William McKinley Monument (San Francisco, California)

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Dedicated in 1904 to US president 25th President of the United States - William McKinley. By the 1880s, the Ohioan was a nationally known Republican leader; his signature issue was high tariffs on imports as a formula for prosperity, as typified by his McKinley Tariff of 1890. In 1896, he rallied the business and financial communities behind his successful effort to defend the Gold Standard against Free Silver. An indefatigable campaigner, he helped rebuild the Republican Party in 1896 by rejecting divisive ethnic issues and promoting pluralism—whereby every group in the nation would prosper and none would be singled out for attack. Working with campaign manager Mark Hanna, McKinley introduced new advertising-style campaign techniques that revolutionized campaign practices and beat back the crusading of his arch-rival, William Jennings Bryan. The 1896 election is considered a realigning election that ended the Third Party System and opened the Progressive Era or Fourth Party System. McKinley presided over a return to prosperity after the Panic of 1893 and was reelected in 1900 after another intense campaign. As president, he fought the Spanish-American War in response to reports of Spanish atrocities in Cuba. After victory in the "splendid little war", he annexed the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam, as well as Hawaii.
He was assassinated by an anarchist and succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt.