Richard P. Bland

Who was Richard P. Bland?

Richard Parks Bland was an American politician, lawyer, and educator from Missouri. A Democrat, Bland served in the United States Congress a total of twenty-four years between 1873 and 1899, representing at various times the Missouri 5th, 8th and 11th congressional districts. Nicknamed "Silver Dick" for his efforts to promote a United States return to bimetallism and an advocate of the free silver movement, Bland is best known for the Bland–Allison Act. The act, passed over President Rutherford B. Hayes veto in 1878, required the U.S. Treasury to buy a certain amount of silver and put it into circulation as silver dollars. Bland was a U.S. Presidential candidate in 1896, seeking the Democratic presidential nomination but lost to William Jennings Bryan.