The
persistence of the Free Silver heresy and of Bryan's hold on the
popular imagination alarmed them; for it seemed to contradict the
hope implied in Lincoln's saying that you can't fool all the
people all the time. Here was a demagogue, who had been exposed
and beaten four years before, who raised his head--or should I
say his voice?--with increased effrontery and to an equally large
and enthusiastic audience.
Roosevelt took his full share in campaigning for the Republican
ticket. He spoke in the East and in the West, and for the first
time the people of many of the States heard him speak and saw his
actual presence. His attitude as a speaker, his gestures, the way
in which his pent-up thoughts seemed almost to strangle him
before he could utter them, his smile showing the white rows of
teeth, his fist clenched as if to strike an invisible adversary,
the sudden dropping of his voice, and leveling of his forefinger
as he became almost conversational in tone, and seemed to address
special individuals in the crowd before him, the strokes of
sarcasm, stern and cutting, and the swift flashes of humor which
set the great multitude in a roar, became in that summer and
autumn familiar to millions of his countrymen; and the
cartoonists made his features and gestures familiar to many other
millions.
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