-- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote: Well there was the election of 1896, which came after years of populist agitation and organization. McKinley got 51% of the popular vote, and Bryan, 47%. McKinley apparently won large majorities among not only the professional middle class, but among skilled workers and larger farmers. And after that election, populism kinda fell apart.
Doug ------
By the time that Bryan ran for president in 1896, the populist movement had largely been absorbed into the DP, that graveyard of radical movements. Before then, the Populist Party had been one of the most successful third parties in US history, sweeping local and state elections through the farm belt states. They had also been running candidates for president too, throughout the 1890s, but without much success at that level. The candidacy of William Jennings Bryan was the DP's answer to the challenge that the Populist Party posed to them. And probably most of the people who had been voting for the Populists, voted for Bryan in 1896. Bryan lost to McKinley, and although he was the DP presidential candidate at least two more times, he was never able to exceed the vote that he got in 1896.
Having said that, his 1896 candidacy was of some importance in the history of the US left. A lot of people who emerged as major radical activists in the early 20th century (as Socialists, Wobblies, Communists etc.) cut their teeth politically, in Bryan's 1896 campaign.
Jim F.
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