William stirred the party faithful with his dramatic "Cross of Gold" convention speech, urging that the US dollar be backed by both gold and silver. In doing so, he touched on the hot-button issue of 1896. Soon the streets were filled with lusty chants of "bimetallism would only depreciate the currency if an inequitable ratio were determined, and this is a gratuitous assumption," from supporters and jeers of "bimetallism effectively freezes the ratio of prices of the two metals without regard to the demand and supply conditions," from opponents.
People really got het up over this topic. In St Augustine, during a discussion of monetary policy, James Allen drew a knife and stabbed his companion, Joe Weldman, and Joe retaliated by drawing a pistol and shooting. Both men died.
Sticking to gold meant lower inflation and a sounder dollar which was good for the Big-Money Interests. In this go-round, the Big Money Interests won out. Thank goodness.
Result
William McKinley: 271
William Jennings Bryan: 176
1. He got his nickname because of his support for silver coinage, at least I hope that was the reason.
