I. William McKinley was born on January 29, 1843 in Niles, Ohio. He died on September 14, 1901 in Buffalo New York. McKinley was the third president to be assassinated.
II. McKinley ran for the Presidency from Ohio.
III. McKinley had a relatively easy and normal childhood. He was the seventh child of eight. His parents were loving people who instilled in McKinley the importance of hard-work, religion, and education. McKinley worked very hard in school as a youth and then attended Alleghany College in Pennsylvania for one term, until he had to leave for financial reasons. During the Civil War, he proved to be an excellent soldier and quickly moved up the ranks to the position of Brevet Major. Like many presidents before him, after his serving in the war, McKinley went into the practice of law. It was during this time that he also began to get involved with various groups supporting the Republican Party. McKinley served in congress for many years and then as Governor of Ohio before running for the presidency.
IV. McKinley was elected to the presidency twice. He served his first term from 1897 to 1901, at which point he had been reelected. However, shortly into his second term McKinley was assassinated.
V. In 1896, there were two main issues. One was the money issue, with the Democrats supporting bimetallism, and the Republicans only hard money in gold. The other major issue of 1896 was the ongoing rise of big business. McKinley, and many Republicans, supported higher tariffs, which favored big business owners, and other pro-big business legislation. The Democrats, who had been joined by the Populist Party, used this against McKinley, declaring that he was in the pockets of the business owners. Most of the issues in 1900 were the same as the previous election, and the Democrats even put forth the same candidate. However, McKinley was a popular and well liked president. He was the victorious leader of the nation when the Spanish-American War