The A case describes the views of the two leading candidates for US President, William Jennings Bryan and William McKinley, along with those of three other figures: J. P. Morgan, Mary Elizabeth Lease, and Eugene Debs. The task for the student is to assess the role of money and financial crises in the evolving political landscape—these five people reflect policy positions across the political spectrum. The main controversy in the case is whether only gold, or both gold and silver, should back the dollar, an issue that has been simmering for about a quarter-century and that is resolved in the election of 1896. This B case serves as an epilogue, describing the results of the election of 1896 and its effects on US financial policy, as well as the later history of the Populist Party and the main figures in the case.