Analysis Of William Jennings Bryan's Cross Of Gold Speech

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William Jennings Bryan gave his famous “Cross of Gold” speech in July of 1896. With this speech, he attained a spot on the presidential ballot for the Democratic nominee position. The issue at hand was to decide whether or not free coinage of silver of sixteen to one, silver to gold, should be supported. His speech was so inspiring that he was asked to reiterate parts of it for Gennett Records, and even though the full effect is not present, it gives a new generation a chance to hear the majestic words. Bryan was taking advantage of his ability to captivate listeners through his words. He related to his audience, the middle and lower class americans who would greatly benefit from the free coinage of silver, and made them feel as if someone …show more content…

Bryan pointed out flaws that the other contenders possessed and used this to his own advantage to receive the desired effect of acceptance. He presented the party’s platform on how they planned to make the free coinage of the silver happen; he also makes many points on how the government is not made up of humble beings, but instead, people that are selfish and do not have the good of the people in the forefront of their minds. Bryan really focused his efforts towards change. He stated multiple times that change in the nations currency was a must and did not shy away from telling the people that the exact same people who were promoting the competition of free silver coinage, had since changed their positions on the current gold standard to something completely different. By pointing out the …show more content…

King was always able to spark a response of great magnitude from all of the people who were in the crowds. He was able to accomplish this by using a lot of proper diction and syntax. Religion, war, and politics were included in his speeches to appeal to the masses. King probably would not have been quite as effective had he not been such a great presenter or used so many appeals to get the crowds involved and make his speeches memorable. Any person who knows how to present the information in a way that is desirable and ignites a response from the audience members is going to be effective no matter what the topic is. This is the reason that it is a very important factor for the person giving the speech to know the audience that he is presenting to. Bryan knew the audience of which he was targeting before hand and he did everything within his power to be absolutely positive that he could appeal to the majority of the people in the audience. His uncanny ability to make people feel a certain way about a text or speech is precisely how Bryan captured the support of the entire audience and sparked such an enormous reaction. Another effective speaker was President John F. Kennedy. He was able to spark astonishing responses from spectators through his vivid examples, use of metaphors and similes, and he spoke with honesty and truth. A trait that many politicians seem to lack. William Bryan was a

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