William McKinley

January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901

William McKinley (1843-1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. A Republican, he led the country in the Spanish–American War and oversaw the acquisition of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines.

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Biography

William McKinley was born in Niles, Ohio, in 1843. He enrolled at Allegheny College in 1860 but left after a year because of illness and family money troubles. In June 1861 he enlisted as a private in the Union Army and rose to brevet major by the end of the Civil War, the only president to begin his service as an enlisted man. Afterwards he attended Albany Law School, settled in Canton, Ohio, and in 1869 was elected prosecuting attorney of Stark County.

Elected to Congress in 1876, he became the Republican authority on the protective tariff and chaired the Ways and Means Committee. The McKinley Tariff of 1890 was unpopular and, combined with a Democratic redistricting, cost him his seat that year, but he was elected governor of Ohio in 1891 and 1893.

In 1896 he defeated William Jennings Bryan for the presidency, promising sound money and protective tariffs. He kept the country on the gold standard, signed the Dingley Tariff and the Gold Standard Act, and annexed Hawaii. After talks with Spain over Cuba failed he signed the declaration of war in 1898; the brief Spanish–American War left the United States in possession of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, and his administration later divided Samoa with Britain and Germany.

McKinley beat Bryan again in 1900. On September 6, 1901, anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot him at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, and he died eight days later and was succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt.