Document signed by William McKinley, 25th President of the United States of America

The President of the United States of America appointment document, printed on vellum, 435 x 345 mm (window), engraved illustrations, completed in manuscript, appointing Mervyn Chandos Buckey to the position of Second Lieutenant, countersigned by Robert Alger, Secretary of War, dated 7th July, 1897. Seal of the War Office of the United States of America. Framed, overall dimensions 620 x 540 mm.

William McKinley (January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1897 until his assassination on September 14, 1901. A member of the Republican Party, he led a realignment that made Republicans largely dominant in the industrial states for decades. He led the U.S. in the Spanish–American War and oversaw a period of American expansionism, with the annexations of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, and American Samoa.

Mervyn Buckey graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Class of 1897. He was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal during World War I, then serving as Colonel (Field Artillery), ‘for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I, while serving as Military Attache at Rome, Italy’.