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Presidency of William McKinley

October 23, 2023

The presidency of William McKinley began on March 4, 1897, when William McKinley was inaugurated and ended September 14, 1901, upon his assassination. A longtime Republican, McKinley is best known for conducting the successful Spanish–American War (1898), freeing Cuba from Spain; taking ownership of the Republic of Hawaii; and purchasing the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico. It includes the 1897 Dingley Tariff which raised rates to protect manufacturers and factory workers from foreign competition, and the Gold Standard Act of 1900 that rejected free silver inflationary proposals. Rapid economic growth and a decline in labor conflict marked the presidency and he was easily reelected.

Presidency of William McKinley
March 4, 1897 – September 14, 1901 (Assassination)
CabinetSee list
PartyRepublican
Election
SeatWhite House

Seal of the president
(1894–1945)
Library website

The 25th United States president, McKinley took office following the 1896 presidential election, in which he defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan. In the campaign, McKinley advocated "sound money", promised that high tariffs would restore prosperity, and denounced Bryan as a radical who promoted class warfare. He defeated Bryan again in the 1900 presidential election, in a campaign focused on imperialism in the Philippines, high tariffs, and free silver. McKinley's presidency marked the beginning of an era in American political history, called the "Fourth Party System" or "Progressive Era", which lasted from the mid–1890s to the early 1930s. On the national level, this period was generally dominated by the Republican Party.

In 1897–1898, the most pressing issue was an insurrection in Cuba against repressive Spanish colonial rule which had been worsening for years. Americans sympathized with the rebels and demanded action to resolve the crisis. The administration tried to persuade Spain to liberalize its rule but when negotiations failed, both sides wanted war. American victory in the Spanish–American War was quick and decisive. During the war the United States took temporary possession of Cuba; it was promised independence but it remained under the control of the U.S. Army throughout McKinley's presidency. The status of the Philippines was heavily debated, and became an issue in the 1900 election, with Democrats opposed to American ownership. McKinley decided it needed American protection and it remained under U.S. control until the 1940s. As a result of the war, the United States also took permanent possession of Guam and Puerto Rico. Under McKinley's leadership, the United States also annexed the independent Republic of Hawaii in 1898. Unlike the other new possessions, citizens of Hawaii became American citizens and Hawaii became a territory with an appointed governor. McKinley's foreign policy created an overseas empire and put the U.S. on the world's list of major powers.

In 1897 the economy rapidly recovered from the severe depression, called the Panic of 1893. McKinley's supporters in 1900 argued that the new high tariff and the commitment to the gold standard were responsible. Historians looking at his domestic and foreign policies typically rank McKinley as an above average president. Historian Lewis L. Gould argues that McKinley was "the first modern president":

He was a political leader who confirmed the Republicans as the nation's majority party; he was the architect of important departures in foreign policy; and he was a significant contributor to the evolution of the modern presidency. On these achievements rest his substantial claims as an important figure in history of the United States.[1]

Election of 1896 Edit

Further information: William McKinley 1896 presidential campaign and 1896 United States presidential election

McKinley rose to prominence within the Republican Party as a congressman closely associated with protective tariffs. He earned national notoriety in the 1880s and 1890s for his nationwide campaigning, and in 1891 he won election as Governor of Ohio.[2] In the lead-up to the 1896 election, McKinley and his manager, Cleveland businessman Mark Hanna, quietly built up support for a presidential bid.[3] When rivals Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed and Senator William B. Allison sent agents outside their states to organize support for their candidacies, they found that McKinley agents had preceded them.[4] By the time the 1896 Republican National Convention began in St. Louis in June, McKinley had an ample majority of delegates, and he won the nomination on the first ballot of the convention. Hanna selected Republican National Committee vice chairman Garret Hobart of New Jersey for vice president. Hobart, a wealthy lawyer, businessman, and former state legislator, was not widely known, but as Hanna biographer Herbert Croly pointed out, "if he did little to strengthen the ticket he did nothing to weaken it".[5]

 
June 1896 Harper's Weekly cartoon showing McKinley painfully riding the rail of the currency question.

