Ashtray Featuring Theodore Roosevelt and William McKinley, Republican Candidates for 1900 Presidential Election, 1900

Republicans renominated President William McKinley for a second term in 1900. During McKinley's first administration, America had recovered from the economic depression that began in 1893, and the country emerged victorious from the recent Spanish-American War. Only one question remained for the Republican Party: who should be vice president? Delegates chose Theodore Roosevelt, the popular war hero and reform governor of New York.