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From Scott Farris's book 'Almost President: The Men Who Lost the Race but Changed the Nation,' here are five candidates who missed out on the Oval Office but still made their mark on US history.
2. William Jennings Bryan
Bryan almost single-handedly reformed the Democratic Party when he ran against William McKinley in 1896, giving new life to the party that had emerged under the leadership of Jefferson and Jackson. Despite its conservative tradition, the party became progressive, and Bryan urged millions of Americans to allow the Democrats to create a bigger government, one that would be big enough to help less fortunate Americans. These ideas were adopted by Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the next century and continue on to this day.
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