In the final days before the convention, McKinley decided, after hearing from politicians and businessmen, that the platform should endorse the gold standard, though it should allow for bimetallism by international agreement. Adoption of the platform caused some western delegates, led by Colorado Senator Henry M. Teller, to walk out of the convention. However, Republicans were not nearly as divided on the issue as were Democrats, especially as McKinley promised future concessions to silver advocates.[6][7] Democratic President Grover Cleveland firmly supported the gold standard, but an increasing number of rural Democrats, especially in corn belt and western states, called for a bimetallic "free silver" system.[8][9] The silverites took control of the 1896 Democratic National Convention and chose William Jennings Bryan for president; he had electrified the delegates with his Cross of Gold speech which became famous for its closing phrase, "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."[10] Bryan's financial radicalism shocked bankers, as many thought that his inflationary program would bankrupt the railroads and ruin the economy. Hanna cultivated the backing of these bankers, giving Republicans a massive financial advantage that allowed McKinley's campaign to invest $3.5 million for speakers and distribute over 200 million pamphlets advocating the Republican position on the money and tariff questions.[8][9]

The Republican Party printed and distributed 200 million pamphlets and sent hundreds of speakers out across the nation to deliver stump speeches on McKinley's behalf. Bryan was portrayed as a radical, a demagogue, and a socialist, while McKinley was cast as the guarantor of full employment and industrial growth. By the end of September, the party had discontinued printing material on the silver issue, and were entirely concentrating on the tariff question.[11][12] The battleground proved to be the Midwest—the South and most of the West were conceded to the Democrats—and Bryan spent much of his time in those crucial states.[13][14]

 
1896 electoral vote results.

On November 3, 1896, McKinley was victorious, winning the Electoral College vote 271 to 176, and receiving 7,102,246 popular votes to Bryan's 6,502,925.[15] McKinley won the entire Northeast and Midwest. Bryan had concentrated entirely on the silver issue, and had not failed to broaden his appeal to include urban workers. McKinley's view of a stronger central government building American industry through protective tariffs and a dollar based on gold triumphed.[16] McKinley's coalition included most Northern cities, well-to-do farmers, industrial laborers, and most ethnic voters aside from Irish Americans.[17] The 1896 presidential election is often seen as a realigning election, as with it the nation's focus shifted from repairing the damage caused by the Civil War, to building for the future through social reform.[18] It was also a realigning election in that it launched a long period of Republican control over Congress and the White House, the Fourth Party System, that would continue until 1932.[19]

First inauguration Edit

 
Chief Justice Melville Fuller swears in William McKinley as president; outgoing President Grover Cleveland at right.

McKinley's first presidential inauguration was held on March 4, 1897, in front of the Original Senate Wing, at the U.S. Capitol. Chief Justice Melville Fuller administered the oath of office. It was the first inaugural ceremony recorded by a motion picture camera.[20] McKinley gave a lengthy inaugural address, in which he urged tariff reform, and stated that the currency issue would have to await tariff legislation. He also warned against U.S. foreign interventions, declaring,

We want no wars of conquest. We must avoid the temptation of territorial aggression.[21]

Nick Kapur says that McKinley's priorities were based on his values of arbitrationism, pacifism, humanitarianism, and manly self-restraint, and not on external pressures.[22]

Administration Edit

Maine Congressman Nelson Dingley Jr. was McKinley's first choice for secretary of the treasury, but Dingley preferred to remain as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Charles Dawes, who had been Hanna's lieutenant in Chicago during the campaign, was considered for the Treasury post but by some accounts, Dawes considered himself too young; he would instead become the comptroller of the currency in 1898. McKinley ultimately appointed Lyman J. Gage, president of the First National Bank of Chicago and a Gold Democrat, as secretary of the treasury.[23] Leadership of the Navy Department went to former Massachusetts Congressman John Davis Long, an old colleague of McKinley's from his time serving in the House of the Representatives.[24] Although McKinley was initially inclined to allow Long to choose his own the assistant secretary of the navy, there was considerable pressure on the president-elect to appoint Theodore Roosevelt, the head of the New York City Police Commission. McKinley was reluctant to appoint Roosevelt, stating to one Roosevelt booster, "I want peace and I am told that your friend Theodore is always getting into rows with everybody." Nevertheless, he appointed Roosevelt.[25]

McKinley chose James Wilson, a former congressman with strong support in the state of Iowa, to be his secretary of agriculture. McKinley's first choice for Postmaster General was Mark Hanna, but he declined the position. McKinley also considered appointing Henry Clay Payne, but opposition from Robert M. La Follette's faction of the party convinced him to appoint another individual. McKinley settled on James Albert Gary, a Republican from Maryland. For the position of Attorney General, McKinley turned to another old friend from the House, Joseph McKenna of California. Cornelius Newton Bliss, who was acceptable to the divided New York Republican Party, was selected as the secretary of the interior.[26] The position of secretary of war went to Russell A. Alger, a former general who had also served as the governor of Michigan. Competent enough in peacetime, Alger proved inadequate once the Spanish–American War began. With the War Department plagued by scandal, Alger resigned at McKinley's request in mid-1899 and was succeeded by Elihu Root. During the war, General Henry Clark Corbin gained McKinley's trust as the adjutant general of the army, and Corbin acted as the de facto commander of the army under McKinley administration's auspices.[27]

