youtial not crucify mankind up on a cross of gold. >> michael kazin, how long was the speech in 1896 and why was it referred to as a cross of gold? >> about 45 minutes long. and cross of gold was a powerful metaphor for a country where most people were christians and william jennings bryan was a very serious evangelical. and for those who wanted to keep debtors in debt, who wanted to keep them on a gold standard, wanted to keep interest rates high, reflect the supply of money, for bryan and many who supported him, this was a way of keeping the poor poor, keeping the denters deeper in debt. a way of keeping the british economy, the supreme economy in the world. it sounds like a technical issue, but it was an issue of the haves against the have nots, or that's how bryan saw it. to crucify gold would be, of course, connected to pontius pilate crucifying christ. in the same way, bryan and populists and populist minded democrats and republicans, too, thought that the american economy was being run for the interest of those who already had property or those who already had money, those who

. >> american history tv is at the annual conference in wisconsin and we're joined by michael kazin and kahlil muhammad. thank you for joining us. part of the reason you're here is to look at the 100th anniversary of the election of 1912. why was 1912 important? >> well, it was an election where i think progressive reform was on the agenda for all of the major players that year. there were four important candidates in the election that year. teddy roosevelt, taft, and eugene, the socialist and all of the different ways where the platforms opposed consolidation of big business, the trusts or the monopolies at the time and it was also a time of a lot of upheaval in the country, upheaval among workers, upheaval among black and white, to the beginning of a modernist culture in america. it was a very exciting time. >> you use the term progressivism and we hear that term today. what is your definition of that? >> my students ask that and it takes a while to explain it. what it meant at the time it people wanted a more efficient government, they wanted a social order generally that was dedicat