William Jennings Bryan and the Japanese

A little more than a year before he died, William Jennings Bryan wrote out a three point statement of his political principles for the journalist, Mark Sullivan. His first point was that "in Government, people have a right to what they want!'1 That most of Bryan's career was consistent with this and his Gther principles, goes almost without saying. The modern view of Bryan doubts his wisdom rather than his integrity.2 But on at least one issue Japanese immigration Bryan knowingly violated his own first principle, and it is this contradiction that will be the ultimate concern here. The purpose is not to ridicule Bryan there has been far too much of that but to understand him. In searching for that understanding it will be necessary to note his racial views. Grotesque as they may now seem, a few decades ago his views were held by most educated Americans; Bryan was at worst a moderate racist in an age of immoderate racism.3