McKinley was working as a post office clerk when the Civil War began in April 1861 and he immediately enlisted as a private in the 23rd Regiment of Ohio Volunteers. By the time the war ended, four years later, he had risen through the ranks to Brevet Major.

Returning to civilian Life, McKinley now entered the law and was elected District Ptttorney for Canton, Ohio in 1868. His first step on the political ladder came eight years later when he entered the US Congress and then served as Governt,r of Ohio from 1892-96, when he ran successfully for the presidency.

The great event of the McKinley presidency was war with Spain in support of Cuban independence. America's entry into the conflict quickly tipped the balance and she was rewarded with the acquisition of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Phillipines.

It was under William McKinley that America began to emerge as an imperial power, but McKinley's presidency was cut short in its prime, after he had won a landslide election victory in 1900, when he was assassinated in Buffalo, New York, in September 1901.