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
Results 1-5 of 59
... Free Silver or Free Trade ? The Campaign's Issues 26 3. The Early Weeks of McKinley's Front Porch Campaign 37 4. Bryan's " A Cross of Gold " 56 5. " Unmade by One Speech ? " : Bryan's Trip to Madison Square Garden 69 6. McKinley's Front ...
... free silver , and they continued to do so through 1898. Despite Samuel Gompers's public call to the American Federation of Labor to stay away from party politics , he surreptitiously worked on behalf of Bryan's candidacy during the 1896 ...
... concerned about a Bryan presidency ; they were terrified . As the following chapters make evident , Bryan's rhetoric did a great deal to terrify them . CHAPTER 2 Free Silver or Free Trade ? The Campaign's Why Oratory Made a Difference 25.
... Silver or Free Trade ? The Campaign's Issues P RESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES have battled about the economy throughout history . Jackson and Clay went to the wall over the national bank . The ... Free Silver or Free Trade?: The Campaign's Issues.
... free silver cause , wrote in the 1896 edition of his book on the subject : " An example [ of National Bimetallism ] is the proposal for free silver coinage in the United States , where , although no other country of impor- tance has the ...
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 |