the alienation of non-Irish catholics during the Bryan era
What caused this?
Bryan's economic policies being portrayed as a threat to industrial jobs, as well as as Bryan's protestant revivalism. A number of these groups were also shut out of the Irish machines because they were not Irish. This created the dynamic that allowed Republicans to control cities like Chicago and Philadelphia. Republicans still did not dominate the rural areas in the Northern states, as large sections of Southern PA, OH, IN and ILL still voted Democratic. The Republican dominance was a product of rural Yankees combining with GOP big city machines to out vote the Irish, South German, Scots-Irish and Southern descendants in these states.