William McKinley

A new History Channel series uses fictionalized "reenactments" to knock Republican President William McKinley (1897-1901) as a corporate stooge who took bribes and had his speeches rewritten by business titan John D. Rockefeller. In contrast, The Men Who Built America, which aired in October and November, portrays liberal Democrat William Jennings Bryan as running "on a ticket promising equality for all."

The series focuses on Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan and Rockefeller and the building of their corporate empires. The episodes "Changing the Game" and "When One Ends, Another Begins" include comical, Oliver Stone-esque dialogue. [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Referring to McKinley, "Morgan" hyperbolically declared, "We need to buy the president." "Carnegie" proclaimed, "He'll be our man in the White House."