William McKinley

William McKinley was the twenty-fifth president of the United States. His presidency included the Spanish-American War, annexation of overseas territories and the Philippine-American War before his assassination in 1901.

William McKinley also held the offices or ranks of President of the United States, United States representative, Governor of Ohio, and Governor-General of the Philippines. William McKinley was born in Niles and died in Buffalo.

Gore Vidal’s Empire places William McKinley at the political centre of the United States’ turn-of-the-century expansion. His presidency provides the setting for victory over Spain, overseas annexation and an increasingly intimate relationship between government, finance and mass newspapers; his assassination then clears the way for Theodore Roosevelt’s more theatrical national leadership. Vidal uses McKinley’s administration alongside the fictional Sanford newspaper family to examine how imperial policy and public opinion could be created together.