Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 15, 2014

Mark Hanna (1837–1904) was a Republican United States Senator from Ohio and the friend and political manager of President William McKinley. Born in New Lisbon (today Lisbon), Ohio, in 1837, he moved to Cleveland with his family in his teenage years and attended high school with John D. Rockefeller. Hanna made millions as a businessman by his 40th birthday, and turned his attention to politics. Despite Hanna's efforts on his behalf, Ohio Senator John Sherman failed to gain the Republican nomination for president in 1884 and 1888. With Sherman too old to be considered a contender, Hanna used his money and business skills to successfully manage McKinley's presidential campaign in 1896. Declining a Cabinet position, Hanna secured appointment as senator from Ohio after Sherman was made Secretary of State; the Ohio General Assembly re-elected Hanna in 1898 and 1904. He managed McKinley's successful re-election campaign in 1900. Savage cartoons by such illustrators as Homer Davenport lampooned him as McKinley's political master. After McKinley's assassination in 1901, Hanna worked for the building of a canal in Panama, rather than elsewhere in Central America. (Full article...)

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