The 25th President of The United States, William McKinley

William McKinley: In the Republican convention of 1896, in time of depression, the wealthy businessman from Cleveland, Marcus Alonzo Hanna, said the nomination of his friend William McKinley as "the advance agent of prosperity". Democrats, advocating the "free and unlimited issue of silver coins and gold" - which would gently inflated currency - nominated William Jennings Bryan. While Hanna used large contributions from eastern Republicans frightened by Bryan's views on silver, McKinley met with delegations on its front balcony in Canton, Ohio. He won by a majority of popular votes more grade since 1872. Born in Niles, Ohio, in 1843, McKinley briefly attended Allegheny College, and taught at a school in the county when it exploded the civil war. Enlisting as a private in the Union Army, he came at the end of the war as Brevet Major of Volunteers. He studied law, opened an office in Canton, Ohio, and married Ida Saxton, daughter of a local banker. At 34, McKinley won a seat in Congress. His attractive personality, exemplary character, and skilled intelligence allowed him to grow up fast. He was appointed to Methods and Means Committee. Mr. Robert M. La Follette, who served with him, recalled that he generally "represented the new vision" and "in large new issues, was generally on the side of the public and against private interests." During his 14 years in the House, he became the leading Republican tariff expert, giving his name to the measure enacted in 1890. The next year he was elected Governor of Ohio, serving two terms.

When McKinley became President, the depression of 1893 had almost run its course and with it the extreme agitation over silver. It deferring the matter of money, he asked Congress to a special session to enact the highest rate in history. In the friendly atmosphere of the McKinley Administration, industrial combinations developed at an unprecedented step. Newspapers caricatured McKinley as a little child led "Nurse" Hanna, the representative of the treatment. However, McKinley was not dominated by Hanna; he condemned the treatment as "dangerous conspiracies against the public interest." Not prosperity, but foreign policy was what dominated the McKinley administration. Reporting a deadlock between Spanish forces and revolutionaries in Cuba, newspapers shouted a quarter of the population was dying and the rest suffering acutely. Public outrage brought pressure on the President to war. Unable to stop the Congress or the Americans, McKinley took a message of neutral intervention in April 1898. The congress voted with that three equivalent to a declaration of war for the liberation and independence of Cuba resolutions.

In the war of 100 days, the United States destroyed the Spanish fleet outside the port of Santiago in Cuba, caught Manila in the Philippines, and occupied Puerto Rico. "Uncle Joe" Cannon, later Speaker of the House, once said McKinley kept his ear close to the ground as it was full of grasshoppers. When McKinley was undecided what to do about the Spanish possessions except Cuba, he traveled to the country and detected an imperialist sentiment. Therefore the United States annexed the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. In 1900, McKinley again campaigned against Bryan. While Bryan fought against imperialism, McKinley remained reserved for "the bucketful dinner." His second term, which had begun auspiciously, ended tragically in September 1901. He was standing in a receiving line at the Buffalo panamerican exposure when a demented anarchist shot him twice. He died eight days later.