The real William Jennings Bryan ran for President three times: 1896, 1900, and 1908. Bryan was the first Presidential candidate to extensively barnstorm during a Presidential campaign in an era when most candidates did not. Although it's suggested that he might be contemplating a run in the next election, which would have been in 1928, it's highly unlikely. He did serve in public office twice - as Congressman from Nebraska from 1891 to 1895 and as Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson from 1913 to 1915, when he resigned over the country's policy toward Germany after the Lusitania was sunk. Despite his fundamentalist Christian beliefs, he was considered as Liberal and Progressive, supporting anti-Imperialist policies and trust-busting.
In publicity for the television film, Kirk Douglas told reporters: "We went into the transcript of the real trial and found a lot more stuff (that is) much more dramatic, and much more pertinent to what's happening today. At the time this actually took place, you didn't have all of today's TV evangelists. There's no doubt that there is a tremendous and strong fundamentalist force in this country today, and we wanted to present this fairly, in dramatic terms."
The title of the play (and therefore the movie) comes from the Book of Proverbs, 11:29: "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind."