Kearney and George: The demagogue and the prophet

From the turbulent seventies in California emerged two very different men with two widely divergent solutions to the problems of troubled times. Through violent invective Dennis Kearney won an immediate popular following for a vague political program directed against surface evils. Henry George, with less understanding of mass audiences, won acceptance for his thoughtful economic analysis more slowly. But by 1886 George had learned much about popular speaking, while Kearney's hollow rantings had lost their appeal. George's long‐range influence was in part the result of his new‐found skill with mass audiences.