 
President McKinley and his Cabinet, 1898
At far left: William McKinley. Left to right in back of table: Lyman J. Gage, John W. Griggs, John D. Long, James Wilson standing, and Cornelius N. Bliss. Left to right in front of table: John Hay, Russell A. Alger, and Charles E. Smith

McKinley's most controversial Cabinet appointment was that of John Sherman as secretary of state.[28] Sherman was not McKinley's first choice for the position; he initially offered it to Senator William Allison. One consideration in Senator Sherman's appointment was to provide a place in the Senate for Hanna, and, as Sherman had served as secretary of the treasury under President Rutherford B. Hayes, only the State position was likely to entice him from the Senate. Sherman's mental faculties were decaying even in 1896; this was widely spoken of in political circles, but McKinley did not believe the rumors.[29] Sherman's mental incapacity became increasingly apparent after he took office. He was often bypassed by his first assistant, McKinley's Canton crony William R. Day, and by the second secretary, Alvey A. Adee. Day, an Ohio lawyer unfamiliar with diplomacy, was often reticent in meetings; Adee was somewhat deaf. One diplomat characterized the arrangement, "the head of the department knew nothing, the first assistant said nothing, and the second assistant heard nothing".[30] McKinley asked Sherman to resign in 1898, and Day became the new secretary of state. Later that year, Day was succeeded by John Hay, a veteran diplomat who had served as assistant secretary of state in the Hayes Administration.[31] McKinley made two other changes to his Cabinet in 1898; Charles Emory Smith succeeded the ailing Gary as Postmaster General, while John W. Griggs replaced McKenna as Attorney General after McKenna joined the Supreme Court.[32]

For most of McKinley's time in office, George B. Cortelyou served as the president's personal secretary. Cortelyou acted as the de facto White House press secretary and chief of staff.[33] Vice President Garret Hobart, as was customary at the time, was not invited to Cabinet meetings, but he proved a valuable adviser to McKinley. Hobart leased a residence close to the White House, and the two families visited each other without formality.[34] Hobart died of heart disease in November 1899.[35] As no constitutional provision existed for filling an intra-term vacancy in the vice presidency (prior to ratification of the Twenty-fifth Amendment in 1967), the office was left vacant for the balance of his term. In March 1901, Theodore Roosevelt, who served as McKinley's running mate in the 1900 election, became vice president.

Judicial appointments Edit

Main article: List of federal judges appointed by William McKinley

After the retirement of Justice Stephen Johnson Field, McKinley appointed Attorney General Joseph McKenna to the Supreme Court of the United States in December 1897.[36] The appointment aroused some controversy as McKenna's critics in the Senate said he was too closely associated with railroad interests and lacked the qualifications of a Supreme Court justice.[37] Despite the objections, McKenna's nomination was approved unanimously.[38] McKenna responded to the criticism of his legal education by taking some courses at Columbia Law School for several months before taking his seat.[37] McKenna served on the court until 1925, often taking centrist positions between more conservative and more progressive judges.[39] Along with his Supreme Court appointment, McKinley appointed six judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 28 judges to the United States district courts.[40]

Domestic affairs Edit

Economy and trusts Edit

Further information: Panic of 1893
 
1899 antitrust cartoon by Homer Davenport

The long, deep depression that followed the Panic of 1893 finally ended in late 1896, as all the economic indicators in 1897 turned positive. Business newspapers and magazines were filled with optimistic reports throughout 1897. The New York Commercial of 3 January 1898 surveyed a wide variety of businesses and industries nationwide and concluded, "after three years of waiting and of false starts, the groundswell of demand is at last begun to rise with the steadiness which leaves little doubt that an era of prosperity has appeared." It reported that January 1898 represents "a supreme moment in the period of transition from depression to comparative prosperity".[41] The unemployment rate, which had been at nearly 20 percent in 1895, dropped to 15 percent in 1897 and to 8 percent in early 1898.[42]

McKinley largely adhered to the laissez-faire attitude that the Cleveland administration had held towards trusts. Attorneys General Joseph McKenna and John W. Griggs pursued some antitrust cases under the terms of the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Supreme Court case of United States v. E. C. Knight Co., but the McKinley administration sympathized with the view that consolidation could be beneficial in many cases. Debate over the role of trusts grew throughout McKinley's presidency, and the issue would become increasingly important after McKinley's presidency.[43]

Tariffs and monetary policy Edit

Dingley Tariff Edit

 
1900 reelection poster celebrates McKinley standing tall on the gold standard with support from soldiers, sailors, businessmen, factory workers and professionals.

