William McKinley‭: ‬American patriot and man of faith

William McKinley (1843-1901) was born in Niles, Ohio, and raised in the Methodist faith. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War, entering as a private from Ohio and was promoted through the ranks to the rank of major at war’s end in 1865. He then studied law and was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1867. In 1871, he married Ida Saxton. Then he served as a U.S. congressman from Ohio, was then elected governor of Ohio, and in 1897, was elected America’s 25th president. 

In 1901, after his second inauguration, he went to Buffalo, N.Y. to visit the Pan-American Exposition. On March 6, while making a speech during that visit, he was shot twice in the stomach by an assassin. There were medical complications that set in as the president struggled for survival, and on Sept. 14, 1901, President McKinley died from his wounds. His wife was by his side as he uttered his final words: “God’s will be done, not ours.” His favorite hymn was “Nearer My God to Thee.” He and his wife are buried in Canton, Ohio, and one of the memorials named for him is Mt. McKinley in Alaska, the tallest mountain in North America.

What about his president’s faith? He expressed his faith in worlds on numerous occasions. For example, in his first inaugural address on March 4, 1897, he began by saying, “Let me repeat the oath administered by the Chief Justice: I will faithfully administer the office of the President of the United States … This is the obligation I have reverently taken before the Lord this day. To keep it will be my single purpose and prayer … Our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers … who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps.” 

Concerning the Bible and his respect for God’s word, Pres. McKinley said on another occasion: “The more profoundly we study this wonderful book, and the more closely we observe its divine precepts, the better citizens we will become and the higher will be our destiny as a nation.” 

In closing this biographical sketch, let us all remember that America was founded on the teachings of the Bible. Our laws, historic documents, state constitutions, monuments, patriotic songs, speeches, gravestone epitaphs, etc., all give unmistakable evidence to the teachings of the Good Book. God’s Word is “a lamp to our feet and a light for our path” (Psalm 119:105) lest we forget. 

Peace!