President: William McKinley

Wife: Ida Saxton (1847-1907), on January 25, 1871

Kids: Katherine McKinley (1871-75); Ida McKinley (1873)

Pets: a parrot; an Angora cat and her kittens

Bio: William McKinley, (1843-1901), was the 25th President Of The United States. McKinley was born in Niles, Ohio, on Jan. 29, 1843. He was one of nine children in a working class family. He joined the Army at the outset of the Civil War, committed to preserving the Union.

After studying in Ohio and New York, McKinley was admitted to the Ohio bar. He settled in Canton, Ohio, to practice law and participate in Republican politics. Respected for his honesty, he served in the US House of Representatives from 1877 to 1891.

After marrying Ida Saxton in 1871, they lost two young daughters. Mrs. McKinley suffered deeply from this and relied greatly on her husband for emotional support.

Elected governor of Ohio in 1891 and in 1893, he supported tax reform, including higher rates for corporations. In 1896, he was nominated for President and campaigned very hard, leading to a popular and electoral vote victory. Soon, his administration was plunged into a battle of wills with Spain, which was brutalizing the country of Cuba. After the destruction of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor, Congress approved a declaration of war on April 25. The Spanish-American War was brief, resulting in an armistice being signed in August 1898. The United States then temporarily occupied Cuba, took Puerto Rico as a war indemnity, and acquired all of the Philippine archipelago. Another major development was The Gold Standard Act (1900), declaring the gold dollar to be the sole standard of currency.

McKinley was renominated in 1900, and since his Vice President had died in office, New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt was chosen to be his running mate. McKinley won easily without much of a campaign. Then, in September, appearing at an exposition in Buffalo, Leon Czolgosz shot him during a public reception. He lived for 8 days, dying on September 14, 1901.