Karl Rove, George W. Bush's close friend and advisor, said this of McKinley, He modernized the presidency, he modernized the Treasury to deal with the modern economy, he changed dramatically the policies of his party by creating a durable governing coalition for 40 years, he took a special interest in finding the rising generation of young leaders and putting them into the government, he attempted deliberately to break with the Gilded Age politics, he was inclusive and he was the first Republican candidate for president to be endorsed by a leader in the Catholic hierarchy. My thought precisely. McKinley is one of the three or four most underrated presidents in U.S. history. If I were to rank all forty-two presidents from best to worst, McKinley would likely come down somewhere around eight or nine.

Spearheaded this nation to being the great power it became in the 20th century.