Populist Party (U.S.)

Surveyor James Sullivan Clarkson tells William Loeb about a secret movement in Tammany Hall to put General Ulysses S. Grant’s son, Jesse Root Grant, on the democratic ticket for 1908. All the states involved in organizing the movement so far are in the West and Northwest, and the idea is to “head off” William Jennings Bryan and William Randolph Hearst. Clarkson thinks it is “a pretty smart game” and emphasizes how important it is to keep it from going public.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-24

William Jennings Bryan is a large snake labeled “Populist Party” entwined around a donkey labeled “Democratic Party.” The snake is about to swallow the donkey.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Despite the Populist Party being a shadow of its once-disruptive self in 1900, and no longer an influence on American party politics, largely the result of its own success, principally the dominance of its ally William Jennings Bryan, Puck strongly makes the point that Populist principles had subsumed the traditional identity and positions of the Democratic Party.

Theodore Roosevelt believes that the baby’s name fixes candidates for president and vice-president to be nominated by the People’s Party. Regarding the “ark business,” he feels sympathy for Noah’s friends that expected a light shower.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-19

President Roosevelt is glad that Seth Low liked what he said and discusses a speech by Populist Party presidential candidate Thomas E. Watson.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-16

President McKinley writes to accept the Republican Party’s nomination for President and accepts the platform. He discusses his desire to uphold the gold standard and refutes the opinions of those who support the silver standard. He also comments on international affairs, including the territorial government in Alaska and Hawaii, war loans from the Spanish American War, neutrality policies in the Boer War, law and order in Cuba, and holdings in Puerto Rico and the Philippines. He also comments on domestic issues including civil service reform, the volume of United States currency, and domestic shipping. Finally, McKinley comments on insurrection and peace treaties in the Philippines, asserting his desire for peace and that no person be “deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1900-09-10

Leslie H. Southwick provides a comprehensive history of the 1904 presidential election, surveying the Republican and Democratic candidates as well as those of the Socialist, Populist, and Prohibition parties. Southwick describes Theodore Roosevelt’s path to securing his election, touching on his service as Vice President, his political battles with Senator Marcus Hanna, and his selection of George B. Cortelyou as his campaign manager. Southwick also covers Alton B. Parker’s path to the Democratic nomination, highlighting the roles played by former nominees William Jennings Bryan and Grover Cleveland. Southwick describes the dull fall campaign, enlivened by the musings of Finley Peter Dunne’s fictional barkeeper, Mr. Dooley, which Southwick quotes frequently in the course of the article.

Photographs of the four candidates for president and vice president of the Republican and Democratic parties appear in the article, along with an electoral map of the election, and Homer Davenport’s famous cartoon endorsing Roosevelt.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Three women cyclists are labeled “Republican Party, Dem. Party, [and] Populist Party.” The Democrat has hit broken glass and ruined her front tire and the Populist is having a bumpy ride on the rocks along the side of the road. They cannot keep up with the Republican cyclist. Caption: Democratic Party–She needn’t put on so much style; – the wind may soon get out… [text missing].

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-07-03

A fireworks display is being prepared. An “Anarchist” and John Peter “Altgeld” are lighting a rocket labeled “Altgeld Anarchistic Boom,” and several men identified as “Bland, Crisp, Teller, Waite, Blackburn, Wolcott, Morgan, [and] Stewart” are lighting rockets around a large medallion labeled “Free Silver Coinage Craze” with a silver coin labeled “In 16 to 1 We Trust.” Blackburn is holding a rocket labeled “Silver Speech” and on the ground are fireworks labeled “Snap Silver Resolutions.” At a table on the right, labeled “Coin’s Financial Hocus Pocus Game,” is William H. Harvey operating a shell game, and behind him is William A. Peffer, the “Windy Man from Kansas.” Caption: They are making great preparations for their Populistic Pyrotechnical display; but it will be only another fizzle.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-07-03

William Jennings Bryan rides a donkey labeled “Popocracy,” and holds a sword labeled “16 to 1” and a string attached to a small cannon labeled “Boy Orator,” at the head of a small army of followers. Among those identified are “Stewart, Watson, Coxey, Lease, Peffer, Tillman, [and] Altgeld,” and possibly Joseph C. S. Blackburn. They are armed with farm tools, brooms, and a large sword labeled “Silver Syndicate” carried by Stewart. Their military standards state “Repudiation, Down with the Supreme Court!!, [and] Dishonesty” and “D–n the Savings Banks, The Loan Associations, The Life Ins. Co’s – The Institutions of the Gold Bugs!!” Across a plain is a large army with flags that state “National Honor” and “Allied Armies of the Sound Money Democrats and the Republican Party,” with the U.S. Capitol and the White House in the background.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-09-30

William Jennings Bryan casts a vote for the nomination of James B. Weaver, the Populist Party candidate in 1892, instead of the Democratic Party candidate, Grover Cleveland. Bryan supported the “Populist Platform ’92 – Free coinage of silver at half its commercial value, unlimited paper money for everybody, the confiscation of all railroad, telegraph and telephone lines – in short, trailing National Honor in the Mud of Repudiation” over the “Democratic Platform ’92 – Bimetallism through international agreement or by such safe guards of legislation as would ensure the parity of both Gold and Silver and preserve the National Honor.” Caption: “When the Democratic party is engaged in a struggle, as it is now, any man who deserts it in the face of the enemy will never get back unless he comes in sackcloth and ashes.” From Bryan’s speech at Petersburg, Va., 1896.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-10-14

Fred George Russ Gordon describes a plan that will divide the Socialists, People’s Party, and Democrats which in turn will empower the Republican Party for years to come. If Gordon attends a national conference for the Democrats in Denver, he feels that he could work to prevent the amalgamation of the Socialist and Populist parties.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-07-01

Vice presidential candidate Thomas E. Watson writes Police Commissioner Roosevelt regarding Roosevelt’s recent article in the Review of Reviews, which criticized Watson’s populist platform. Watson explains his position as tied into his advocacy for the poor, upon whom the burdens of government most often fall. He believes Roosevelt has misjudged him and asserts that if the two spent time together, Roosevelt would see that they have much in common.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1896-08-30