Just a half year into his second term, President McKinley was shot by an anarchist in Buffalo NY while attending the Pan-American Exposition. After seven days of struggling, McKinley died. His VP, Theodore Roosevelt, was informed of the President’s death while on a family trip to the summit of Mount Marcy. He traveled to Buffalo and was inaugurated as president in Ansley Wilcox’s house the day after McKinley’s death.

The business sector was uneasy with Roosevelt’s elevation to the presidency, as he was regarded as being too progressive. Mark Hanna cautioned TR against pushing any anti-business agenda too soon. However, within a matter of a few months TR had decided to move against the trusts. Attorney General Philander C. Knox sought to dissolve the Northern Securities Company, a railroad monopoly in the northwest which was owned by J. P. Morgan. TR embarked on a tour of New England and the West in order to gather support for his case against Northern Securities. He was successful in winning his first anti-trust case.

President Roosevelt developed a tough foreign policy as well. When the European powers wanted to punish Venezuela and Santo Domingo, TR stepped in to support the underdog nations. His “speak softly and carry a big stick” policy was not limited to curtailing European influence in the Americas. When TR tried to prepare a treaty with Columbia to grant the US a right-of-way across the isthmus of Panama for a canal (which the Columbian government re

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Just a half year into his second term, President McKinley was shot by an anarchist in Buffalo NY while attending the Pan-American Exposition. After seven days of struggling, McKinley died. His VP, Theodore Roosevelt, was informed of the President’s death while on a family trip to the summit of Mount Marcy. He traveled to Buffalo and was inaugurated as president in Ansley Wilcox’s house the day after McKinley’s death.

The business sector was uneasy with Roosevelt’s elevation to the presidency, as he was regarded as being too progressive. Mark Hanna cautioned TR against pushing any anti-business agenda too soon. However, within a matter of a few months TR had decided to move against the trusts. Attorney General Philander C. Knox sought to dissolve the Northern Securities Company, a railroad monopoly in the northwest which was owned by J. P. Morgan. TR embarked on a tour of New England and the West in order to gather support for his case against Northern Securities. He was successful in winning his first anti-trust case.

President Roosevelt developed a tough foreign policy as well. When the European powers wanted to punish Venezuela and Santo Domingo, TR stepped in to support the underdog nations. His “speak softly and carry a big stick” policy was not limited to curtailing European influence in the Americas. When TR tried to prepare a treaty with Columbia to grant the US a right-of-way across the isthmus of Panama for a canal (which the Columbian government rejected), TR was not ready to give up. A revolt took place in the vicinity of the proposed canal; the new government was quickly recognized by Washington, and the treaty was drafted which granted American access to the needed isthmus.

The opposition to TR was scattered. At the 1903 Ohio Republican State Convention, Senator Joseph Foraker introduced a resolution calling on the delegates to endorse TR for another term. This was a surprise to Mark Hanna, who was not ready to make that endorsement. As no VP who succeeded to the presidency had been elected in his own right, Hanna had some hopes that a more conservative candidate would surface. He had hoped for Foraker’s support for such a candidate. Hanna sent TR a telegram stating his intention to vote against Foraker’s resolution. TR released his response to the press which stated that he had not asked anyone for his support and had not raised the issue. While Hanna realized the futility of opposing TR at the time, it was still a year before the National Convention. His plans to shift public opinion never materialized, as Hanna died in early 1904.

The two issues which received the most attention at the GOP National Convention were insignificant matters. The first was the issue of the number of delegates to be allotted to Hawaii territory. Since Hawaii had no electoral votes, Senator Foraker thought it was inadvisable for it to be allotted six delegates. He recommended that Hawaii receive two delegates. The convention voted 495 to 490 to grant Hawaii six votes in the 1904 convention, as that was the number stated in the call of the convention. The other issue raised at the convention was the abduction of a naturalized American in Morocco named Ion Perdicaris by Raisuli, a tribal bandit. TR sent some warships to the area and demanded the immediate release of the American, stating in part “This government wants Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead.” The convention loved TR’s terse demand to Raisuli. (It was later determined that Perdicaris had not been a naturalized American citizen.) Roosevelt named Indiana Senator Charles W. Fairbanks as his choice for vice presidential nominee. Fairbanks was a conservative senator who would appeal to the business interests.

The Democratic Party faced a strange dilemma. Having lost two presidential elections under Bryan’s banner, the Democrats now needed to nominate someone to face a Republican incumbent who favored many of the economic policies of the progressive Democrats who had supported Bryan. There were many eastern Democrats who wanted an opportunity to sponsor a candidate of their own. Bryan was not interested in running but was not keen on endorsing someone who might infringe on his leadership of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. The conservative Democrats supported a New York judge named Alton B. Parker as someone who would appeal to the businessmen who opposed TR’s anti-trust enforcement. The leading progressive contender was William R. Hearst, the publisher who was serving in Congress. Hearst sought Bryan’s support unsuccessfully. The best Bryan would do was to make a general statement that some Democrats supported his opponents when he was the nominee, and that this was part of the cause for his defeat. When the ballot was taken, Parker was just nine votes short of the necessary two-thirds majority. Idaho began a short list of shifts to Parker to give him the needed votes. During the roll call for VP, Parker sent a telegram to the New York delegation. He stated that he favored the gold standard, and that the convention needed to nominate someone else if that stand was inappropriate. The convention responded that there was no mention of the gold standard in the platform, as it was no longer an issue, although Bryan and others objected.

Parker was perplexed by the decision of leading businessmen to support Roosevelt. Joseph Pulitzer ran a column criticizing the Bureau of Corporations for slowing its activity and suggesting that the companies which were regulated by the Bureau were donating thousands of dollars to TR as insurance that he would leave them alone. TR denied that the campaign contributions were intended to serve as blackmail.

The voters were satisfied with TR’s performance. He won a landslide victory – the largest since 1872. The voters enhanced GOP control of Congress as well; the U.S. House stood at 250 Republicans to 136 Democrats, the largest GOP percentage since the 1894 watershed. The Senate remained at 58 Republicans and 32 Democrats. For the first time, a caretaker VP had succeeded in winning a term of his own.

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