page_title: William Jennings Bryan 1908 presidential campaign
section_title: Fight for the nomination
hierarchical_section_title: William Jennings Bryan 1908 presidential campaign / Fight for the nomination
caption_attribution_description: 1909 cartoon from Puck magazine. Outgoing US president Teddy Roosevelt (dressed as a cowboy) hands responsibility (in form of a baby that looks like Roosevelt labeled "My Policies") to his successor William Howard Taft (wearing a nurse-maid's apron and bonnet over his suit). TR's secretary William Loeb, dressed as a bell boy, carries Roosevelt's "Big Stick." Public domain image (pre 1923 USA), It was never copyrighted in other countries
context_page_description: The 1908 U.S. Presidential election occurred in the backdrop of the Progressive achievements of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt's second term as well as against the U.S. recovery following the Panic of 1907. In this election, Roosevelt's chosen successor, Republican William Howard Taft, ran in large part on Roosevelt's Progressive legacy and decisively defeated former Congressman and three-time Democratic U.S. Presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan. Overall, the 1908 presidential campaign and election were about labor issues, trusts, campaign finance reform, imperialism, and corruption.
context_section_description: Democrat Alton Parker's defeat at the hands of President Theodore Roosevelt (who succeeded William McKinley after his assassination) in 1904 gave William Jennings Bryan, the 1896 and 1900 Democratic presidential nominee, an opening to reassert his leadership in the Democratic Party. Bryan also was helped by newspaper tycoon and 1904 contender William Randolph Hearst's loss in the 1905 New York mayoral election, which hurt Hearst's chances to get the 1908 Democratic presidential nomination. Bryan therefore was the front-runner.
  Bryan's most formidable challenger was Minnesota Governor John Albert Johnson. Johnson's rags-to-riches story, honesty, reformist credentials, and ability to win in a heavily Republican U.S. state made him popular within the Democratic Party. Johnson ultimately was unable to overcome Bryan, and by the end of June 1908 Bryan had the two-thirds of the delegates needed to win the nomination. At the 1908 Democratic National Convention, Johnson (who had no chance at the nomination by then) released his delegates to Bryan, helping Bryan to win the nomination on the first ballot with 892.5 votes to 105.5 votes for other (favorite son) candidates. For Bryan's vice presidential running mate the convention delegates selected John W. Kern, a former state senator (1893-1897) and two-time gubernatorial candidate (and later U.S. Senator) from Indiana. In response to Bryan's and Kern's nomination, The New York Times disparagingly pointed out that the Democratic national ticket was consistent because "a man twice defeated for the Presidency was at the head of it, and a man twice defeated for governor of his state [in 1900 and 1904] was at the tail of it."
  During the campaign, the fact that this was Bryan's third Democratic presidential nomination was mocked by Republicans. Specifically, Republicans told voters to "[v]ote for Taft now[]" because they could "vote for Bryan anytime."
caption: A political cartoon which portrays William Howard Taft as President Roosevelt's political heir
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