William McKinley [bust]

c1901. Other. Height is approximately 7.5 inches. Maximum width is approximately 4.25 inches. Maximum depth is approximately 3.5 inches. There are small chips at the left eyebrow, nose, left rear corner at the base and bottom edge of the torso where the figure 'morphs' into the pedestal/base. Some dirt and some scratches on the back noted The material used has not specifically identified but may be resin or plaster. A large number of images of busts and statutes of President McKinley were reviewed on the internet and no identical match was identified. The key distinguishing feature that separates this bust from the images reviewed is that most other images the President is looking straight forward. This bust has the President gazing slightly to his left. Additionally, many contemporary busts have him wearing a scarf, which is not present here. A further distinguishing feature is the shape and way presented of his characteristic bow-tie. There is no indication of who the sculptor may have been. McKinley's biographer H. Wayne Morgan remarks that McKinley died the most beloved president in history. According to Gould, "The nation experienced a wave of genuine grief at the news of McKinley's passing." The nation focused its attention on the casket that first lay in the East Room of the Executive Mansion and then laid in state in the Capitol before being transported to Canton by train. Approximately 100,000 people passed by the open casket in the Capitol Rotunda, many having waited hours in the rain. In Canton, an equal number did the same at the Stark County Courthouse on September 18. William McKinley (January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party, he led a realignment that made Republicans largely dominant in the industrial states and nationwide for decades. He presided over victory in the Spanish–American War of 1898; gained control of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Cuba; restored prosperity after a deep depression; rejected the inflationary monetary policy of free silver, keeping the nation on the gold standard; and raised protective tariffs to boost American industry and keep wages high. McKinley was the last president to have served in the American Civil War; he was the only one to begin his service as an enlisted man, and end as a brevet major. After the war, he settled in Canton, Ohio, where he practiced law and married Ida Saxton. In 1876, McKinley was elected to Congress, where he became the Republican expert on the protective tariff, which he promised would bring prosperity. His 1890 McKinley Tariff was highly controversial and, 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 governor of Ohio in 1891 and 1893, steering a moderate course between capital and labor interests. He secured the Republican nomination for president in 1896 amid a deep economic depression and 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. Historians regard McKinley's victory as a realigning election in which the political stalemate of the post-Civil War era gave way to the Republican-dominated Fourth Party System, beginning with the Progressive Era. His second term ended early when he was shot on September 6, 1901, by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist. McKinley died eight days later and was succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt. As an innovator of American interventionism and pro-business sentiment, McKinley is generally ranked as an above-average president, although his take-over of the Philippines is often criticized as an act of imperialism. McKinley biographer Kevin Phillips suggests that the significant number of major memorials to McKinley in Ohio reflect the expectation among Ohioans in the years after McKinley's death that he would be ranked among the great presidents. Statues bearing McKinley's image may be found in more than a dozen states, and his name has been bestowed on streets, civic organizations and libraries. Condition: Fair.

Keywords: William McKinley, President, Assassination, Ohio, Spanish-American War, Art, Sculpture, Bust, Mourning, Memorabilia, Collectible

[Book #86615]

Price: $375.00