SOURCE: “William Jennings Bryan and Racism,” in Journal of Negro History, Vol. 54, No. 2, April, 1969, pp. 127-49.

In the following essay, Smith contends that, although Bryan purported to believe unexceptionably in democratic rule by the people, his thoughts on race relations were “inconsistent” and paradoxical.

“‘Let the people rule’ is a slogan for which our people can afford to stand—those who advocate this doctrine are traveling toward the dawn.” So wrote William Jennings Bryan in January, 1918.¹ This was one of the central ideas of the Great Commoner which he stressed not only during the “war to make the world safe for democracy” but again and again throughout his adult life. “As I understand democracy,” he stated many years earlier, “it means the rule of the people—a democracy that is founded upon the doctrine of human brotherhood—a democracy that exists for one purpose, and that the defense...