orig. Marcus Alonzo Hanna
born Sept. 24, 1837, New Lisbon, Ohio, U.S.
died Feb. 15, 1904, Washington, D.C.
U.S. industrialist and political kingmaker.
He became a businessman in Cleveland, Ohio, with interests in banking, coal and iron, transportation, and publishing. Convinced that the interests of big business would best be served by the Republican Party, he began in 1880 to gather support among industrialists for its candidates. In 1892 he helped William McKinley secure the Ohio governorship. For McKinley's 1896 presidential campaign Hanna helped the Republicans raise an unprecedented $3.5 million, enough to overwhelm the grassroots campaign of William Jennings Bryan . He served in the U.S. Senate (18971904).