The liberal fundamentalist

One hundred years ago this summer, a fundamentalist Christian stood before the convention of a major political party and offered an impromptu resolution. He ended his impassioned speech by quoting words of Jesus. The speech was not what you might expect.

William Jennings Bryan called on Democrats in 1912 to declare, “as proof of [their] fidelity to the people,” their opposition “to the nomination of any candidate for president who is a representative of J. Pierpoint Morgan . . . or any other member of the privilege-hunting and favor-seeking class. . . ‘If thy right hand has offended thee, cut it off.’ The party needs to cut off those corrupting influences to save itself.”

The speech was part of a calculated gamble: Bryan wanted to force delegates to go on record as opposed to the vested interests of eastern banks. The gambit worked. As Bryan hoped, the move spurred the convention to nominate for president the progressive Woodrow Wilson.