McKinley Roosevelt Portraits

Yellow background with a red white and blue ribbon tied in a bow at the top. In the center is two circular black and white photograph portraits of men. The circles of the portraits are joined in the center. The man on the right has a mustache.

William McKinley was the 25th president of the United States, and served from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. Seen here is a button from his 1900 reelection campaign, which featured a new vice presidential running mate in Theodore Roosevelt. 

After four years in office, McKinley's popularity had risen because of his image as the victorious commander-in-chief of the Spanish-American War and because of the nation's general return to economic prosperity. Hence, he was easily renominated in 1900 as the Republican candidate. The most momentous event at the Philadelphia convention centered on the vice presidential nomination of Governor Theodore Roosevelt of New York. Vice President Garret A. Hobart of New Jersey had died in office, and Roosevelt's candidacy added a popular war hero and reform governor to the ticket.