After the 1896 election, McKinley indicated that he would call special session of Congress to address the tariff, and Congressman Dingley began hearings on the bill in December 1896, during the lame duck period of Cleveland's presidency.[44] While Democrats tended to oppose high tariffs, arguing that they hurt consumers by raising prices, McKinley and other leading Republicans viewed high tariffs as essential to the protection of American businesses against foreign competition.[45] Additionally, the tariff provided nearly half of the government's revenue, and a rate increase could help put an end to the deficits that the government had experienced in the midst of the Panic of 1893.[45] Before taking office, McKinley also authorized Senator Edward O. Wolcott of Colorado to travel to Europe to discuss the possibility of an international bimetallic agreement.[44] International bimetallism represented a middle course between proponents of free silver and those who favored a gold standard.[46]

When the special session of Congress convened in March 1897, Dingley introduced the Dingley Act to revise the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act of 1894.[47] McKinley supported the bill, which increased tariffs on wool, sugar, and luxury goods, but the proposed new rates alarmed the French, who exported many luxury items to the United States.[48] The Dingley Act passed the House easily, but faced resistance in the Senate. Passage of the bill in the Senate required the support of several Western Republicans, including Wolcott, whose chief priority was an international agreement on bimetallism.[49] French representatives offered to cooperate with the United States in developing such an international agreement if the new tariff rates were reduced.[50] Led by Wolcott, Allison, Nelson Aldrich, and Orville H. Platt, the Senate amended the Dingley Bill to lower rates on French products and approved of a commission charged with negotiating the international bimetallic agreement.[51]

As doubts about the likelihood of reaching an international monetary agreement grew, the Senate inserted a provision that authorized the president to reach bilateral treaties providing for the mutual reduction of tariff duties.[52] The Senate passed its version of the bill in July 1897, and a conference committee produced a final bill that contained the reciprocity provision but generally adhered to the higher tariff rates set by the original House bill.[53] McKinley, who strongly supported the idea of reciprocity, signed the Dingley Act into law in late July 1897.[54] The McKinley administration later reached reciprocity treaties with France and other countries, but opposition in the Senate prevented their ratification.[55] The final tariff was highest on products considered to be necessities of life,[56] and some numbers show that cost of living rose by as much as 25% as a result of the Dingley Tariff.[57]

Monetary policy Edit

While Congress debated the tariff, the U.S. and France approached Britain to gauge its enthusiasm for bimetallism. The government of Prime Minister Lord Salisbury showed some interest in the idea and told Wolcott that he would be amenable to reopening the mints in India to silver coinage if the Indian Viceroy's Executive Council agreed. News of a possible departure from the gold standard stirred up immediate opposition from gold partisans, and misgivings by the Indian administration led Britain to reject the proposal. Opposition from Britain led to the collapse of negotiations for joint adoption of bimetallism by France, Britain, and the United States.[58]

With the international effort a failure, McKinley turned away from silver coinage and embraced the gold standard. Agitation for free silver eased as prosperity returned and gold from recent strikes in the Yukon and Australia increased the monetary supply even without silver coinage.[59] In the absence of international agreement, McKinley favored legislation to formally affirm the gold standard, but was initially deterred by the silver strength in the Senate.[60] In 1900, with another campaign ahead, McKinley urged Congress to pass such a law while economic conditions were strong. Aldrich and other leading Senate Republicans fashioned a bill that established gold as the only standard for the redemption of paper money, but placated Wolcott and other Western Republicans by including a provision allowing for international bimetallism. The Senate passed the bill in a near-party-line vote in March 1900, and McKinley signed the bill into law later that month.[61] Democrats tried to make free silver a campaign issue in 1900, but it failed to attract much attention.[62]

Pluralism Edit

A key element of McKinley's appeal in an 1896 election was the spirit of pluralism. No group in America was to be ostracized or banned. Everyone was welcome to enjoy the new prosperity.[63] McKinley had a very broad appeal in terms of race, ethnicity, region and class. Where Bryan had ridiculed and denounced bankers and railroads, McKinley welcomed the business community. McKinley was famous as a champion of high tariffs to protect the high wages of American factory workers. Proposals for immigration restriction and attacks on Jews, Eastern Europeans and Southern Europeans had no place in the McKinley administration. He appointed Irish Catholic labor leader Terence Vincent Powderly founder of the Knights of Labor organization, as Commissioner-General of Immigration.[64] Immigration restrictions such as literacy tests proposed by Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts and his allies in the Immigration Restriction League (founded in 1894) had been included in the 1896 GOP platform, but McKinley and the party leadership in Congress blocked their passage.[65] The anti-Catholicism that had started to appear in the 1890s faded away, as shown by the rapid decline of the American Protective Association.[66] Nonetheless, restrictive immigration laws would continue to receive support during and after McKinley's tenure, partly due to the rising number of immigrants from Southern Europe and Eastern Europe.[67]

Reconciliation with Southern whites Edit

A high priority for McKinley's pluralism was full unification of the white South psychologically and patriotically back into the United States. This initiative conflicted with the civil rights of blacks, which were being increasingly restricted in the South. While McKinley did not officially endorse the "Lost Cause of the Confederacy", he did reach out in terms of appointments and speeches and visits to the white South. Reconciliation was achieved during the Spanish–American War, as enlistment rates across the South were quite high. The swift stunning victory certainly boosted the reconciliation process.[68] Historian David W. Blight argues:

The Lost Cause became an integral part of national reconciliation by dint of sheer sentimentalism, by political argument, and by recurrent celebrations and rituals. For most white Southerners, the Lost Cause evolved into a language of vindication and renewal, as well as an array of practices and public monuments through which they could solidify both their Southern pride and their Americanness. In the 1890s, Confederate memories no longer dwelled as much on mourning or explaining defeat; they offered a set of conservative traditions by which the entire country could gird itself against racial, political, and industrial disorder. And by the sheer virtue of losing heroically the Confederate soldier provided a model of masculine devotion and courage in an age of gender anxieties and ruthless material striving.[69]

Growing racial tensions Edit

See also: Nadir of American race relations

The black vote supported McKinley in 1896 and African Americans were hopeful of progress towards racial equality. McKinley had spoken out against lynching while governor, and most African Americans who could vote supported him in 1896. McKinley's priority, however, was in ending sectionalism, and African Americans were generally disappointed by his policies and appointments. Although McKinley made some appointments of African Americans to low-level government posts, and received some praise for that, the appointments were less than they had received under previous Republican administrations. Blanche Bruce, an African American who during Reconstruction had served as senator from Mississippi, received the post of register at the Treasury Department; this post was traditionally given to an African American by Republican presidents. McKinley appointed several black postmasters; however, when whites protested the appointment of Justin W. Lyons as postmaster of Augusta, Georgia, McKinley asked Lyons to withdraw (he was subsequently given the post of Treasury register after Bruce's death in 1898).[70] The president also appointed George B. Jackson, a former slave, to the post of customs collector in Presidio, Texas. African Americans in Northern states felt that their contributions to McKinley's victory were overlooked, as few were appointed to office.[70]

 
McKinley, (right of center) flanked by Georgia Governor Allen D. Candler (front row to McKinley's left) and Gen. William Rufus Shafter, reviewing the Atlanta Peace Jubilee parade, December 15, 1898.

African Americans saw the onset of war in 1898 as an opportunity to display their patriotism, and black soldiers fought bravely at El Caney and San Juan Hill. African Americans in the peacetime Army had formed elite units; nevertheless they were harassed by whites as they traveled from the West to Tampa for embarkation to the war. Under pressure from black leaders, McKinley required the War Department to commission black officers above the rank of lieutenant. The heroism of the black troops did not still racial tensions in the South, as the second half of 1898 saw several outbreaks of racial violence; eleven African Americans were killed in riots in Wilmington, North Carolina.[71] McKinley toured the South in late 1898, hoping for sectional reconciliation. In addition to visiting Tuskegee Institute and Booker T. Washington, he addressed the Georgia legislature, wearing a badge of gray, and visited Confederate memorials. In his tour of the South, McKinley did not mention the racial tensions or violence. Although the president received a rapturous reception from Southern whites, many African Americans, excluded from official welcoming committees, felt alienated by the president's words and actions.[71][72]

The administration's response to racial violence was minimal, causing McKinley to lose further black support.[70] When black postmasters were assaulted at Hogansville, Georgia in 1897, and at Lake City, South Carolina the following year, McKinley issued no statement of condemnation. Although black leaders criticized McKinley for inaction, supporters responded by saying there was little the president could do to intervene. Critics replied by saying that he could at least publicly condemn such events, as former President Benjamin Harrison had done.[73] McKinley also took no action to prevent the passage of Jim Crow laws designed to disenfranchise and segregate African Americans in the South.[74] According to Gould and later biographer Phillips, given the political climate in the South, there was little McKinley could have done to improve race relations, and he did better than later presidents Theodore Roosevelt, who doubted racial equality, and Woodrow Wilson, who supported segregation.[75]

