Businessman and US senator, born in New Lisbon, Ohio, USA. He prospered in the grocery business, coal mining, the iron industry, and shipping, and also acquired the Cleveland Herald before embarking on a career in politics. After getting his friend William McKinley elected governor of Ohio (18926) he engineered McKinley's nomination as the Republican candidate for president in 1896 and then managed his victory in the most expensive and best organized campaign ever seen. As chairman of the Republican National Committee (1897) he got himself appointed to the US Senate (Republican, Ohio, 18971904). In his first years he devoted most of his energies to promoting his party's goals, but when Theodore Roosevelt succeeded to the presidency (1901), Hanna took on a surprisingly more statesmanlike, if still conservative, role. He admittedly endorsed standpattism but he also supported the right of labour to organize unions.
Hanna|
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| 14th Chair of the Republican National Committee | |
|---|---|
| In office | |
| 1896 – 1904 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas H. Carter |
| Succeeded by | Henry Clay Payne |
| Born |
September 24, 1837 Lisbon (formerly New Lisbon), Ohio |
| Died |
February 15, 1904 Washington, D.C. He rose to fame as the campaign manager of the successful Republican Presidential candidate William McKinley in the U.S. Presidential election of 1896, in what is considered the forerunner of the modern political campaign, and subsequently became one of the most powerful members of the U.S. Senate. Business careerMoving to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1844, the young Hanna became involved in numerous unsuccessful business ventures. Manager of campaignsHanna made a transition into politics during the 1880s and in 1888, he managed Ohio Senator John Sherman's unsuccessful effort to gain the Republican presidential nomination. Hanna helped McKinley win the 1891 and 1893 elections for Governor of Ohio and became his chief advisor. After Hanna attended a speech Reed gave in Washington, he realized that Reed lacked the presidential appearance or stature McKinley possessed. McKinley won the 1896 Republican nomination for president, Hanna, as Chairman of the Republican National Committee, raised an unprecedented $3.5 million for McKinley's campaign for the gold standard, high tariffs, high wages, pluralism and renewed prosperity. As McKinley was highly likeable, Hanna became a target of Bryanites, especially William Randolph Hearst and his New York Journal. Hanna's campaign employed 1,400 people, who concentrated a flood of pamphlets, leaflets, posters, and stump speakers. Election to U.S. SenateOnce elected, McKinley appointed Senator Sherman to his Cabinet, and Hanna was elected by the Ohio legislature in March of 1897 to fill the remainder of that term, and then re-elected to the subsequent term. As the economy recovered and international triumphs against Spain bolstered McKinley's popularity, the 1900 rematch was an easy victory for Hanna. Hanna and RooseveltHanna and Theodore Roosevelt had been allies when they met in 1884, but they became rivals, initially due to their disagreement about the Spanish-American War. One of the leading powers in the conservative (and Rockefeller) faction of the Republican party, Hanna lost influence when McKinley was assassinated, replaced by the somewhat more progressive (Morgan faction) Roosevelt. (Hanna had known Rockefeller from high school.) Upon hearing the news, Hanna reputedly remarked that "Now that damn cowboy is president." Hanna and Roosevelt worked together (particularly on the Panama Canal) and although they remained personally cordial, they considered each other political rivals. Death and legacyHanna was expected to run against Roosevelt for the Republican nomination for president in the 1904 election. The Hanna Building on the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 14th Street in Cleveland bears his name. Hanna was the father of Ruth Hanna McCormick, who married a U.S. Representative and Senator, and herself served in the House of Representatives. |
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