Speeches and Addresses of William McKinley.

First edition of this collection of speeches by the United State's 25th president. Octavo, original publisher's cloth with gilt titles to the spine and front panel, pale yellow endpapers, tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait of McKinley, illustrated with four additional tissue-guarded plates. Presentation copy, boldly inscribed on the front flyleaf by William McKinley as Governor of Ohio, “For Prof Wright with the best wishes of WMcKinley May 10/95." The recipient, likely Richard R. Wright suggested by the Georgia State Industrial College (GSIC) bookplate to the front pastedown, was an American military officer, educator, politician, civil rights advocate and banking entrepreneur. One of the leading figures of black higher education in America, he acted as the first president of the GSIC "College for Colored Youth," now Savannah State University, the first public historically black college in the state. As a civil rights leader, Wright drafted a landmark letter to President Harry Truman concerning the brutality experienced by veteran Isaac Woodard at the hands of white policemen, which after an incendiary legal process ultimately resulted in the creation of a committee on civil rights and the desegregation of the United States military. In very good condition, rubbing to the extremities and rear panel, bumping and a few closed tears to the crown of the spine, splitting to the hinges, and some toning throughout. Accompanied by two manuscript notes in an unknown hand concerning McKinley's positions on multiple topics including monetary policy. Books signed by McKinley prior to his presidency are rare.