Friday, February 05, 2010

William McKinley and Mark Hanna



This one's for Sean.

In The Presidential Election of 1896, Stanley L. Jones certainly emphasizes the skill and thoroughness of what he refers to as the "McKinley-Hanna organization", which led to William McKinley's first-ballot nomination by an overwhelming majority at the Republican National Convention in 1896.

At the same time, Jones goes out of his way to refute claims that McKinley was simply Mark Hanna's pawn and clearly believes that McKinley was the senior partner:
As the years passed the myth of Hanna's domination of McKinley grew. This myth, based on an exaggerated estimate of Hanna's abilities as a politician and a failure to appreciate the consummate mastery of politics possessed by William McKinley, assumed such proportions that it was all but forgotten that a majority of the nation in 1896 conceived of McKinley not as the bossed candidate, but as the candidate who was the champion of the people against the bosses.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:50 PM

    Hi Elektratig,

    I stand corrected.

    Sean

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sean,

    I wasn't trying to "correct" you. If that's how it came off I'm sorry. I just wanted to illustrate that I am being exposed to a more balanced view of McKinley than you feared. On the other hand, Jones clearly believes that Free Silver is utterly idiotic, and I can't say he's wrong on that either.

    e

    ReplyDelete

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