Campaign Trail Results: Game #23985

This Game:

  • Year: 1896
  • Player Candidate: William Jennings Bryan
  • Running Mate: Horace Boies
  • Difficulty Level: Hard
  • Winner Take All Mode?: Yes
  • Game Played:
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View overall results, or a specific state:
CandidateElectoral VotesPopular VotesPop. Vote %
---- William McKinley2737,056,04250.34
---- William Jennings Bryan1746,818,80348.65
---- John Palmer0140,8081.00

Answers:

  • Which of the following most closely matches your overall campaign message?
    I am 100% committed to the coinage of silver. It's important however, that we strike a moderate tone on other issues to expand our appeal as widely as we can.
  • What do you have to say about William McKinley's campaign, at a high level?
    McKinley is a fanatical defender of an obsolete monetary system. He is a front-man for big business and the New York financiers.
  • Can you respond to rumors that you would seek to abolish the Supreme Court if elected, due to their recent decisions on the income tax and antitrust issues?
    This is an unfounded rumor that the McKinley campaign has disseminated to discredit my candidacy.
  • The novelty of a personal visit from the "Great Commoner" could probably swing the West Coast states in your direction. However, it will take two weeks to travel and return via train.
    Will you divert your attention from the Midwest long enough to visit California, Oregon, and Washington?

    There is no time for that diversion. Heaven knows what rumors McKinley will spread while I am gone, and winning the Midwest should be our primary focus.
  • You have very little chance of winning New York this fall, and nearly all of that city's newspapers are anti-Bryan. That doesn't mean you couldn't draw a frenzied crowd in New York City.
    Perhaps the media attention would be beneficial in building excitement for your campaign on a national scale?

    I will give one big speech in New York City to open my campaign. Even if winning that state is hopeless, we need the national press.
  • New York politics are dominated by a highly corrupt, patronage-based outfit known as Tammany Hall. Their boss, Richard Croker, has so far been indifferent to your campaign. Are you willing to make concessions to arouse his enthusiasm?
    Corrupt organizations such as Tammany Hall drag the good name of the Democrats through the dirt. I would never debase my Christian ideals for their support.
  • You have alluded to the need for less prejudice between the races. Senator "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman, of South Carolina, privately seeks your clarification.
    Can you reassure him that the federal government will respect the rights of the states under your Administration?

    We will respect the rights of the states. I call for greater understanding, but certainly not for an overthrow of the natural order.
  • What do you think of leaving the Midwest for a week and making a circuit of the crucial upper South states? (i.e. Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky)
    It's a shame that we need to even campaign in these beacons of the South. But if we have to, let us do it with effluence.
  • The respectable city newspapers are unanimously pro-McKinley. As such, William Randolph Hearst senses that supporting you would be a terrific business opportunity.
    Can you reassure him that there are limits to your pacifist ideals, particularly in regards to Cuba?

    William Randolph Hearst knows my opinions and he is free to endorse me or not endorse me. I will not cater to his whims.
  • Can you state your definitive position on the American monetary system?
    I support the free, unlimited coinage of silver at a fixed price ratio of 16-to-1 against gold.
  • What is your definitive position on the tariff issue?
    In limited areas where we have new industries forming, tariffs can be higher. They should be low on most products.
  • The United States is in the midst of a financial calamity, with masses of unemployed men on the streets. What will you do to revive business in this country?
    The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous, their prosperity will find its way up through every class which rests upon them. We need to help our farmers and our workers by allowing the coinage of silver.
  • Grover Cleveland sent federal troops to Illinois to end the Pullman Strike without the request of Governor Altgeld. Was this an overreach on his part?
    Governor Altgeld was working to mediate the dispute between the Pullman Company and the strikers when Cleveland interfered. There should have absolutely been more time given for these sides to reach an accommodation.
  • What is your opinion on measures that would aim to restrict the sale or production of alcohol?
    It is my dream to see a Prohibition Amendment passed before I die.
  • Do you think that the calls for "free silver" represent a boondoggle for western mining interests? If such a program is put into place, regardless of your overall views on the silver question, should there be measures to make sure mining companies don't benefit disproportionately?
    The mining companies will not benefit any more or less than the American public will benefit from the free coinage of silver.
  • What is your position on Rural Free Delivery of the mail, signed into law earlier this year by Grover Cleveland? Is this an acceptable strain to place on the finances of the Post Office?
    It's a shame that this policy wasn't implemented decades ago. For too long, rural Americans have been forced to travel up to thirty miles to retrieve the mail they are entitled to.
  • Should Confederate veterans be included in the federal Civil War pension system?
    There's just one problem with this idea -- Confederate veterans will never accept money from the Federal government. Since they deem this idea to be an exercise in humiliation, I am left with no choice but to oppose it myself.
  • Do you believe that workers should have the right to bargain collectively?
    This right should be as fundamental as any other right in a free economy. There will only be justice in this country when there is justice for the working class.
  • Was it an appropriate intervention of the federal government to attach U.S. mail cars to Pullman trains during the strike in 1894? (Thereby making it a federal crime to interfere with the passage of these cars)
    The entire city of Chicago and half of the Midwest was blocked to rail traffic. It was impossible for this fracas not to interrupt U.S. mail.
  • Do you believe that immigrant labor is undermining the American worker? Should there be some restrictions put into place on immigration?
    We accept any European who is able to read and write. America will always serve as a place where the oppressed masses can find a new hope.
  • In United States v. E.C. Knight and Co. the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government cannot regulate manufacturing monopolies under the Commerce Clause. Would you support an Amendment to the Constitution to overturn this ruling?
    The Supreme Court has made their decision, and we must abide by it.
  • Will you work towards international agreements to create a monetary system based on "bimetallism", i.e. a combination of gold and silver?
    This is something we should work for to reform the monetary supply. That being said, the United States should not unilaterally leave the gold standard until we have some agreement in place.
  • Jacob Coxey's protests fell on deaf ears in 1894. With so many men out of work, is there any role for a public works program that would keep them occupied until business improves?
    This is absolutely the wrong solution to our business downturn. We must allow the free coinage of silver to reduce the burden of our debts.
  • Will you press for your party to include a condemnation of lynching in the party platform?
    This isn't an issue worth addressing. It will please no one and offend everyone, at least within our party's rank-and-file.
  • There is one week left until election day. Every state is important, but where will you give an extra push with your personal campaigning to swing the final results?
    Indiana has always been the critical swing state. Let's spend most of our time there while also crossing over into Illinois and Kentucky.