Comparing and Contrasting the Careers, Views and Accomplishments of William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson

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Comparing and Contrasting the Careers, Views and Accomplishments of William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson

Two very influential men, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, born 1856, and William Jennings Bryan, born 1860 came onto the scene at one of the most critical points in American history. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was what you would call a late bloomer, yet in his later years that late "bloom" turned out to be a remarkable blossom. In other words, the impact he had on human society was colossal. William Jennings Bryan was a brilliant orator. His amazing speeches won him widespread recognition. While these two men worked along side each other in the realm of politics, sometimes in harmony and sometimes not, their lives would forever transform America.

Woodrow Wilson began his career as a professor, loving to read and write about the workings of the government. His contributions to this field included helping women into the field of academia that would eventually lead to the modern skilled and working woman and also writing several highly regarded books in the subjects of history and government. As a liberal reformer in education, he figured one way to further improve American government was to start where it all began, "modernizing and purifying the American academy" (Johnson, p. 629). Wilson soon became the governor of New Jersey, and what the City bosses thought would be a little puppet in their hands, actually became their "absolute master, displaying in the process a skill at intrigue, maneuver, and elevated skullduggery…" (Johnson, p. 633). The prestige that he gained from bringing this honest administration in the corrupt state made him the top-runner for the presidential nomination in 1912.

William Jennings Bryan, after graduatin...

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...the world's favor. As disagreements were bound to arise and their harmony shattered in the midst of war, America still came out a better country, learned and experienced with help from these two men's relentless determination and use of extraordinary talents.

Bibliography

FirstWorldWar.com. Who's Who: William Jennings Bryan. Retrieved on 22 March 2006 from http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/bryan.htm.

Johnson, Paul. A History of the American People. HarperPerennial: New York, NY 1997.

Linder, Doug. 2004. William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925). Retrieved on 23 March 2006 from http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/bryanw.htm.

The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library. Woodrow Wilson Biography .Retrieved on 22 March 2006 from http://www.woodrowwilson.org.

Woodrow Wilson. Retrieved on 23 March 2006 from http://www.usa-presidents.info/wilson.htm.

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