Civil service reform Edit

The issue of the spoils system and reform of civil service had been one of the dominant issues of the Gilded Age. Past presidents had made significant inroads with regards to the expansion of the merit system. McKinley attempted to strike a middle ground on this issue. More partisan Republicans, however, despised the reforms made by President Grover Cleveland, which had left many Democratic officials in the civil service.[76] McKinley ended up caving to the partisans, and on May 29, 1899, issued an executive order which exempted 3 to 4000 jobs from competitive civil service examinations, a backtrack from the merit system.[77]

Foreign affairs Edit

Further information: History of U.S. foreign policy, 1897–1913

The McKinley administration brought foreign affairs to the top of the agenda for the first time since the 1840s. Most Republicans supported an expansionist foreign policy, building the American presence in the world that suited its increasing economic dominance. Opposition came from an anti-imperialist element, that include some old time Republicans, as well as most Democrats. However, in 1898 the Democrats took the lead in demanding Spain stop oppressing the independent-minded people of Cuba, while McKinley tried to stop the rush to war.[78]

Annexation of Hawaii Edit

 
Annexation of the Republic of Hawaii in 1898

Hawaii long had very close political, cultural, religious and economic relations with the United States. The native population was virtually powerless in small villages. Large sugar interests had imported tens of thousands of workers, mostly Japanese. Expansionists spoke of annexation and the business community in Honolulu wanted annexation by the U.S., fearing that otherwise Japan would take it over from a king who had no army. The reciprocity treaty in the 1870s had made the Kingdom of Hawaii a "virtual satellite" of the United States. After Queen Liliʻuokalani announced plans to issue a new constitution designed to give her absolute power, she was immediately overthrown by the business community, which requested annexation by the United States.[79] President Harrison tried to annex Hawaii, but his term ended before he could win Senate approval of an annexation treaty, and Cleveland withdrew the treaty.[80] Cleveland deeply opposed annexation because of a personal conviction that would not tolerate what he viewed as an immoral action against the little kingdom.[81] Additionally, annexation faced opposition from domestic sugar interests opposed to the importation of Hawaiian sugar, and from some Democrats who opposed acquiring an island with a large non-white population.[82] The temporary government of Hawaii thereupon established the Republic of Hawaii which was recognized by the world powers as an independent nation.

McKinley pursued the annexation of the Republic of Hawaii as one of his top foreign policy priorities.[83] In American hands, Hawaii would serve as a base to dominate much of the Pacific, defend the Pacific Coast, and expand trade with Asia.[84] Republican Congressman William Sulzer stated that "the Hawaiian Islands will be the key that will unlock to us the commerce of the Orient."[85] McKinley stated, "we need Hawaii just as much and a good deal more than we did California. It is manifest destiny."[86] President McKinley's position was that Hawaii could never survive on its own. It would quickly be gobbled up by Japan—already a fourth of the islands' population was Japanese.[87] Japan would then dominate the Pacific and undermine American hopes for large-scale trade with Asia.[88][89]

The issue of annexation became a major political issue heatedly debated across the United States, which carried over into the 1900 presidential election. By then the national consensus was in favor of the annexation of both Hawaii and the Philippines.[90] Historian Henry Graff says that in the mid-1890s, "unmistakably, the sentiment at home was maturing with immense force for the United States to join the great powers of the world in a quest for overseas colonies."[91]

The drive for expansion was opposed by a vigorous nationwide anti-expansionist movement, organized as the American Anti-Imperialist League. The anti-imperialists listened to Bryan as well as industrialist Andrew Carnegie, author Mark Twain, sociologist William Graham Sumner, and many older reformers from the Civil War era.[92] The anti-imperialists believed that imperialism violated the fundamental principle that just republican government must derive from "consent of the governed." The anti-imperialist league argued that such activity would necessitate the abandonment of American ideals of self-government and non-intervention—ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence, George Washington's Farewell Address and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.[93][94] In addition to the Anti-Imperialist League within the United States, forces in Hawaii vigorously opposed the annexation. The Hawaiian Patriotic League and its female counterpart, both of which were made up of native Hawaiians, began a mass petition drive. The petition, which was clearly titled "Petition Against Annexation", was signed by over half of the native Hawaiian population.[95] However, the anti-imperialists could not stop the even more energetic forces of imperialism. They were led by Secretary of State Hay, naval strategist Alfred T. Mahan, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Secretary of War Root, and Theodore Roosevelt. These expansionists had vigorous support from newspaper publishers William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, who whipped up popular excitement. Mahan and Roosevelt designed a global strategy calling for a competitive modern navy, Pacific bases, an isthmian canal through Nicaragua or Panama, and, above all, an assertive role for the United States as the largest industrial power.[96] They warned that Japan was sending a warship and was poised to seize an independent Hawaii, and thereby be within range of California—a threat that alarmed the West Coast. The Navy prepared the first plans regarding a war with Japan.[97]

