Toward the beginning of his second term in office, twenty-fourth US presidential victor, Grover Cleveland, is faced with an economic depression that rattled the United States and would come to make him wildly unpopular with the American people. To try and remedy this depression quickly, Cleveland instigated and repealed certain acts to try and stabilize the economy, namely by repealing the 1890 Sherman Silver Purchase Act that regulated the price of gold and silver based on the dollar. By doing this, Cleveland inadvertently open the doors for a brand new wave of political campaigning, for three years later, when Cleveland’s term is finished, two Americans will base their platforms on ‘Free Silver’ and the maintaining of the ‘Gold Standard’. It is during this time, the US presidential race between William Jennings Bryan and William McKinley when it becomes clear that nineteenth century politics blossom into twentieth century politics. To this very day, the election of 1896 is still referred to as a realigning election that made political presidential campaigning what it is today. Thanks to public opinion, financial support and sponsorship from Mark Hanna, and an insurmountable war chest, it becomes very clear as to why and how William McKinley won the 1896 election in a crushing landslide. First and foremost, the early life of William McKinley plays a significant roll in his electoral victory in 1896. Born in 1843 to a large and relatively poor family in Niles, Ohio, the importance of education and religion is heavily emphasized by McKinley’s parents (Glad 16). Sadly, when financial problems strike the family, McKinley’s is forced to drop his studies will spend his formative years working a variety of jobs to accumulate enough wealth to return to his studies (Glad 17). However, when Fort Sumter falls, McKinley enrolls in the Union “for three months or the duration” and ends up staying with that military for an additional four years (Glad 17). It is in that time that McKinley’s courage and devotion to America in battle eventually earn him “the bars of a second lieutenant” and eventually a major (Glad 18). After contemplating a life in the army, McKinley ultimately leaves the military and returns to his studies, in law, which opens up his eventual career in politics (Glad 18). Through his service in the military and continuous desire to learn, McKinley becomes known as a ‘self-made man’. This title will carry through his campaigning and stress his humble upbringing while simultaneously offering up a paradigm for hope, seeing as how the son of a poor charcoal furnace operator becomes president of the United States. The election of 1896 remains one of the most tension filled elections all throughout history. With the popularity polls almost neck-in-neck, McKinley held a very minimal lead over Bryan, dude to Bryan’s charismatic and “silver tongued” approach to communicating with the people (The New York Times). Despite the fact McKinley is a gifted public speaker and debater, Bryan possesses an enthralling story like quality to his speeches that make him utterly fascinating to listen to (Troy, class notes, October 18, 2006). In an unprecedented move, he travels over 18,000 miles and give roughly 600 speeches in favor of his pro-silver campaign (The New York Times). McKinley even notes to Mark Hanna, his political advisor, that he is unable to compete with Bryan’s free flowing speeches, seeing as how he has to, “think when [he] speak[s]” (The New York Times). Instead of traveling and attempting to reach the everyday man like Bryan, McKinley holds speeches from his porch in Ohio as people travel from different sections of America to hear him speak (Troy, class notes, October 18, 2006). Ultimately, Bryan is unable to sway the east coast voters (seeing as how he publicly attacks the wealthy businessmen that the voters work for) and loses the election to McKinley (The New York Times). Yet, of all the assets available to him at the time, the smartest and most crucial difference between McKinley and Bryan’s campaign is the support of Mark Hanna. Hanna, as the New York Times describes, “an Ohio business tycoon with interests in banks, iron and shipping” becomes McKinley’s campaign manager and finances McKinley’s bid for the Republican Presidential nominee. Hanna, fearing that Bryan’s ‘Free Silver’ policy will have a devastating effect on the American economy, raises an unparalleled 3.5 million dollars for McKinley’s campaign (Holman). Moreover, as well as bringing