Editing William McKinley (section)

===Obtaining the nomination===
[[File:Mark Hanna by WJ Root, 1896 cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|McKinley's close friend and adviser, [[Mark Hanna]]]]

It is unclear when William McKinley began to seriously prepare a run for president. As McKinley biographer [[Kevin Phillips (political commentator)|Kevin Phillips]] notes, "No documents, no diaries, no confidential letters to Mark Hanna (or anyone else) contain his secret hopes or veiled stratagems."{{sfn|Phillips|p=61}} From the beginning, McKinley's preparations had the participation of Hanna, whose biographer William T. Horner noted, "What is certainly true is that in 1888 the two men began to develop a close working relationship that helped put McKinley in the White House."{{sfn|Horner|p=81}} Sherman did not run for president again after 1888, and so Hanna could support McKinley's ambitions for that office wholeheartedly.{{sfn|Horner|p=92}}

Backed by Hanna's money and organizational skills, McKinley quietly built support for a presidential bid through 1895 and early 1896. When other contenders such as Speaker Reed and [[Iowa]] Senator [[William B. Allison]] sent agents outside their states to organize Republicans in support of their candidacies, they found that Hanna's agents had preceded them. According to historian Stanley Jones in his study of the 1896 election:

{{blockquote|Another feature common to the Reed and Allison campaigns was their failure to make headway against the tide which was running toward McKinley. In fact, both campaigns from the moment they were launched were in retreat. The calm confidence with which each candidate claimed the support of his own section [of the country] soon gave way to&nbsp;... bitter accusations that Hanna by winning support for McKinley in their sections had violated the rules of the game.{{sfn|Jones|p=103}}}}

Hanna, on McKinley's behalf, met with the eastern Republican [[political boss]]es, such as [[Thomas C. Platt|Thomas Platt]] of New York and Senator [[Matthew Quay]] of Pennsylvania, who were willing to guarantee McKinley's nomination in exchange for promises regarding patronage and offices. McKinley, however, was determined to obtain the nomination without making deals, and Hanna accepted that decision.{{sfn|Jones|p=105}} Many of their early efforts were focused on the South; Hanna obtained a vacation home in southern Georgia where McKinley visited and met with Republican politicians from the region. McKinley needed 453½ delegate votes to gain the nomination; he gained nearly half that number from the South and [[border states (American Civil War)|border states]]. Platt lamented in his memoirs, "[Hanna] had the South practically solid before some of us awakened."{{sfn|Williams|p=57}}

[[File:Coronation of McKinley.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.35|[[Louis Dalrymple]] cartoon from [[Puck (magazine)|''Puck'' magazine]], June 24, 1896, showing McKinley about to crown himself with the Republican nomination. The "priests" are Hanna (in green) and Representative [[Charles H. Grosvenor]] (red); [[H. H. Kohlsaat]] is the page holding the robe.]]

Quay and Platt still hoped to deny McKinley a first-ballot majority at [[1896 Republican National Convention|the convention]] by boosting support for local [[favorite son]] candidates such as Quay himself, New York Governor (and former vice president) [[Levi P. Morton]], and Illinois Senator [[Shelby Cullom]]. Delegate-rich Illinois proved a crucial battleground, as McKinley supporters, such as Chicago businessman (and future vice president) [[Charles G. Dawes]], sought to elect delegates pledged to vote for McKinley at the national convention in St. Louis. Cullom proved unable to stand against McKinley despite the support of local Republican machines; at the state convention at the end of April, McKinley completed a near-sweep of Illinois' delegates.{{sfn|Jones|pp=119–25}} Former president Harrison had been deemed a possible contender if he entered the race; when Harrison made it known he would not seek a third nomination, the McKinley organization took control of Indiana with a speed Harrison privately found unseemly. Morton operatives who journeyed to Indiana sent word back that they had found the state alive for McKinley.{{sfn|Jones|pp=117–19}} Wyoming Senator [[Francis E. Warren|Francis Warren]] wrote, "The politicians are making a hard fight against him, but if the masses could speak, McKinley is the choice of at least 75% of the entire [body of] Republican voters in the Union".{{sfn|Phillips|pp=71–72}}

By the time the national convention began in [[St. Louis]] on June 16, 1896, McKinley had an ample majority of delegates. The former governor, who remained in Canton, followed events at the convention closely by telephone, and was able to hear part of Foraker's speech nominating him over the line. When Ohio was reached in the roll call of states, its votes gave McKinley the nomination, which he celebrated by hugging his wife and mother as his friends fled the house, anticipating the first of many crowds that gathered at the Republican candidate's home. Thousands of partisans came from Canton and surrounding towns that evening to hear McKinley speak from his front porch<!-- I want to save the link to "front porch campaign" for the next section -->. The convention nominated Republican National Committee vice chairman [[Garret Hobart]] of New Jersey for vice president, a choice actually made, by most accounts, by Hanna. Hobart, a wealthy lawyer, businessman, and former state legislator, was not widely known, but as Hanna biographer [[Herbert Croly]] pointed out, "if he did little to strengthen the ticket he did nothing to weaken it".{{sfn|Horner|pp=159–62}}{{sfn|Williams|p=59}}