Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/310

266 some fighting in several other islands, yet this amounted to but little.

On June 19 the Republican party met once more to nominate their candidates for President and Vice-President. The gathering was a notable one, all the party leaders being present. The convention was held in the Exposition Building, Philadelphia, which was beautifully decorated for the occasion. Over the main entrance hung a mammoth picture of McKinley, and the name of the President was heard upon every lip. He was nominated amid wild enthusiasm, the hand-clapping, stamping, and shouting lasting half an hour.

For Vice-President the nomination fell upon Theodore Roosevelt, the man who had served so well as governor of New York, and who was so well known as the gallant leader of the daring Rough Riders. Roosevelt tried in vain to decline the honor. The party insisted upon his accepting, and this made him what he has since become,—our twenty-sixth President.

In opposition to McKinley and Roosevelt the Democratic party placed in the field Colonel Bryan, who had been up for the