The 1896 Republican National Convention was held in Exposition Building, Saint Louis, Missouri, June 16-18, 1896.

Ohio Governor William McKinley was nominated on the first ballot with 661 1/2 votes to 84 1/2 to House Speaker Thomas B. Reed of Maine,61 1/2 votes for Pennsylvania Senator Matthew S. Quay, 58 votes for New York Governor Levi P. Morton who was Vice President under Benjamin Harrison, and 35 1/2 votes for Senator William B. Allison of Iowa. New York State Senator Garret Augustus Hobart was nominated for Vice President over Henry Clay Evans. Joseph B. Foraker of Ohio placed McKinley´s name in nomination.

The Platform

The republican Platform of 1896 favored the gold standard but left the door open to free coinage of silver, it also supported acquisition of Hawaii and parts of the Danish West Indies, favored a canal across the the Central America, naval expansion, sympathized with revolutionaries in Cuba and Armenia, wanted exclusion of all illiterate immigrants, applauded gains in women´s rights and pledged "equal pay for equal work". It also supported creation of a "National Board of Arbitration"