WILLIAM MCKINLEY
William McKinley, Republican and 25th President of the U.S. was the son of an Ohio ironmaker.
He enlisted in the Civil War at age 18.
He quickly rose to captain and by 1865 was made brevet major.
McKinley went on to study law, serve in the House of Representatives from 1877-83 and become governor of Ohio.
In 1896 he won the presidential election from William Jennings Bryan over a gold standard issue.
Though he was conservative in business matters, he was respected for his conciliatory nature.
McKinley hesitated to intervene, but when Spain made too few concessions regarding Cuba, he declared a state of war in 1898.
While welcoming citizens at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, McKinley was shot and killed by an anarchist.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt, 5th cousin to Franklin D. Roosevelt and an uncle of Eleanor Roosevelt, was elected New York governor in 1898 after a Navy career.
Nominated by the Republican party for vice president in 1900, he became the nation's 26th and youngest President when William McKinley was assasinated in 1901.
As president he fought corruption of politics and big business.
He was reelected in 1904 and was the first President to use The Hague International Court of Justice.
Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905 for mediating the peace between Russia and Japan.
In 1908 he helped get William Taft nominated and elected, but feeling that Taft had abandoned his policies, decided to campaign against him in 1912.
He was shot during that campaign, and though he recovered, he was unsuccessful in his bid for the Presidency.
Roosevelt wrote about 40 books, of which Winning in the West is best known.

WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT
William Howard Taft inherited his passion for politics from his father Alphonso Taft, who was secretary of war and attorney general in Grant's cabinet.
After graduating from Yale and Cincinnati Law School in 1880, Taft rose to federal circuit judge by 1892.
He became head of the U.S.