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One Path To Populism: Will Kennedy And The People's Party Of Montana, William L. Lang

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

Will Kennedy, the bright flash on Montana's Populist scene in the early 1890s, never dodged a political conflict, never avoided a public controversy, and never withheld his views. He was the persistent, often strident, and sometimes radical voice among those Montanans who accepted the label Populist. Some of his opponents called him a crank and many dismissed him as an eccentric, but it was difficult for them to ignore his accomplishments. Kennedy, almost singlehandedly, had crafted legislation that introduced the Australian ballot to Montana, coerced the territorial legislature to accept it, and followed that law with an effective electoral registration …