The United States officially adopted the gold standard in 1900. Opponents had to face the fact that peace and prosperity were giving most Americans a sense of well-being. President William McKinley ran for re-election and easily defeated William Jennings Bryan in a rematch of their contest four years earlier. McKinley had a new running mate: Spanish-American War hero Teddy Roosevelt. His first Vice President, Garret Hobart, died in office.

In other news of 1900:

• The barrier-island city of Galveston, Texas, was virtually destroyed by a monstrous hurricane and storm surge. Some 8,000 people perished.
• The 1900 Census found slightly more than 76.2 million people living in the nation’s 45 states.
• Americans’ average life expectancy was 48 years.
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published.
• A world’s fair took place in Paris from April to November. The United States issued a commemorative coin, the Lafayette dollar, for the occasion.
• The Associated Press was organized in New York City as a non-profit news cooperative.
• The maiden flight of a dirigible airship took place over Lake Constance in Germany.
• Dr. Walter Reed began research on the cause of yellow fever.
• The French Academy of the Sciences offered 100,000 francs to the first person who could communicate with extraterrestrials within the next 10 years. Martians were excluded because the academy thought contacting them would be too easy.
• Casey Jones died in a train wreck in Vaughn, Mississippi, while trying to make up time on the Cannonball Express.

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