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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... commented that the mass meeting showed " that the organized labor of the country is with our can- didate , and that means we will win in the election . In the other large cities of the country we were sure of the labor vote and we were ...
... commented that " It may ... be remarked that the colored men who left the Republican party in 1896 , did so because of an intelligent understanding of the money question . " Bryan claimed that the number of African - American supporters ...
... commented that " the Governor would not make these concessions , and told me he proposed to take the place , if it came to him , unmortgaged . " 67 Hanna became a political power only because he and McKinley ran an effective campaign ...
... commented that " considering the remarkable expenditures for the dissemination of argument by means of the printed page , the poster , and the cartoon , it might have been supposed that in this campaign oratory would have had but a ...
... commented that " Hanna is being greatly disappointed in his canvass for funds . The great trouble with our campaign is lack of funds for legitimate expenses . " 75 On August 28 , two months after McKinley's nomination , Dawes wrote that ...
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 |