Video: 'William McKinley: Building the American Century'

(Sunday, January 29, 1843) — William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901, was born today in Niles, Ohio.

As a politician, he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in the industrial states and nationwide until the 1930s.

He presided over victory in the Spanish–American War of 1898; gained control of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Cuba; restored prosperity after a deep depression; rejected the inflationary monetary policy of free silver, keeping the nation on the gold standard; and raised protective tariffs to boost American industry and keep wages high.