William McKinley

William McKinley Order: 25th President Term of Office: March 4, 1897 - September 14, 1901 Followed: Grover Cleveland Succeeded by: Theodore Roosevelt Date of Birth January 29, 1843 Place of Birth: Niles, Ohio Date of Death: September 14, 1901 Place of Death: Buffalo, New York First Lady: Ida Saxton Occupation: lawyer Political Party: Republican Vice President: Garret A. Hobart (1897-1899) Theodore Roosevelt (1901)

William McKinley (January 29, 1843 - September 14, 1901) was the 25th President of the United States, from 1897 until his assassination in 1901.

McKinley was born in Niles, Ohio, January 29, 1843 to William McKinley and Nancy Allison. He attended the public schools, Poland Academy, and Allegheny College. Following graduation he taught school, then at the start of the American Civil War enlisted in the Union Army on June 23, 1861, as a private in the Twenty-third Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered out as Captain and brevet Major of the same regiment in September 1865.

Following the war, McKinley studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1867. He commenced practice in Canton, Ohio. He was prosecuting attorney of Stark County, Ohio, 1869-1871, and was elected as a Republican to the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, and Forty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1877-March 3, 1883). He was chairman of the Committee on Revision of the Laws (Forty-seventh Congress). He presented his credentials as a Member-elect to the Forty-eighth Congress and served from March 4, 1883, until May 27, 1884, when he was succeeded by Jonathan H. Wallace, who successfully contested his election. McKinley was again elected to the Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, and Fifty-first Congresses (March 4, 1885-March 3, 1891). He was chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means (Fifty-first Congress).

McKinley was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election in 1890 to the Fifty-second Congress. He was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1884, 1888, and 1892. Standing for election with his running mate Andrew L. Harris, McKinley was elected Governor of Ohio in 1891, and reelected in 1893, serving until January 13, 1896. He was elected President of the United States in 1896.

In 1898, McKinley launched the trust-busting era when he appointed several Senators (and his former Lt. Governor Andrew L. Harris) to the U.S. Industrial Commission. Later, the Industrial Commission's report to Theodore Roosevelt would lay the groundwork for Roosevelt's attacks on trusts and 'malefactors of great wealth'.

McKinley led the country into the Spanish-American War, bringing the former colonies of Spain in the Philippines and Caribbean Sea under American control. Despite some vocal domestic opposition, his administration ushered America into a policy of international imperialism.

He was re-elected in 1900.

McKinley was shot by an anarchist, Leon F. Czolgosz, on September 6, 1901 while attending the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, and died from his wounds there on September 14, 1901. He is one of the four U.S. presidents that have been assassinated. Interment is in the McKinley Monument (adjacent to West Lawn Cemetery), Canton, Ohio. Governor Andrew L. Harris and other speakers saluted the fallen President at the McKinley Memorial.

McKinley's portrait appeared on the U.S. $500 bill from 1928 to 1946.

• Joseph McKenna: 1898

• Dingley Tariff (1897)
• Maximum Freight Case (1897)
• Gold Standard Act (1900)

• U.S. presidential election, 1896
• U.S. presidential election, 1900

• First Inaugural Address
• Second Inaugural Address
• IPL POTUS -- William McKinley
• Encyclopedia Americana: William McKinley