The election of William McKinley in 1896 marked the end of post-Civil War America and the beginning of the Progressive Era. McKinley was the last Civil War veteran to reach the presidency; he had been an officer in the Union army. During his one full term in office, he established political and social stability that had been largely lacking in the previous three decades. McKinley was a solid middle-class American from a small Ohio town, and Progressives, who were largely middle-class people themselves, identified with the president and his politics.