Written by Robert W. Cherny, A Righteous Cause is about the life of William Jennings Bryan. Examine the numerous goals and proposals for which Bryan had become a public figure. He wanted to reform the United States so as to “give equal rights to all and special privileges to no one.” Some of his proposals included: government-owned railroads, monetary policy, and direct election of senators. Throughout his activist career, Bryan had a great impact on American history by conveying his proposals to the American public, which had a direct effect on the United States government. After being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Bryan decided to run for president in 1896. This would be one of three times he ran for president, but failed to get elected in each campaign. However, during his first presidential campaign, he delivered his “Golden Cross” speech that made him a mainstream figure in the Democratic Party. Bryan's goal was to restore silver coinage because he believed that liberating silver would restore prosperity to the nation and that gold could not be the only standard. Now gaining the nation's attention, Bryan began campaigning on many other issues that he believed would improve the United States. One of his later arguments for the United States concerned monopolies among existing companies. Bryans found that the power of these companies was traced back to government favoritism. He wanted to get rid of these monopolies, but he also wanted minimal government activity because he believed the nation was capable of governing itself. However, without the government, these companies had free rein. Therefore Bryan proposed that the government should control a large share of the market; encourage... center of paper... his greatest achievement ever?Bryan worked his way from a House representative to one of the greatest public figures in history. One of the reasons he became so famous was because his speeches expressed words in simple terms that the common man could understand. He believed in the equality of all races and sexes and that people were capable of governing themselves. Therefore, Bryan's greatest impact on American history was his ability to convey government ideas and proposals to the common man. Many of these ideas ended up having a direct influence on how government would be run. He achieved this by using his talent in public speaking to spread these messages to the people. Without William Jennings Bryan, many of these topics would never have been broadcast to thousands of people, which had a direct effect on becoming policy for America.