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William McKinley

**William McKinley**

Order	25th President
Term of Office	March 4, 1897 - September 14, 1901
Predecessor	Grover Cleveland
Successor	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
Occupation	Lawyer
First Lady:	Ida Saxton McKinley
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.

Contents

1 Biography

2 Presidency

2.1 Cabinet
2.2 Supreme Court appointments
2.3 Significant events during presidency

3 Related articles

4 External links

Biography

Born in Niles, Ohio on January 29, 1843, William McKinley was seventh of nine children. His parents, William and Nancy (Allison) McKinley were of Scottish ancestry. He attended the public schools, Poland Academy, and Allegheny College, but McKinley fell ill and had to return home. On June 23, 1861, at the start of the American Civil War, he enlisted in the Union Army, 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 attended Albany Law School in Albany, New York, being 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 U.S. Congress (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). In 1890, he authored the unpopular McKinley Tariff.

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.

Presidency

William McKinley was elected President of the United States in 1896, defeating William Jennings Bryan.

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 the U.S. into the "New Imperialism" of the era.

He was re-elected in 1900, again beating Bryan.

Leon Czolgosz shoots President McKinley with a concealed revolver.

McKinley was shot by 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 was the third U.S. president to be assassinated. His body was interred in the McKinley Monument adjacent to West Lawn Cemetery in Canton, Ohio. President Theodore Roosevelt, 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.

Cabinet


OFFICE	NAME	TERM

President	William McKinley	1897–1901
Vice President	Garret A. Hobart	1897–1899
	Theodore Roosevelt	1901

Secretary of State	John Sherman	1897–1898
	William R. Day	1898
	John Hay	1898–1901
Secretary of the Treasury	Lyman J. Gage	1897–1901
Secretary of War	Russell A. Alger	1897–1899
	Elihu Root	1899–1901
Attorney General	Joseph McKenna	1897–1898
	John W. Griggs	1898–1901
	Philander C. Knox	1901
Postmaster General	James A. Gary	1897–1898
	Charles E. Smith	1898–1901
Secretary of the Navy	John D. Long	1897–1901
Secretary of the Interior	Cornelius N. Bliss	1897–1899
	Ethan A. Hitchcock	1899–1901
Secretary of Agriculture	James Wilson	1897–1901

Supreme Court appointments

McKinley appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:

Joseph McKenna: 1898

Significant events during presidency

Dingley Tariff (1897)
Maximum Freight Case (1897)
Spanish-American War (1898)
Gold Standard Act (1900)

External links

First Inaugural Address
Second Inaugural Address
IPL POTUS -- William McKinley
Biography of William McKinley
Encyclopedia Americana: William McKinley
William McKinley Presidential Library and Memorial
First State of the Union Address
Second State of the Union Address
Third State of the Union Address
Fourth State of the Union Address
A Loose Bandage (Beck Reilly) is an alternative 20th century following the failed assassination of William McKinley.

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11-30-2008 18:11:33
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