McKinley submitted an annexation treaty in June 1897, but anti-imperialists prevented it from winning the support of two-thirds of the Senate. In mid-1898, during the Spanish–American War, McKinley and his congressional allies made another attempt to win congressional approval of an annexation measure.[98] With McKinley's support, Democratic Representative Francis G. Newlands of Nevada introduced a joint resolution that provided for the annexation of Hawaii. The Newlands Resolution faced significant resistance from Democrats and anti-expansionist Republicans like Speaker of the House Reed, but pressure from McKinley helped the bill win passage by wide margins in both houses of Congress.[99] McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution into law on July 8, 1898.[100] McKinley biographer H. Wayne Morgan notes, "McKinley was the guiding spirit behind the annexation of Hawaii, showing ... a firmness in pursuing it".[100] Congress passed the Hawaiian Organic Act in 1900, establishing the Territory of Hawaii. McKinley appointed Sanford B. Dole, who had served as the president of the Republic of Hawaii from 1894 to 1898, as the first territorial governor.[101]

Spanish–American War Edit

Main article: Spanish–American War

Cuban crisis Edit

 
Editorial cartoon calling for humanitarian intervention in Cuba. Columbia (the American people) reaches out to help oppressed Cuba in 1897 while Uncle Sam (the U.S. government) is blind to the crisis and will not use its powerful guns to help. Judge magazine, February 6, 1897.

By the time McKinley took office, rebels in Cuba had waged an intermittent campaign for freedom from Spanish colonial rule for decades. By 1895, the conflict had expanded to a war for independence. The United States and Cuba enjoyed close trade relations, and the Cuban rebellion adversely affected the American economy which was already weakened by the depression.[102] As rebellion engulfed the island, Spanish reprisals grew ever harsher, and Spanish authorities began removing Cuban families to guarded camps near Spanish military bases.[103] The rebels put high priority on their appeals to the sympathy of ordinary Americans, and public opinion increasingly favored the rebels.[104] President Cleveland had supported continued Spanish control of the island, as he feared that Cuban independence would lead to a racial war or intervention by another European power.[105] McKinley also favored a peaceful approach, but he hoped to convince Spain to grant Cuba independence, or at least to allow the Cubans some measure of autonomy.[106] The United States and Spain began negotiations on the subject in 1897, but it became clear that Spain would never concede Cuban independence, while the rebels and their American supporters would never settle for anything less.[107]

Business interests overwhelmingly gave strong support to McKinley's go-slow policies. Big business, high finance, and Main Street businesses across the country were vocally opposed to war and demanded peace, as the uncertainties of a potentially long, expensive war posed serious threat to full economic recovery. The leading railroad magazine editorialized, "from a commercial and mercenary standpoint it seems peculiarly bitter that this war should come when the country had already suffered so much and so needed rest and peace." The strong anti-war consensus of the business community strengthened McKinley's resolve to use diplomacy and negotiation rather than brute force to end the Spanish tyranny in Cuba.[108] On the other hand, humanitarian sensibilities reached fever pitch as church leaders and activists wrote hundreds of thousands of letters to political leaders, calling for intervention in Cuba. These political leaders in turn pressured McKinley to turn the ultimate decision for war over to Congress.[109]

In January 1898, Spain promised some concessions to the rebels, but when American consul Fitzhugh Lee reported riots in Havana, McKinley obtained Spanish permission to send the battleship USS Maine to Havana to demonstrate American concern.[110] On February 15, the Maine exploded and sank with 266 men killed.[111] Public opinion was disgusted with Spain for losing control of the situation, but McKinley insisted that a court of inquiry determine whether the explosion of the Maine was accidental.[112] Negotiations with Spain continued as the court of inquiry considered the evidence, but on March 20, the court ruled that the Maine was blown up by an underwater mine.[113] As pressure for war mounted in Congress, McKinley continued to negotiate for Cuban independence.[114] Spain refused McKinley's proposals, and on April 11, McKinley turned the matter over to Congress. He did not ask for war, but Congress declared war anyway on April 20, with the addition of the Teller Amendment, which disavowed any intention of annexing Cuba.[115] European powers called on Spain to negotiate and give in; Britain supported the American position.[116] Spain ignored the calls and fought the hopeless war alone in order to defend its honor and keep the monarchy alive.[117]

