Page "Cross of Gold speech" Paragraph 60

Writer Edgar Lee Masters called the speech, " the beginning of a changed America ".

Bryan's words gave rise to later economic and political philosophies, including Huey Long's 1930s Share Our Wealth program, with its trigger phrase, " Every Man a King " inspired by Bryan's speech.

Author and political commentator William Safire, in his political dictionary, traced the term " trickle-down economics " ( common in the Reagan era ) to Bryan's statement that some believe that government should legislate for the wealthy, and allow prosperity to " leak through " on those below.

Historian R. Hal Williams suggested that the opposite philosophy, of legislation for the masses leading to prosperity for all, advocated by Bryan in his speech, informed the domestic policies of later Democratic presidents, including Franklin Roosevelt with his New Deal.