25.) William McKinley 1897-1901

Once upon a time, the United States stuck to its shores and big business largely stayed out of politics. Then came William McKinley. William McKinley took the United States international in a big way, carrying the American flag to Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and China; he revolutionized political campaigning by leveraging the power of big business against a progressive populist threat and building a national campaign that was a quantum leap forward in political organization; and he ...