1843: Born in Ohio

1861: Civil War begins with firing on Fort Sumter; McKinley enlists in the Twentythird Ohio Voluntary Regiment under the command of future president Rutherford B. Hayes

1865: Civil War ends; McKinley leaves the military, having been honored several times for bravery and having reached the rank of brevet major

1877-84, 1885-91: Serves in the U.S. House of Representatives

1890: Authors the McKinley Tariff Act; loses election and his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives

1893-97: Serves as Ohio governor

1897-1901: Serves as twenty-fifth U.S. president; seeks to revive a stagnant economy

1898: Economy booming; battleship Maine explodes in Havana Harbor, killing 266 American soldiers; McKinley asks for and receives from Congress a Declaration of War on Spain; Spanish-American War lasts four months, with the United States winning and gaining control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines

1900: McKinley's Open Door policy to...