financial support to McKinley’s campaign, Hanna supplies his, “extensive knowledge of business and its practices, which complemented McKinley's familiarity with the political world” (Holman). Hanna skillfully campaigns in both Chicago and New York, collecting donations from extremely prominent and excessively wealthy businessmen that are more than willing to help support the Republican campaign (Holman). Regrettably, Bryan’s campaign is not as successful. Towards the end of Bryan’s campaign, his manager James Jones only manages to collect three hundred and fifty thousand dollars from a meager minority, which is overshadowed by the hundreds of thousands of dollars Hanna manages to amass (Edwards). Sadly at the end of the campaign, Bryan is unable to even cover his campaign debts (Edwards). Furthermore, the 1896 election becomes one of the first big elections to implement the war chest. It becomes painfully clear that the Republicans possess more funds than the Democrats. Hanna manages to gather an absolutely absurd amount of fiscal donations from rich businessmen (Edwards). As reported, Hanna manages to collect somewhere between three and seven million dollars for McKinley, a number that is unheard of for the times, whereas the Democrats manage roughly three hundred thousand (Edwards). Despite the fact that early on in the election, it is believed that Bryan is the frontrunner, the war chest the Republican Party has, manages to decimate all hopes the Democrats have in winning the election (Edwards). In 1896, the New York Journal proclaims, “Half a Billion Back McKinley” as tycoons such as John Rockefeller and Cornelius Vanderbilt, both with fortunes over one hundred million dollars, lend their support and influence to McKinley’s campaign (Edwards). Essentially, it is Hanna’s friends and business acquaintances: oil barons, influential bankers, railroad giants, and manufacturing moguls that become crucial cohorts to the Republican Party. As the New York Journal ponders: “Can Mr. Hanna buy the voters of the Midwest? The Standard Oil Company, the great railroad corporations, the big manufacturing trusts, the bond syndicates, Mr. Carnegie, Mr. Pierpont Morgan, Mr. Huntington, and all the rest of the high-minded patriots who are furnishing Mr. Hanna with the means to defend the national honor, think he can.” Hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent on advertising the Republican Party, as merchandise like lapel pins that boldly claim to ‘Vote McKinley’ while encouraging supporters to chew a particular brand of bubblegum or smoke a certain brand of cigarette (Troy, class notes, October 18, 2006). Mugs for ale, whistles, banners that overshadowed a city block, hundreds of thousands of pamphlets and almost every other sort of merchandising is implemented for the McKinley campaign, all costing a small fortune (Troy, class notes, October 18, 2006). By using modern (at the time) forms of communication, the Republican party is able to communicate with allies across the United States, which forces Bryan to continually travel and make himself visibly known (Troy, class notes, October 18, 2006). By merely overspending the Democrats, the Republicans are able to clench a victory by forcing Bryan to stump, which has always spelled out disaster for political campaigns (Troy, class notes, October 18, 2006). In the end, money won the election of 1896. With Mark Hanna, advertising and sponsorship and one of the largest war chests known to politics, there is no way William McKinley could viably lose. By building a platform based on affluence, McKinley would lead the United States to several years of economic prosperity. Wealth truly did cripple Bryan’s campaign and as one would notice over the next several hundred years; money continues to be one of the most important candidates in a political electoral race. Works Cited Edwards, Rebecca. The Democratic Party. 2000 Online. Internet. Vassar College Edwards, Rebecca. The Republican Party. 2000 Online. Internet. Vassar College < http://projects.vassar.edu/1896/republicans.html> Edwards, Rebecca. Trusts & Monopolies. 2000 Online. Internet. Vassar College Glad, Paul. McKinley, Bryan, and the People. Ivan R. Dee : Elephant Paperbacks, Chicago; 1964. Holman, Spence. The Republicans, Mark Hanna, and Labor. 2000 Online. Internet. Vassar College The New York Times. 1896: William McKinley vs. William Jennings Bryan. 2000. Online. Internet. The New York Times. Troy, Gill. The Battle of Standards. Class notes, October 18, 2006.