Charles W. Bryan

Charles Wayland Bryan ( born February 10, 1867 in Salem, Illinois, † March 4, 1945 in Lincoln, Nebraska ) was an American politician and 1923-1925 of 21 and from 1931 to 1935 the 24th Governor of the State of Nebraska.

Early years

Charles Bryan was a brother of William Jennings Bryan, who played in the 1890s a leading role in the populist movement and several times for the Democrats moved unsuccessfully in the presidential election. He attended the Illinois College at Jacksonville and the University of Chicago. After leaving school he worked in various professions such as Farmer or dealer. For a time he was also secretary to his brother William.

Political rise and first term as governor

Bryan was a member of the Democratic Party. Between 1915 and 1917 he served as mayor of Lincoln. In 1922 he was first elected governor of Nebraska, where he prevailed with 51:49 percent of the vote against Republican incumbent Arthur J. Weaver. His two-year term began on January 3, 1923 and ended on January 8, 1925. During this period, the economy experienced not only in Nebraska a big boom, so the taxes could be lowered. For the presidential election in 1924 he was nominated by his party as a candidate for the vice-presidency. On the side of John W. Davis, he moved into the election campaign, the duo against the Republican Calvin Coolidge and Charles Gates Dawes clearly lost. 1926 and 1928 Bryan applied for each unsuccessful to a return to the governorship. One reason was also at the general national trend, the Republicans saw in those years on the upswing.

Second term as governor

In 1930, Bryan was but then reelected to the office of governor. After a re-election in 1932 he was able to exercise it until January 3, 1935. During the first two years of the state as the entire Western world was suffering from the effects of the global economic crisis. The situation then improved after the accession of Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose New Deal policy also helped Nebraska out of the crisis. In 1934, Bryan applied unsuccessfully for a seat in the U.S. Senate.

After the end of his term in January 1935 Bryan continued to be politically active. Between 1935 and 1937 he was again mayor of Lincoln. In 1938 he applied again to the governorship. This attempt was unsuccessful as well as his candidacy for Congress in 1940. Charles Bryan died in March 1945. He was married to Mary Louise Brokaw, with whom he had three children.