Populism

Populism in American history takes two forms. First, it describes a political movement that rose and fell in the late 19th century, the central organizational form of which was the People’s Party. Second, it describes a rhetorical strategy by which politicians in particular, as well as economic and social leaders, seek to win support by positioning themselves and their ideas as being of, by, and for the people. The People’s Party exemplified the major expression of populist rhetoric in the 1880s and the 1890s. Populist rhetoric, however, took a much different form of expression by the mid-20th century. Instead of primarily being an expression of economic reforms that were generally considered progressive and even radical in the 19th century (e.g., anti-monopolism, producerism, and farmer-labor republicanism), ...