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The United States Presidential Election of 1900, the 29th US presidential election, took place on November 6, 1900. President William Jennings Bryan defeated National American candidate Joseph B. Foraker to become the first president since Samuel J. Tilden in 1880 to win reelection to a second term.
Background[]
The 1896 Presidential Election was a unique event in American history and was by far the closest election the country ever experienced. William Jennings Bryan, controversial in his radical policies but seen by many as the only man who could end America's crippling economic depression, tied with incumbent and unpopular President William McKinley. Bryan won by one state in the House of Representatives to take the presidency. While Bryan failed to institute many of his policies, facing opposition from Northwestern Democrats, the economy did noticeably improve during his first term. That was enough to make him a popular president among the public.
Democratic Nomination[]
The 1900 Democratic National Convention was held from July 1-5 in Kansas City. While Bryan was still despised by Northeastern Democrats and gold standard supporters, they knew he had more than enough support among the delegates to win the nomination. Bryan was unanimously nominated on the first ballot.
The real political maneuvering took place during the vice presidential nominating process. Bryan's supporters wanted Supreme Court Justice Charles A. Towne to be vice president. The conservatives wanted David B. Hill of New York. As the ballots went on, neither side gained any ground. The convention was eventually forced to renominate the incumbent Vice President Arthur Sewall, a solution that pleased absolutely no one.
Sewall went on to die before the election, forcing party leadership to make a hasty decision on who would replace him. They chose seasoned politician George Gray, a conservative. Bryan was annoyed at the conservative pick but had little choice but to go along with it.
National American Nomination[]
The 1900 National American Convention was held from June 23-30 in Buffalo. Many candidates jockeyed to be the next nominee, including former Speaker of the House Thomas B. Reed, Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana, Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania, Joseph B. Foraker of Ohio, and former President William McKinley of Ohio. McKinley dropped out days before the convention as he saw his campaign gaining no momentum; he was still very unpopular with voters. Reed was considered the front runner going into the convention, but it was clearly anyone's game. Foraker was deemed to be the cleanest and most well-rounded candidate and was thus nominated on the 9th ballot. Representative Jonathan P. Dolliver of Iowa was nominated for vice president.
The Campaign[]
Bryan counted on his solid support in the West and Midwest to hold and so focused almost all of his energy on the Northeast. He was only well received in New York and Ohio. His lone speech in Boston led to him being forced off the stage by an angry mob.
Foraker also focused his attention on the Northeast, hoping that winning the population centers there would make the rest of the country irrelevant. The National American candidate was surprised to find himself trailing in his home state as election day approached, as he figured that would be a near lock for him. Most observers predicted a Bryan upset in Ohio, while New York looked to be increasingly leaning towards Foraker. Even Bryan himself did not expect to win New York, but he still spent much of his time there in the final days of the campaign.
Results and Aftermath[]
People around the country were surprised when the election went the opposite way of what was predicted; Foraker won Ohio by a slim margin and Bryan managed to pull one out in New York. National American politicians questioned the validity of the New York result, since New York was a state known to be ripe with Democratic corruption. Bryan responded to these claims, quipping that the New York political machine would probably stuff the ballots for Foraker over him. No one was ever able to prove that any election tampering took place in the 1900 election.
Most Americans were optimistic for Bryan's second term, eager to see what he could do with a normal economy and renewed support in his party. Bryan was also enthusiastic, as progressives began to outnumber the conservatives in both major parties. The optimism ended abruptly on August 30, 1900, when anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot the president point blank in the chest.
Bryan was able to recover at first, and it looked like all would be well in the United States. After several severe illnesses, however, doctors discovered a massive infection in Bryan's chest that eventually led to his death on October 27. The nation entered a long period of mourning. Even Bryan's staunch political opponents finally had some good words to say about him. The country was left in the hands of George Gray, a conservative Democrat. Gray managed to lead the country through the difficult times without sinking into another recession, but his time in office led to the conservatives retaking control of American politics. He lost to a fellow conservative, Charles W. Fairbanks in 1904, marking the beginning of a prosperous 8 year reign. If Bryan had not died so soon, many historians believe that progressives would have instead dominated the 1900's, which may have possibly prevented the rise of socialism in the 1910's and 1920's.
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