William Jennings Bryan
Presidential candidate and party leader
Prior to the 1904 Democratic National Convention, Alton Parker, a New York judge and conservative ally of David Hill, was seen as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. Conservatives feared that Bryan would join with publisher William Randolph Hearst to block Parker's nomination. Seeking to appease Bryan and other progressives, Hill agreed to a party platform that omitted mention of the gold standard and criticized trusts. Parker won the Democratic nomination, but Roosevelt won the election by the largest popular vote margin since the Civil War. Parker's crushing defeat vindicated Bryan, who published a post-election edition of The Commoner that advised its readers: "Do not Compromise with Plutocracy."
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