William McKinley defeated fiery orator Williams Jennings Bryan in 1896 by campaigning from his front porch in Canton, Ohio. The main issue was whether U.S. currency would be backed by gold or silver. McKinley, a former congressman and Ohio governor who supported the gold standard, easily won victory.

The explosion of the battleship Maine in the Havana Harbor in 1898 became a major factor in McKinley’s decision to fight the Spanish-American War. America’s victory transferred the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico to the United States. Hawaii was annexed, and the Boxer Rebellion was quelled in China with U.S. involvement.

When McKinley again faced Bryan in the 1900 presidential race, war hero Theodore Roosevelt joined the ticket as the vice presidential candidate and the Republicans claimed another victory.

In September 1901, McKinley traveled to Buffalo, New York, for the Pan-American Exposition. On September 6, as he stood in a receiving line to greet visitors, a self-described anarchist named Leon Czolgosz shot McKinley.

The fallen president begged aides to protect his wife, Ida, an invalid to whom he was devoted. The crowd tackled the gunman, but McKinley pleaded for them not to harm him. Eight days later, McKinley died, the third president to be assassinated.