William B. Allison (Brothers No More)

William Boyd Allison (March 2, 1829 – June 22, 1885) was an American politician who served as the 19th President of the United States. He was the first president from the National American Party, and the first U.S. President to be assassinated in office.

Early Life
See here.

Political Career
See here.

Presidential Campaign
William B. Allison was not a candidate going into the 1884 National American National Convention. The front runners were generally considered to be James G. Blaine, George F. Edmunds, and John Sherman. All of those candidates had issues: Blaine had run as the National Party candidate in 1872 and 1876, losing both times; Edmunds had run and lost for the National Americans in 1880; Sherman was not a very exciting speaker and had a frail look about him. In addition, each of these men had devoted groups of followers that would not switch their support to any of the other leading candidates. By the 20th ballot, it was clear that a dark horse was needed. Allison's name was first entered into the running on the 27th ballot. The delegates finally found a moderate, respected candidate that could suit all of them, and by the 31st ballot Allison was the unanimous nominee.

Presidency
Allison promised to reverse 16 years of Democratic control by raising tariffs, securing civil rights for free blacks, and instituting harsher policies towards the Confederacy. His time in office started out promising, but a tragedy struck before his administration could get off the ground.

Ever since Allison had entered office, a man named Charles J. Guiteau had been pestering members of the president's cabinet, seeking a job in government. He felt that he had helped get Allison elected with a (heavily plagiarized) speech he wrote in his favor. When he couldn't get a job, he sought to cement his legacy in another way: killing the president. On June 14, 1884, he approached President Allison on a train platform as Allison was preparing to leave Washington. With a single shot to the midsection, Allison went down.

Doctors tried to save him, and they did manage to keep him alive for over a week after the fact. However, he was comatose for most of that time and could barely speak when he was awake. It turned out that the bullet had punctured his left lung and doctors couldn't find it. With unsanitized hands and equipment, they probed the wound, probably giving him the infection that ended up being the president's demise. At 12:01 PM on June 22, President Allison died. He was the first president to be assassinated and the first in over 30 years to die in office. With Allison's death, the presidency passed to Vice President Levi P. Morton.

Legacy
While Allison did not actually accomplish much as president, he is remembered for being the first president from the National American Party. He was also the first president to be assassinated, meaning that his death led to some improvements in presidential security. Levi P. Morton would go on to accomplish much of Allison's agenda, while also running a very corrupt administration that resulted in the election of Democrat John G. Carlisle as president.