McKinley, Roosevelt, and the Half-Day Without a President

This week in history: A socialist-anarchist assassin changes history

A horrified crowd looks on as Leon Czolgosz shoots President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. MPI/Getty Images

As Grover Cleveland completed his unprecedented second nonconsecutive term as president, the election of 1896 was in full swing. The Democrats had nominated William Jennings Bryan. The Republicans hedged their bets with William McKinley. While Cleveland, a democrat, had been able to conduct himself with subdued partisanship, which appealed to both parties, Bryan and McKinley proved polar opposites.

McKinley was a proponent of the gold standard, while Bryan promoted bimetallism and free silver. McKinley supported global expansion, such as annexing Hawaii and building building a canal through South America, while Bryan condemned it. The Democrat Party accused McKinley of being controlled by big business, while the Republican Party accused Bryan of being a radical socialist.

A McKinley Victory

On Nov. 3, 1896, voters chose McKinley and his running mate, Garret Hobart of New Jersey, in a landslide. The Republican ticket won 61 percent of the Electoral College. Under McKinley’s leadership, the country was guided toward prosperity after enduring a recession from the Panic of 1893. He presided as commander-in-chief during a successful war against Spain in 1898, which ended with the U.S. Navy destroying the Spanish fleet near Cuba, the American occupation of Puerto Rico, and the cession of the Philippines to America.