Bryan resigned from his post in 1915 after Wilson sent Germany a note of protest in response to the sinking of Lusitania by a German U-boat. After leaving office, Bryan retained some of his influence within the Democratic Party, but he increasingly devoted himself to religious matters and anti-evolution activism.

William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), the man who would have been president, served as President Wilson’s Secretary of State following the former’s presidential victory in 1912, a position Bryan retained until his resignation in June 1915 over Wilson’s handling of the sinking of the Lusitania.

William Jennings Bryan, U.S. Secretary of State and devout antiwar advocate, resigns on June 9, 1915 over President Woodrow Wilson’s handling of the German submarine sinking of the Lusitania.

William Jennings Bryan gained renown as a gifted debater and magnetic orator in politics. The climax of his career was undoubtedly the 1896 presidential campaign. At the Democratic convention in Chicago, his “Cross of Gold” speech (July 8) won him the nomination at the age of 36.

When World War I broke out in August 1914, Bryan was convinced that the United States must avoid being drawn into the war at all costs. He advocated a policy of strict neutrality, which proved difficult to maintain in the face of general American sympathy for Great Britain and France in their war with Germany.

The Cross of Gold speech was delivered by William Jennings Bryan, a former United States Representative from Nebraska, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on July 9, 1896. In the address, Bryan supported bimetallism or “free silver”, which he believed would bring the nation prosperity.

He was an American orator and politician from Nebraska, and a dominant force in the populist wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as the Party’s candidate for President of the United States (1896, 1900 and 1908). He was perhaps the best-known orator and lecturer of the era.

In the address, Bryan supported bimetallism or “free silver”, which he believed would bring the nation prosperity. He decried the gold standard, concluding the speech, “you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold”.

Bryan strongly opposed imperialism, the extension of one nation’s power over other countries. But President Wilson believed that the United States had interests in Latin America and that American influence over these nations was important to the security of the United States.

During World War I, nearly forty percent of U.S. soldiers were immigrants or children of immigrants. These concerns deepened when the United States entered the war in April 1917. Many native-born Americans were prejudiced against mmigrants, seeing them as lazy, backwards, and cowardly.