Bryan was a candidate for the presidency of the United States of America on three occasions: in 1896, 1900 and 1908. In all these presidential elections he was defeated by the candidates of the Republican Party, first by William McKinley (veteran of the Civil War), and then by William Taft.
The presidential campaigns of Bryan were extremely striking, because in all the occasions that he presented his candidacy he maintained a high popular support thanks to doctrines and ideas that were supported by broad social strata. Bryan held openly populist ideas for his time, and decisively influenced the Democratic Party to abandon the principles of laissez faire and embrace in part state interventionism. Meanwhile, he warned that the growing industrialization of the United States. it motivated that great masses of individuals of the proletariat and the middle classes were interested in protecting their interests in national politics.
