Name/Title
Republican praises example set by President McKinley.Entry/Object ID
2016.2.87Description
Republican praises example set by President McKinley
For guidance on the future, look to a hero from the past, the speaker said.
by Peter H. Milliken
Vindicator Staff Writer
Niles -- If today's Republicans are looking for a role model, they should look to the man who was president a century ago, a conservative young Republican said Thursday.
"A hundred and fifty-five years ago today, a great and godly man was born in the city of Niles," said State Rep. Edward F. Kasputis of Olmstead Township, R-16th, referring to William McKinley.
Occupying the White House from 1897 until his assassination in 1901, McKinley was the 25th president of the United States. He had been a Union soldier in the Civil War, a lawyer, a prosecutor, a U.S. representative and governor of Ohio.
"If we study his life, we will understand what it takes to be the majority party of both Ohio and America for the next 40 years," Kasputis, 35, told an audience of 300 at the William McKinley Club's annual banquet.
War: The program not only commemorated McKinley's birth, but the centennial of a decisive event during his presidency -- the Spanish-American War that began after the sinking of the U.S. battleship Maine in Havanna harbor Feb. 15, 1898, which killed most of the crew on board.
"He was a man that wasn't just liked; he was loved. ... The wisdom of President McKinley served him well and it made him a great president," Kasputis said. "We are not the party of Kennedy, Carter or Clinton. We are the party of Lincoln , McKinley anf Reagan.
"If we're ever going to talk about being the pro-family party, then we have to emulate what President McKinley did," Kasputis said, referring to McKinley as "the paragon of what a loving husband would do."
Kasputis noted that McKinley always made caring for his ailing wife, Ida, who suffered from epilepsy, his highest priority.
Example: "We needed McKinley just as much as we needed Lincoln," Kasputis, a lawyer who was first elected to the Ohio House in 1990.
Kasputis, who has said he may run for state treasurer or Cuyahoga County auditor, withdrew from the race for secretary of state this week after state Treasurer Kenneth Blackwell announced his candidacy.
Kasputis' campaign finance chairman as been David W. Johnson, Columbiana County Republican chairman.
"As we sit here in the Mahoning Valley, we have many friends who are cultural Democrats. ... We have to become their friends," Kasputis told the audience, which consisted of many Republican candidates, elected officials and party leaders.
"We believe in liberty and we believe in freedom," he said, "Free enterprise is the only way that you can move a nation to the greatness that we have," he added.
Kasputis' speech was followed by re-enactment of key events in McKinley's presidency, with emphasis on the Spanish-American War.Collection
BlaneyAcquisition
Accession
2016.2.0Source or Donor
Eileen B. BlaneyAcquisition Method
Gift