A single speech turned an unknown politician into a presidential nominee

Evidence

Among the most famous American examples is the reaction to William Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1896. A thirty-six-year-old former Nebraska congressman, with no following going into the convention, Bryan managed to win the nomination by delivering a plea for pegging the dollar to silver as well as gold in order to increase the monetary supply and broaden economic opportunity. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 400

Categorization

• XREF: Historical grounding for the attention economy: a media event (oratory) propelling an unknown to power — parallels to later broadcast-mediated politics. — connects to: Presidential politics mainstreamed conspiracy theory speech — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 449

Broader Connections

• Presidential politics mainstreamed conspiracy theory speech #complicates (0.72) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 449