50 free William McKinley trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
William McKinley was the last Civil War veteran in the White House, the only one to rise from private to brevet major, and the president who took the United States from a continental republic to an overseas empire in a single term. He also lost his congressional seat over his own tariff, signed the Gold Standard Act with a gold pen, and ran for president almost entirely from his front porch. This quiz follows him from Niles, Ohio, through Antietam and the Shenandoah, his law practice and marriage in Canton, the McKinley Tariff and the gerrymanders that chased him, the governorship and the 1896 realignment against William Jennings Bryan. The presidency gets its due: the Maine, Manila Bay, San Juan Hill, the Treaty of Paris and its $20 million, the Newlands Resolution that annexed Hawaii, the Open Door, the Boxer expedition and the 1900 rematch. It ends at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo and the long afterlife of a mountain's name. Early questions suit anyone who knows the outline; later ones ask for generals, treaties, vote margins and the name of the bank president who became Treasury secretary. Fifty questions, every one sourced.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01William McKinley was which number president of the United States?
25th
He served from March 1897 until his death in September 1901.
Q 02In which Ohio town was McKinley born in 1843?
Niles
He was the seventh of nine children; the family moved to Poland, Ohio, for better schools in 1852.
Q 03McKinley's family trade on both sides was what?
Iron making
His father ran foundries across Ohio, ending up in Canton.
Q 04McKinley was a lifelong member of which Christian denomination?
Methodist
He became active in his local church at sixteen; his wife Ida joined it after their Presbyterian wedding.
Q 05McKinley enlisted in 1861 as a private in which regiment?
23rd Ohio Infantry
Its first commander was William Rosecrans; a major in the regiment, Rutherford B. Hayes, became his lifelong friend.
Q 06Which future president served as McKinley's superior officer and became a lifelong friend?
Rutherford B. Hayes
Hayes convinced the grumbling volunteers to accept their issued gear, and the friendship lasted until Hayes's death in 1893.
Q 07At which 1862 battle did McKinley come under heavy fire while bringing rations to the front line?
Antietam
Governor David Tod rewarded him with a commission as second lieutenant.
Q 08What rank had McKinley reached by the end of the Civil War?
Brevet major
He was the only president to start as an enlisted man and finish as a brevet major, and the last Civil War veteran to hold the office.
Q 09For whom did McKinley cast his first presidential ballot, in 1864?
Abraham Lincoln
He voted while his army was camped near Cedar Creek after helping rally the troops there.
Q 10In which Ohio city did McKinley set up his law practice and make his home?
Canton
He bought a block of buildings on Main Street that paid him rent for decades.
Q 11What was the maiden name of McKinley's wife, Ida?
Saxton
They married in January 1871; both their daughters died young and Ida developed epilepsy.
Q 12McKinley's first elected office, won unexpectedly in 1869, was what?
Stark County prosecuting attorney
He lost re-election in 1871 by 143 votes to William A. Lynch.
Q 13McKinley's pro bono 1876 defence of striking coal miners introduced him to which future backer?
Mark Hanna
Hanna was one of the mine owners; all but one of the miners were acquitted.
Q 21Whom did McKinley defeat in both the 1896 and 1900 presidential elections?
William Jennings Bryan
Bryan had electrified the Democrats with his Cross of Gold speech.
Q 22Roughly how much did Hanna raise from bankers and businessmen for the 1896 campaign?
$3.5 million
Bryan's campaign had at most an estimated $500,000.
Q 23Outside the South, what was the only city of over 100,000 people that Bryan carried in 1896?
Denver
McKinley won 51% of the vote and swept the Northeast and Midwest.
McKinley's controversial choice for Secretary of State was which ageing Ohio senator?
Q 14In which year was McKinley first elected to Congress?
1876
He campaigned on the protective tariff and won by 3,300 votes, halving his income in the process.
Q 15Which Speaker of the House made McKinley chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in 1889?
Thomas B. Reed
McKinley had lost the speakership race to Reed; he then guided the McKinley Tariff of 1890 through Congress.
Q 16By how many votes did McKinley lose his House seat in the gerrymandered 1890 election?
300
Democrats sent fake peddlers selling 25-cent tinware for 50 cents, blaming the McKinley Tariff.
Q 17Which office did McKinley win in 1891 and again in 1893?
Governor of Ohio
His 1893 win was by the largest percentage of any Ohio governor since the Civil War.
Q 18In which city was the 1896 Republican National Convention that nominated McKinley held?
St. Louis
He stayed home and listened to Foraker's nominating speech by telephone.
Q 19Who was McKinley's running mate in 1896?
Garret Hobart
The New Jersey lawyer died in late 1899, opening the ticket for Roosevelt in 1900.
Q 20McKinley's 1896 campaign is remembered by what nickname?
Front Porch
He said competing with Bryan on the stump would be like setting up a trapeze to compete with a professional athlete.
John Sherman
Moving Sherman up freed a Senate seat for Hanna; Sherman's mental decline soon showed.
Q 25Which Chicago bank president became McKinley's Secretary of the Treasury?
Lyman J. Gage
Dingley declined the post; Dawes became Comptroller of the Currency instead.
Q 26McKinley reluctantly appointed Theodore Roosevelt to which post in 1897?
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
He worried that 'your friend Theodore is always getting into rows with everybody'.
Q 27Which 1897 law raising rates on wool, sugar and luxuries did McKinley sign in July?
The Dingley Tariff
It raised rates on wool, sugar and luxury goods.
Q 28On 14 March 1900 McKinley signed a landmark currency law using a pen made of what?
Gold
A British refusal to reopen India's mints to silver had killed his hopes for international bimetallism.
Q 29How many men died when the USS Maine exploded in Havana harbour in February 1898?
266
A court of inquiry ruled on 20 March that an underwater mine was responsible.
Q 30Which amendment to the 1898 war declaration disavowed any intent to annex Cuba?
Teller
Cuba remained under American control until 1902, after McKinley's death.