Running A “Front Porch” Campaign: The Brilliance of Mark Hanna - Page: 2

Amid this election year it would be inconceivable for potential presidential candidates to remain at home and give speeches from their front porches. Can you imagine traveling to Massachusetts to hear what John Kerry wants to accomplish if he is elected President? No, not many people can envision this today. Candidates today feel the need, and rightly so, to travel about the various states in order to take their message to the people. However, the campaigning process was much different during the 19th century. Presidential candidates rarely traveled about to make stump speeches and usually left much of the campaigning to their supporters. Indeed during the election of 1896, William McKinley thought it best to remain at home and give speeches from his front porch. Meanwhile, William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic nominee, took a different approach. Bryan traveled approximately 18,000 miles by railroad and spoke to close to 5 million people. Nevertheless, McKinley was able to carry the election by running his "front porch" campaign. So how was McKinley able to pull this off? It was nothing short of brilliance by his campaign manager Mark Hanna.

Mark Hanna, an Ohio business tycoon, had watched the country slip into a severe economic depression under the administration of Democratic President Grover Cleveland. Factions of the Democratic Party along with new political groups like the Populist Party, advocated silver as a solution to the economic woes. They insisted that by moving from the tightly controlled gold standard to a more flexible standard based on gold and silver would allow debtors (i.e. farmers and laborers) a better opportunity to pay off their debts. On the other hand businessmen like Hanna feared that the dollar based on gold and silver would become unstable and lose significant value. So in the interest of big business and prosperity Hanna was determined to restore the Republicans to the office of President. William McKinley became acquainted with Hanna while serving in the House of Representatives. Hanna's ties to big business allowed him to successfully finance McKinley's bid for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1896. In the meantime, Grover Cleveland disagreed with the so-called "silver" Democrats. With his party virtually split over the currency issue, Cleveland indicated that he was not interested in running on the Democratic ticket. So the nomination was wide open and the stage was set for William Jennings Bryan, a young Congressman from Nebraska. Bryan's supporters had suggested that he take the traditional action of remaining at home while they secured his nomination at the Democratic convention in Chicago. However, Bryan was not content to remain at home and he traveled to Chicago to win the nomination through his own efforts. Known for his oratory skills Bryan locked up the nomination after delivering his dramatic "Cross of Gold" speech. In this now famous speech he endorsed a silver platform saying, "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."

McKinley and Hanna both agreed that the best strategy would be to conduct a "front porch" campaign. With Bryan's powerful oratory skills, McKinley realized he would be overshadowed as he confided to Hanna, "I have to think when I speak." (see "The Times Looks Back: Presidential Elections, 1896-1996"). Additionally McKinley felt it was undignified to go about campaigning for the presidency. So almost daily McKinley addressed the press as well as thousands of supporters who showed up outside his home in Canton, Ohio. His speeches were simple and they stressed the same message: only the Republicans could return the country to prosperity. Through the use of the telegraph and the telephone, McKinley kept in constant contact with Hanna, who was busily raising funds for the campaign. Because of Hanna's close ties to business leaders, he collected enormous sums from leading industrialists and financiers. The idea of Democrats running on a silver platform aided Hanna's fundraising efforts. Wealthy Americans were terrified by the prospect of weakening the value of the dollar. In addition to raising funds, Hanna strengthened McKinley's base of support by launching an all out media campaign. McKinley appeared on signs, posters, and leaflets everywhere. Theodore Roosevelt, never an admirer of Hanna, commented "Hanna marketed McKinley like a patent medicine." (see "1896: The Republican Party") Nevertheless, Mark Hanna was successful in organizing the campaign by using the mass media, thus setting an example for the future.

In the meantime, William Jennings Bryan with amazing energy was busy traveling by rail and making speeches to thousands of people all across the country. Not since Stephen A. Douglas and the election of 1860 had a presidential candidate campaigned nation-wide on his own behalf (see "The Times Looks Back: Presidential Elections, 1896-1996") A deeply religious man, Bryan gave stirring speeches resembling a revivalist at a camp meeting. While he spoke in favor of the working class his style did not always appeal to some voters. Hanna cleverly underscored the doubts and fears about Bryan by portraying him as a radical who would ruin the system of capitalism. As a result employers warned their workers that a vote for Bryan meant loss of jobs.

McKinley's well-run campaign, orchestrated by Mark Hanna, persuaded a majority of Americans to vote for the Republicans. While McKinley remained at home, Hanna raised the necessary funding for the Republican campaign. He successfully marketed McKinley to the American people while at the same time preyed upon their fears of radicalism. As a result the Republicans won an overwhelming victory over Bryan and the "silver" Democrats. Once in office the McKinley administration adopted a gold standard and the economy improved substantially. Although historians still debate to what degree Republican policies had on the economy, McKinley received credit for returning the country to prosperity just as promised.