|
|
“He Made It All By Himself”
No caption
In
1900, the Democratic National Convention, meeting in Kansas City,
renominated William Jennings Bryan, its standard-bearer in 1896, for
president of the United States. In this cartoon, Bryan appears as
an impish boy, hammer in hand, who has cobbled together the Democratic
Donkey, the Tammany Tiger, and the Populist Ostrich into "The
fierce DEMOPOPTAM from Kansas City.
The
strange, hybrid creature grasps the crown of "imperialism"
upside-down in its claws, symbolizing the candidate's vocal opposition
to an expansionist foreign policy. The large, broken wheel--"bungo
dollar"--and the numbers "16" and "1" on
Bryan's pants indicate his continued support of inflationary "free
silver" even though by 1900 most politicians accepted the gold
standard. Meanwhile, a dapper Uncle Sam and the American Eagle on
his walking stick both smirk at Bryan and his malformed campaign
contraption.
In
November 1900, Bryan's defeat was even greater than it had been four
years before when he lost to William McKinley, 271-176 in the Electoral
College and 51-47% in the popular vote. In 1900, Bryan's vote
totals were down in Montana, Colorado, and Nevada, while he lost the
Plains states of Nebraska, South Dakota, and Kansas, along with the
Western states of Wyoming and Utah. President McKinley was
reelected with a margin of 292-155 in the Electoral College and 52-46%
in the popular vote.
The
victory made McKinley the first president to win a second consecutive
term since Ulysses S. Grant in 1872. In the 1900 elections,
Republicans also consolidated their takeover of both houses of Congress
in 1896, allowing the party to dominate national politics until the
onset of the Great Depression.
For
more information on the William Jennings Bryan and his presidential
nomination in 1900, see the W. A. Rogers cartoon from early July 1900.
Robert C. Kennedy
|
|
|
