Republican from Ohio. President from 1896-1901. Defeated WilliamJenningsBryan in historic GoldVsSilver 1896 campaign, definitely on the side of big business and bimetallism. Also beat WilliamJenningsBryan in 1900, with Theodore Roosevelt at his side as Vice-President. Expanded America's empire during the Spanish-American War to Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam. Shot in Buffalo in September 1901 at the Pan-American Exposition by Leon Czolgosz at the Exposition's Temple of Music.

Now for the Weird stuff. :)

Okay, he was a millennial President, so that's good for something. Victim of the ZeroYearCurse, which probably deserves its own entry at this point. He was a Mason (of course). Took eight days for him to die of the gunshot wound (isn't that how long Odin spent as TheHangedMan on the tree?). Leon Czolgosz was an unemployed Buffalo laborer who was frustrated at the union-busting Pinkertons.

During his Presidency, the newspapers of WilliamRandolphHearst helped America along to war with the Spanish. McKinley was threatened with a coal miners' strike during the 1900 campaign that eventually came to fruition two years later when Roosevelt was President. Senator MarkHanna of Ohio, McKinley's 1896 campaign manager, often nicknamed the "Kingmaker," or "Uncle Mark," intervened with prominent industrialists to preserve the Presidency for McKinley and prevent WilliamJenningsBryan from riding a populist wave to election.

Odd thing about his campaigning style: he waged a "front porch" campaign. While Bryan, a brilliant orator, was crisscrossing the country making stump speeches, McKinley remained at home in Ohio, where thousands rode the rails to come to him. He also used the new development of long-distance telephone service (and was Ma Bell one of TheNephilim?) to coordinate his campaigns.

"Was Ma Bell one of The Nephilim?" No telephone history allowed in this game. My obsessions overlap enough already! [Rob]

I dunno about the Zero Year curse -- it hasn't shown up in the game in any notable way. Odin, alas, hung on Yggdrasil for a full nine nights and nine days, gaining the eighteen charms in exchange. [Bryant]

"White House Blues" off of Disc 2 of HarrySmith's AnthologyOfAmericanFolkMusic is about McKinley: http://world.std.com/~gdallal/poole/White_House_Blues.txt [Mike]

Links

• http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/exhibits/panam/immigrants/poles.html
• http://www.dol.gov/asp/programs/history/coalstrike.htm (two paragraphs before the first subhead)