Page "People's Party (United States)" Paragraph 19

Since the 1890s historians have vigorously debated the nature of Populism ; most scholars have been liberals who admired the Populists for their attacks on banks and railroads.

Some historians see a close link between the Populists of the 1890s and the progressives of 1900-1912, but most of the leading progressives ( except Bryan himself ) fiercely opposed Populism.

Thus Theodore Roosevelt, George W. Norris, Robert LaFollette, William Allen White and Woodrow Wilson strongly opposed Populism.

It is debated whether any Populist ideas made their way into the Democratic party during the New Deal era.

The New Deal farm programs were designed by experts ( like Henry Wallace ) who had nothing to do with Populism.