, creation of a postalservice, continuation of “Sound Currency”, citizenship for Puerto Rico inhabitants, regulation onbig business, and tariff revision in protectionist mode.

　　Bryan and the Democrats’ platform denounced the wrongs done by the Republican party:Congress spent too much money; Roosevelt hand picked Taft in undemocratic fashion;Republicans wanted centralization; Republicans favored monopolies. In response, Bryan unleashedthe slogan, “Shall the People Rule?” In a time of peace and prosperity, and Republican trust-busting, Bryan fared poorly among the voters. He lost the electoral college 321 to 162, his worstdefeat yet, and did not carry any of the states in the Northeast.

　　Secretary of State: 1913–1915

　　For supporting Woodrow Wilson for the presidency in 1912, Bryan was appointed as Secretary ofState. However, Wilson only nominally consulted him and made all the major foreign policydecisions himself. Bryan negotiated 28 treaties that promised arbitration of disputes before warbroke out between the signatory countries and the United States. He had made several attemptsto negotiate a treaty with Germany, but ultimately was never able to succeed. In the civil war inMexico in 1914, Bryan supported American military intervention.

　　Wilson's desire to enter the war in Europe brought him to odds with Bryan and, eventually, led toBryan's resignation in June 1915 over Wilson's demands for "strict accountability for anyinfringement of [American] rights, intentional or incidental."

　　Death

　　Immediately after the trial, Bryan continued to edit and deliver speeches, traveling hundreds ofmiles that week. On Sunday, July 26, 1925, he drove from Chattanooga to Dayton to attend achurch service, ate a meal, and died (the result of diabetes and fatigue) in his sleep that afternoon—just five days after the Scopes trial ended. School Superintendent Walter White proposed thatDayton should create a Christian college as a lasting memorial to Bryan; fund raising was successfuland Bryan College opened in 1930. Bryan is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. His tombstonereads "He kept the Faith." He was survived by among others, a daughter, Congresswoman RuthBryan Owen and her son (by artist William Homer Leavitt) John Bryan Leavitt and daughter RuthLeavitt, as well as two children by her second husband, Royal British Engineers officer Reginald A.Owen.

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