From the Front Porch to the Front Page: McKinley and Bryan in the 1896 Presidential CampaignTexas A&M University Press, 2005 - 230 pages The last presidential campaign of the nineteenth century was remarkable in a number of ways. -It marked the beginning of the use of the news media in a modern manner. -It saw the Democratic Party shift toward the more liberal position it occupies today. -It established much of what we now consider the Republican coalition: Northeastern, conservative, pro-business. It was also notable for the rhetorical differences of its two candidates. In what is often thought of as a single-issue campaign, William Jennings Bryan delivered his famous "Cross of Gold" speech but lost the election. Meanwhile, William McKinley addressed a range of topics in more than three hundred speeches--without ever leaving his front porch. The campaign of 1896 gave the public one of the most dramatic and interesting battles of political oratory in American history, even though, ironically, its issues faded quickly into insignificance after the election. In From the Front Porch to the Front Page, author William D. Harpine traces the campaign month-by-month to show the development of Bryan's rhetoric and the stability of McKinley's. He contrasts the divisive oratory Bryan employed to whip up fervor (perhaps explaining the 80 percent turnout in the election) with the lower-keyed unifying strategy McKinley adopted and with McKinley's astute privileging of rhetorical siting over actual rhetoric. Beyond adding depth and detail to the scholarly understanding of the 1896 presidential campaign itself (and especially the "Cross of Gold" speech), this book casts light on the importance of historical perspective in understanding rhetorical efforts in politics. |
From inside the book
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... Chicago and New York public libraries , the Kent Free Library in Kent , Ohio , the Library of Congress , and the library of the Western Reserve Historical Society . I am grateful to the unfailingly courteous staffs at these institutions ...
... Chicago and New York , Bryan's traveling cam- paign was to a large extent organized state by state . None of the figures that have come to light about campaign finance in 1896 seem to have taken into account spending by state and local ...
... Chicago headquarters , wrote to the candidate on October 24 to remind him that the secret ballot protected Bryan's supporters from being coerced by their employers.49 Bryan already knew this , of course , and his actions during the ...
... Chicago.58 He was overruled , and to his consternation African - American delegates were denied accommodations and meals in St. Louis.59 Various African - American groups from the North visited McKin- ley in Canton to hear him speak ...
... out for the people in the face of irresistible opposition . Early in the campaign , Bryan himself commented in Chicago : " When I see this assemblage to - night and when I remember what the newspapers in the city 22 CHAPTER 1.
Contents
13 | |
26 | |
37 | |
56 | |
Unmade by One Speech? Bryans Trip to Madison Square Garden | 69 |
McKinleys Front Porch Oratory in September 1896 | 90 |
McKinleys Speech to the Homestead Workers | 111 |
Bryans Railroad Campaign in September 1896 | 128 |
The Closing Weeks of the Front Porch Campaign | 146 |
The End of Bryans First Battle | 160 |
Identification and Timeliness Revisited | 176 |
Notes | 187 |
Index | 221 |