William Jennings Bryan (1860
- 1925) **
The gifted orator William
Jennings Bryan was once called "The one American poet who can sing
outdoors." Born in Illinois in 1860, Bryan repented, and came to the Lord
at age 14 in a revival in the Presbyterian Church.
After finishing law school he moved to Nebraska where his political career began. He was twice elected to the U. S. House of Representatives before becoming the Democrats' nominee for President in 1896. His "cross-of-gold" speech to the convention in Chicago led to the 36-year-old's becoming one of the youngest major party candidates in history.
Defeated by William McKinley
(51%-47%), he remained active in politics. Bryan was nominated for President
again in 1900 and 1908. His support was crucial to Woodrow Wilson's getting the
nomination in 1912 on the 46th ballot. In return, Wilson named him as Secretary
of State, a post which he held from 1913-1915. A good friend of Billy Sunday,
Bryan worked for the cause of Prohibition from within the government. Even
while Secretary of State, he refused to serve alcoholic beverages at state
dinners. One startled Russian diplomat later confided it was the first time in
years that he had tasted water!
After his retirement from
active political life, Bryan continued his career as a public speaker and Bible
teacher. He crossed the country preaching, giving what were known as
"Bryan Bible Talks" in defense of a literal, inerrant Bible and against
evolution; his "talks" were also syndicated in newspapers across the
country. Bryan's lecture "Is the Bible True?" was printed and
distributed across the country and furnished the impetus for the passage of
Tennessee's Butler Act which prohibited teaching evolution in public schools.
When the state prosecuted
John Scopes for violating the Butler Act, Bryan served as a prosecuting
attorney. Revisionist history has painted Bryan as the loser in the
"Monkey Trial," but Scopes was convicted by the jury. The heat and
stress of the trial aggravated Bryan's already weak physical condition, and
just five days after the trial ended, William Jennings Bryan died. He is buried
in the national cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
One of the best things wrote
against evolution, was wrote by Bryan, it is called “The
Bible Or Evolution”