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William Jennings Bryan was a populist radical, not a conservative

posted 11 years ago by Edward_de_Vere
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One of the myths that grew out of the Scopes trial was that William Jennings Bryan was an arch-conservative religious fanatic, and a stand-in for today's "Christian Right." The trial is framed as a conflict between secular liberalism (represented by Darrow) and ultra-conservative fundamentalism (represented by Bryan).

The reality is more complicated. William Jennings Bryan was NOT a conservative. He was a populist radical who opposed the Gold Standard, supported the progressive income tax and universal suffrage, and promoted social welfare programs for the rural poor. He'd be considered a socialist by today's standards - probably to the Left of most liberal Democrats on economic issues. True, he was a creationist (albeit an Old-Earth creationist, not a literalist young-Earther), but his main opposition to Darwinism wasn't religious but political: he knew of "Darwinism" primarily as an ideological justification for laissez-faire capitalism and robber baronism.

If anyone during the Scopes trial represented views that are considered right-wing today, it was journalist H.L. Mencken (E.K. Hornbeck in the fictionalized version), an economic libertarian who opposed the welfare state and Roosevelt's New Deal and an admirer of Nietzsche and Herbert Spencer.

The only reason Bryan is retrospectively perceived as a "conservative" is that we now associate religious belief with "the right" and secularism with "the left," this wasn't always the case. The fact is, the political spectrum back then made more sense: the rural poor supported religion and social welfare, the middle and upper classes had less use for either.

[–] emersonpie 10 years ago

Lots of good insight here, and a warning against too freely labeling these characters, both fictional and real.

[–] joeparkson 10 years ago

Frederic March was miscast. Cosmetically, he's just a thin guy trying to look like a fat man. He also plays Brady like a buffoon. You don't see the the spellbinder who's booming voice could fill an auditorium before there were microphones. He has none of the charisma that William Jennings Bryan must have had.

Should have been someone like Burl Ives or Orson Welles, who could suggest a once great man who's time was past.

Soy 'un hijo de la playa'

[–] mcfaddensflats 10 years ago

Bryan also resigned as Wilson's secretary of state in protest against what he perceived as the administration edging towards engagement in the European war of 1914-18. I've read he was a very inept man once in office, out of his depth, basically just not very bright.... and America had a lucky escape in getting McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt as Presidents rather than the "boy orator from Nebraska".

Darrow and Bryan had indeed been allies during the latter's Democratic candidacies for president- though the progressive platforms of 1896 and 1900 owe a great deal to John Peter Altgeld, the former governor of Illinois, a much cleverer man than Bryan, less of a blowhard, though with Bryan's sort of social conscience (Altgeld was also for a time a partner in Darrow's Chicago law firm).

I think March/the writers probably got the 1925 Bryan right as "Brady". I understand why Bryan was worried about the social/political consequences "Darwinism" might bring, and indeed, the rotten fruits of "social Darwinism" somewhat blighted the 19th century and massively ravaged the 20th. But the book of ancient myths Bryan took literally had also unleashed many horrors itself over the centuries, and as Drummond/Darrow says, the upshot of a successful Brady/Bryan crusade would be to shackle the human mind, sacrifice inquiry and progress on the altar of primitive dogma.

[–] AutoexecBatman 9 years ago

Bryan actually WASN'T a creationist, he supported theistic evolution. Moreover, he opposed the Butler Act, which was the act under which Scopes was accused, and when Scopes was fined $100 for violating the law by 'teaching' evolution, Bryan offered to pay the fine himself.

[–] Edward_de_Vere 9 years ago

Bryan actually WASN'T a creationist, he supported theistic evolution.

Bryan was a creationist (at least as far as humans were concerned), just not a young-Earther.

Moreover, he opposed the Butler Act, which was the act under which Scopes was accused, and when Scopes was fined $100 for violating the law by 'teaching' evolution, Bryan offered to pay the fine himself.

Bryan supported the law against teaching Darwin's theories on principle, but was opposed to having anyone actually punished for violating the law.