mckinley relied heavily on finance, railroads, industry and the middle classes for his support and cemented the republicans as the party of business. his campaign manager, ohio's mark hanna, developed a detailed plan for getting contributions from the business world and mckinley outspent his rival william jennings bryan by a large margin. this emphasis on business was in part mitigated by theodore roosevelt, the presidential successor after mckinley's assassination in 1901, who engaged in trust-busting. mckinley was the first president to promote pluralism, arguing that prosperity would be shared by all ethnic and religious groups.