Conservative Reemergence.

After the defeat of William Jennings Bryan in 1900, the conservative wing of the Democratic Party emerged as the dominant force in the party. Casting about for a candidate, Democrats first considered asking Grover Cleveland to run for a third term, but Bryan's opposition and memories of Cleveland's mixed record quickly ended that boom. They then looked for someone not associated with the factionalism of the 1890s. The conservatives pushed aside maverick publisher William Randolph Hearst, turning instead to Judge Alton Brooks Parker of New York. They theorized that he could carry New York, and, if he could pick up just a few more states to go along with the Solid South, the Democrats could reclaim the White House. Silence on the issues was the key to winning the nomination, Parker's managers felt, so much so that he was called...