William Jennings Bryan

Bryan married Mary Elizabeth Baird on October 1, 1884 with whom he had three children.

Five days after the ‘Scopes’ trial’, he died in his sleep and was interred at the Arlington National Cemetery, where his tombstone reads "He kept the Faith."

The ‘Bryan County’ in Oklahoma is named after the politician. The Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee is also named after him while his house in Nebraska was declared a historic landmark.

William was born to Silas Lillard Bryan and Mariah Elizabeth Bryan and was baptized at the age of 14 at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

He was mostly home-schooled and was admitted to Whipple Academy in Jacksonville, Illinois in 1874.

After finishing high school, he attended the Illinois College, from where he graduated in 1881.

He entered the Union College of Law and upon the completion of law studies in 1883, he joined the Illinois State Bar.

He stayed in Illinois and practiced law, before moving to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1887.

In 1890, he won the election to the U.S. House of Representatives as a democratic candidate.

An excellent orator, he always took the lead when it came to delivering speeches. In 1896, when the silver market was on a decline, he addressed the Democratic National Convention, supporting ‘free silver’, which according to him was essential for the prosperity of the nation.

In 1896, he stood in the Presidential election and was (still is) the youngest candidate ever to contest this election, but eventually lost the election.

In 1898, he supported the Spanish-American war, but when the U.S. annexed Philippines, he raised his voice against it. He censured their imperialism, stating that the U.S. should not follow the footsteps of the Great Britain and their colonialism.

He fought the 1900 Presidential election on the plank of anti-imperialism but lost to Republican candidate, William McKinley.

As the Secretary of State, one of his main accomplishments was to get 28 signatories to abstain from hostilities during arbitration of disputes, before World War I.

He was also instrumental in the Bryan–Chamorro Treaty in 1914, which allowed the U.S. to build a canal across Nicaragua and also gave the permission to form naval bases at the Gulf of Fonseca and on the Corn Islands.

During his presidential campaigns, he advocated Free Silver (for the progress of the nation), anti-imperialism (in protest the annexation of Philippines), antitrust law (to maintain market competition).

Towards the end of his political career, he participated in the controversial ‘Scopes’ trial’ in which he denounced Darwinism and the theory of evolution.