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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/William McKinley presidential campaign, 1896

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William McKinley presidential campaign, 1896[edit]

This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page.

The result was: scheduled for Wikipedia:Today's featured article/November 3, 2016 by Brianboulton (talk) 16:44, 19 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

McKinley/Hobart campaign poster.

William McKinley's campaign for president in 1896 was successful, defeating William Jennings Bryan, who was both the Democratic and Populist nominee. McKinley, former Governor of Ohio, refused to deal with the eastern bosses such as Thomas Platt and Matthew Quay, who supported favorite son candidates to run against him for the Republican nomination. The large, efficient McKinley organization, run by his friend and political manager Mark Hanna, swept him to a first ballot victory at the 1896 Republican National Convention, with New Jersey's Garret Hobart as his running mate. McKinley was a noted protectionist, but free silver became the issue of the day. Bryan captured the Democratic nomination as a foe of the gold standard; Hanna raised and spent millions to convince voters that free silver would be harmful. McKinley stayed at home in Canton, Ohio, running a front porch campaign that reached millions through press coverage of his speeches, while Bryan toured the nation by rail. McKinley forged an electoral coalition of the well-to-do, urban dwellers, and prosperous farmers that kept the Republicans in power most of the time until 1932. (Full article...)