5 nov 1896 - Election of 1896

Description:

This election pitted Democrat and Populist candidate William Jennings Bryan from NE against Republican and Washington insider William McKinley of Ohio. The "money issue" that had surfaced several times during the gilded age culminated in this election. In this election, the nation chose an establishment candidate (McKinley) rather than a Populist one, and it projected the U.S. on an establishment (big business, Washington run, Republican, Industrial & Northeastern) course for the better part of the next 3 decades.