During the last fifteen years of [William Jenning Bryan's] life, he again found a series of issues which proved susceptible to easy dichotomization: entry into war, prohibition, soman suffrage, the teaching of evolution as fact. So far as he was concerned, all these issues had but two sides. Most other politicians of the day shared that view. In a day when politicians think routinely of the thirty-second television commercial, it seems peculiar to criticize Bryan for oversimplifying issues, for his favorite campaign tactic was to present himself to as many people as possible, to speak to them for an hour or more, then to publish those speeches and distribute them as widely as possible.
(from A Righteous Cause, by Robert W. Czerny)
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