<Tr> <Th> Unit </Th> <Td> 23rd Ohio Infantry </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Battles / wars </Th> <Td> American Civil War </Td> </Tr> <P> William McKinley (January 29, 1843--September 14, 1901) was the 25th President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1897 until his assassination in September 1901, six months into his second term . McKinley led the nation to victory in the Spanish--American War, raised protective tariffs to promote American industry, and maintained the nation on the gold standard in a rejection of free silver (effectively, expansionary monetary policy). </P> <P> McKinley was the last president to have served in the American Civil War, and the only one to have started the war as an enlisted soldier, beginning as a private in the Union Army and ending as a brevet major . After the war, he settled in Canton, Ohio, where he practiced law and married Ida Saxton . In 1876, he was elected to Congress, where he became the Republican Party's expert on the protective tariff, which he promised would bring prosperity . His 1890 McKinley Tariff was highly controversial; which together with a Democratic redistricting aimed at gerrymandering him out of office, led to his defeat in the Democratic landslide of 1890 . He was elected Ohio's governor in 1891 and 1893, steering a moderate course between capital and labor interests . With the aid of his close adviser Mark Hanna, he secured the Republican nomination for president in 1896, amid a deep economic depression . He defeated his Democratic rival, William Jennings Bryan, after a front - porch campaign in which he advocated "sound money" (the gold standard unless altered by international agreement) and promised that high tariffs would restore prosperity . </P>

Who was the president of the united states in 1900