Editing William McKinley (section)

===Realignment of 1896===

The 1896 presidential election was a [[realigning election]], in which McKinley's view of a stronger central government building American industry through protective tariffs and a dollar based on gold triumphed.<ref>Kevin Phillips, ''William McKinley'' (2003) pp 57-85.</ref><ref>R. Hal Williams, ''Realigning America: McKinley, Bryan, and the Remarkable Election of 1896'' (2010) pp 169-170.</ref> The voting patterns established then displaced the near-deadlock the major parties had seen since the Civil War in the [[Third Party System]]. The new Republican dominance began the [[Fourth Party System]] that would end [[1932 United States presidential election|in 1932]], another realigning election with the ascent of [[Franklin Roosevelt]] and the [[New Deal coalition]].<ref>Walter Dean Burnham, "The system of 1896: An analysis" in Paul Kleppner et al. ''The Evolution of American Electoral Systems'' (Greenwood, 1981) pp. 147-202.</ref> Phillips argues that McKinley was probably the only Republican who could have defeated Bryan—he concludes that Eastern candidates would have done badly against the Illinois-born Bryan in the crucial Midwest. While Bryan was popular among rural voters, "McKinley appealed to a very different industrialized, urbanized America."{{sfn|Phillips|pp=73–77}}