GUVIiKNUK AND VICE-PRESIDENT 6i 



dency and V^ice-Presidency. In regard to the former there was no 

 doubt WilHam McKinley was the man ; no other was thought of. For 

 Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt's name was early set afloat, much 

 to his discomfort. He had proposed to be a candidate again for Gov- 

 ernor of New York. There was live work to be done. To sit as the 

 voiceless Chairman of the Senate was very distasteful to a man of his 

 temperament. 



There was opposition to him. Senator Hanna was strongly 

 opposed. The man who most wanted to make him Vice-President was 

 Senator Depew, of New York — not from any desire to do him honor, 

 but to get rid of him in state affairs. 



The nomination was made somewhat in this way. When Presi- 

 dent McKinley was nominated and the thunder of the cheering had 

 died away, Governor Roosevelt rose to second the nomination. His 

 speech was a strong one. He had a speech in his hand, type-written, 

 but this he did not once look at, and probably did not follow, speaking 

 the thoughts that rose in his mind and speaking them powerfully 

 and well. 



What he had to say evidently hit the mark, for the members of 

 the convention at once hailed him as Vice-President, shouting for 

 McKinley and Roosevelt. At this Senator Depew, seeing his oppor- 

 tunity, drawled out, "In the East we call him Teddy." At this the 

 shouting grew roof-lifting; "Teddy Roosevelt! Teddy Roosevelt!" 



Depew was achieving his scheme to "shelve" Roosevelt. When 

 the latter's name was formally presented to the convention calls for a 

 vote rose on every side, and the taking of it quickly began. It ended 

 as it only could end under such circumstances. McKinley and Roose- 

 velt were the men of 1900. 



Never had a man been nominated for the Vice-Presidency more 

 against his will. He did not want the office, and he fully understood 

 the purpose of those who were pressing him into it. For a time he 

 strongly resisted persuasions to get him to accept, and when he did 

 yield it was sorely against his will. Neither he nor those who sought 

 to shelve him dreamed for a moment of the coming result, that Vice- 

 President Roosevelt would never preside over a session of the Senate, 

 but before the year ended would fill the President's chair. 



