The presidency of William McKinley began on March 4, 1897, when William McKinley was inaugurated and ended with his death on September 14, 1901. McKinley won the entire Northeast and Midwest. Bryan had concentrated entirely on the silver issue, and had not failed to broaden his appeal to include urban workers. For much of the 20th century historians and textbooks disparaged McKinley as a weak leader—echoing Roosevelt, who called him spineless. They blamed McKinley for losing control of foreign policy and agreeing to an unnecessary war. A wave of new scholarship in the 1970s, from both right and left, reversed the older interpretation.