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NauenThen

Monday Quote

Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.
~ William Jennings Bryan, from "America's Mission" speech at the Washington Day banquet given by the Virginia Democratic Association, Washington, D.C., 1899

No irony today!

I do want to note that my home state of South Dakota voted for the Populist party in its first two elections, 1892 & 1896 (SoDak became a state in 1889) & split its vote closely in 1900.

Bryan, a former Nebraska Congressman, was nominated by the Dems in 1896 after his "Cross of Gold" speech & was endorsed by the Populist Party. However, they wouldn't go for Arthur Sewall, a wealthy Maine banker and shipbuilder, for vice president and instead nominated Thomas E. Watson of Georgia. (I wrote about him a couple of years back—look in the list to the left for "Tom Watson" if you're interested; he's worth learning about.)

It's an interesting question how a populist state became so red. Mostly, I've always thought, because its politics didn't change but the world around it did. It stayed put and the world moved left or moved on. That's a quick answer. I'll do better on this one of these days.
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