Pinback button promoting William Jennings Bryan for president, 1900. The Whitehead & Hoag Co., Newark, New Jersey. Stated 1900 copyright.
Bryan was nominated a second time by the Democratic Party to oppose McKinley, now the incumbent. Campaigning again on Free Silver and launching an assault on the McKinley administration's imperialist policies, he polled 1% fewer popular votes than in 1896 but his defeat in the electoral college was decisive. With the election of 1900, Free Silver was dead. Bryan, however, would be resurrected for one more attempt at the Presidency eight years later, and would remain a potent force in national politics for the next 25 years.
This celluloid button from 1900 features a chromo portrait of Bryan against a metallic silver field.
