William McKinley

McKinley enlisted during the Civil War and left as a brevet major, then settled in Canton, Ohio, to practice law and marry Ida Saxton. Elected to Congress in 1876, he became the Republican authority on protective tariffs, though his 1890 tariff bill proved so controversial it cost him his seat in a Democratic wave. He won the Ohio governorship in 1891 and 1893, then captured the presidency in 1896 during a deep depression, running a front porch campaign that promised the gold standard and high tariffs would restore prosperity. His administration annexed Hawaii, fought and won the Spanish-American War in 1898, and took control of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, overseeing a burst of American expansion across the Pacific and Caribbean. On September 6, 1901, anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot him at a Buffalo reception; McKinley died eight days later, handing power to Roosevelt and closing the door on the post-Civil War political era.