The election of 1896 was between William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan. William McKinley was the Republican candidate for president and William Jennings Bryan was the Democratic candidate. Both candidates had different campaign styles and different supporters. Big businessmen supported McKinley and most common men supported Bryan. William McKinley's campaign style was a porch campaign while Bryan had a heartwarming campaign. Mark Hanna played an important role as William McKinley's campaign manager. Ultimately, William McKinley beat William Bryan in the presidential election.William McKinley was born in Niles, Ohio, on January 29, 1843. He fought in the Union Army during the Civil War and began studying law after the war. He opened an office in 1867 and later became a member of Congress in 1876. In 1890 a tariff bearing his name was passed and he was passed for re-election due to rising consumer prices. He then returned to Ohio and won the governor's seat by a close margin in 1891. In 1896 he won the Republican presidential nomination with Mark Hanna, his primary supporter. Marcus Alonzo Hanna was a wealthy Cleveland industrialist who showed support for the Republican Party. He was very involved in politics and is now considered a political genius, but he was mostly noticed when he was William McKinley's campaign manager. He used as many ways as possible to convince people to vote for McKinley. For example, he promised the South patronage and the East support for a gold-standard currency. These examples caused many people to change their vote from Bryan to McKinley. He was also a skilled organizer for William McKinley, organizing events for McKinley. Additionally, he was a major donor to William McKinley. Mark Hanna helped Willia a lot......center of paper......st William Jennings Bryan.Works Cited"Mark Hanna and the Election of 1896." United States Senate. Np, 2013. Web. November 3, 2013. "The Republican Party." 1896. Rebecca Edwards, 2000. Web. 3 November 2013. "William McKinley." Discovering the biography. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Page no. Gale Student Resources in Context. Network. October 30, 2013. "William McKinley." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Page no. Gale Student Resources in Context. Network. October 23, 2013. “William McKinley.” History. A&E and Web Television Networks. October 30, 2013. .Williams, R. Hall. "The Election of 1896." World War I and the Jazz Age. Woodbridge: np, 1999. Page no. Gale Student Resources in Context. Network. November 5. 2013.