# What if Bryan had beaten McKinley for the presidency in 1896? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 27, 2007, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-bryan-had-beaten-mckinley-for-the-presidency-in-1896/427951 "2007-11-27T20:23:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-bryan-had-beaten-mckinley-for-the-presidency-in-1896/427951/21 "2007-11-30T17:53:32Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Agreed. He was nuts, and an anarchist. He shot McKinley because McKinley was the President, not because of McKinley’s views on imperialism or free silver. Bryan would have suffered the same fate in some alternate universe. [/QUOTE] Assuming Bryan got reelected in 1900, and that he went to the Buffalo exposition, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-bryan-had-beaten-mckinley-for-the-presidency-in-1896/427951/22 "2007-11-30T18:10:20Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] Assuming Bryan got reelected in 1900, and that he went to the Buffalo exposition, etc. [/QUOTE] The Buffalo Exposition was a given. And _anybody_ in the White House would have done. BTW–Robert Todd Lincoln, the son of Abraham Lincoln, was attending the fair the day McKinley bought it. He was _also_ nearby when Garfield got plugged. He was around when 3 Presidents got killed. Sarah Vowell, in her book _Assassination Vacation_, describes him as a "Presidential Angel of Death\*. Too right. A jinx. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-bryan-had-beaten-mckinley-for-the-presidency-in-1896/427951/23 "2007-11-30T18:16:47Z")
The highest peak in North America would be called Mount Bryan. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-bryan-had-beaten-mckinley-for-the-presidency-in-1896/427951/24 "2007-11-30T20:40:57Z")
And Canton, Ohio would not be the Mecca of political junkies that it has long been. (Although the Natl. Museum of First Ladies might still be there, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame). ---
**Author:** ![Algorithm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/algorithm/32/12204_2.png) [@Algorithm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algorithm)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-bryan-had-beaten-mckinley-for-the-presidency-in-1896/427951/25 "2007-11-30T21:45:19Z")
Without McKinley around to get Roosevelt in to the White House, our pennies would look a lot different. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-bryan-had-beaten-mckinley-for-the-presidency-in-1896/427951/26 "2007-11-30T21:58:12Z")
[QUOTE=Algorithm] Without McKinley around to get Roosevelt in to the White House, our pennies would look a lot different. [/QUOTE] 😕 This a whoosh? Lincoln is on the penny. **Franklin** Roosevelt is on the dime. Teddy Roosevelt is on nothing but Mount Rushmore. ---
**Author:** ![Algorithm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/algorithm/32/12204_2.png) [@Algorithm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algorithm)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-bryan-had-beaten-mckinley-for-the-presidency-in-1896/427951/27 "2007-11-30T22:00:49Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] 😕 This a whoosh? Lincoln is on the penny. **Franklin** Roosevelt is on the dime. Teddy Roosevelt is on nothing but Mount Rushmore. [/QUOTE] [Click](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt#Roosevelt_puts_his_hero.2C_Lincoln.27s_likeness_on_the_penny) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-bryan-had-beaten-mckinley-for-the-presidency-in-1896/427951/28 "2007-11-30T22:03:41Z")
[QUOTE=Algorithm] [Click](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt#Roosevelt_puts_his_hero.2C_Lincoln.27s_likeness_on_the_penny) [/QUOTE] Ah. Of course, before then, the penny bore the head of an Indian – a sort of heraldic Indian, representing no individual – which probably would have been removed as un-PC at some point anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-bryan-had-beaten-mckinley-for-the-presidency-in-1896/427951/29 "2007-12-02T19:54:19Z")
TR would probably not be on Mount Rushmore. PS. I played the Reverend in ItW. Any chance we have the full cast on this board? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-bryan-had-beaten-mckinley-for-the-presidency-in-1896/427951.md?page=1)