Historical interpretations of McKinley's role Edit

McKinley put it succinctly in late 1897 that if Spain failed to resolve its crisis, the United States would see “a duty imposed by our obligations to ourselves, to civilization and humanity to intervene with force."[118] Most historians argue that an upsurge of humanitarian concern with the plight of the Cubans was the main motivating force that caused the war with Spain in 1898.[119] Louis Perez states, "Certainly the moralistic determinants of war in 1898 has been accorded preponderant explanatory weight in the historiography."[120] By the 1950s, however, some political scientists said that policy was unwise because it was based on idealism, arguing that a better policy would have been realism in terms of American self interest. They discredited the idealism by suggesting the people were deliberately misled by propaganda and sensationalist yellow journalism. Political scientist Robert Osgood, writing in 1953, led the attack on the American decision process as a confused mix of "self-righteousness and genuine moral fervor", in the form of a "crusade" and a combination of "knight-errantry and national self- assertiveness."[121] Osgood argued:

A war to free Cuba from Spanish despotism, corruption, and cruelty, from the filth and disease and barbarity of General 'Butcher' Weyler's reconcentration camps, from the devastation of haciendas, the extermination of families, and the outraging of women; that would be a blow for humanity and democracy.... No one could doubt it if he believed – and skepticism was not popular – the exaggerations of the Cuban Junta’s propaganda and the lurid distortions and imaginative lies pervade by the “yellow sheets” of Hearst and Pulitzer at the combined rate of 2 million [newspaper copies] a day.[122]

For much of the 20th century historians and textbooks disparaged McKinley as a weak leader—echoing Roosevelt, who called him spineless. They blamed McKinley for losing control of foreign policy and agreeing to an unnecessary war. A wave of new scholarship in the 1970s, from both right and left, reversed the older interpretation.[123] Robert L. Beisner summed up the new views of McKinley as a strong leader. He said McKinley called for war—not because he was bellicose, but because he wanted:

what only war could bring—an end to the Cuban rebellion, which outraged his humanitarian impulses, prolonged instability in the economy, destroyed American investments and trade with Cuba, created a dangerous picture of an America unable to master the affairs of the Caribbean, threatened to arouse uncontrollable outburst of jingoism, and diverted the attention of U.S. policymakers from historic happenings in China. Neither spineless nor bellicose, McKinley demanded what seemed to him morally unavoidable and essential to American interests.[124]

Along similar lines Joseph Fry summarizes the new scholarly appraisals:

McKinley was a decent, sensitive man with considerable personal courage and great political facility. A master manager of men, he tightly controlled policy decisions within his administration....Fully cognizant of the United States' economic, strategic, and humanitarian interests, he had laid out a "policy" early in his administration that ultimately and logically led to war. If Spain could not quell the rebellion through "civilized" warfare, the United States would have to intervene. In early 1898, the Havana riots, the De Lome letter, the destruction of the Maine, and the Redfield Proctor speech convinced McKinley that the autonomy project had failed and that Spain could not defeat the rebels. He then demanded Cuban independence to end both the suffering on the island and the uncertainty in American political and economic affairs.[125]

Course of the war Edit

The telegraph and the telephone gave McKinley a greater control over the day-to-day management of the war than previous presidents had enjoyed. He set up the first war room and used the new technologies to direct the army's and navy's movements.[126] McKinley did not get along with the Army's commanding general, Nelson A. Miles. Bypassing Miles and Secretary of War Alger, the president looked for strategic advice first from Miles's predecessor, General John Schofield, and later from Adjutant General Henry Clarke Corbin.[127] McKinley presided over an expansion of the Regular Army from 25,000 to 61,000 personnel; including volunteers, a total of 278,000 men served in the Army during the war.[128] McKinley not only wanted to win the war, he also sought to bring North and South together again, as white Southerners enthusiastically supported the war effort, and one senior command went to a former Confederate General. His ideal was a unity with Northerner and Southerner, white and black, fighting together for the United States.[129][130]

Since 1895, the Navy had planned to attack the Philippines if war broke out between the United States and Spain. On April 24, McKinley ordered the Asiatic Squadron under the command of Commodore George Dewey to launch an attack on the Philippines. On May 1, Dewey's force defeated the Spanish navy at the Battle of Manila Bay, destroying Spanish naval power in the Pacific.[131] The next month, McKinley increased the number of troops sent to the Philippines and granted the force's commander, Major General Wesley Merritt, the power to set up legal systems and raise taxes—necessities for a long occupation.[132] By the time the troops arrived in the Philippines at the end of June 1898, McKinley had decided that Spain would be required to surrender the archipelago to the United States. He professed to be open to all views on the subject; however, he believed that as the war progressed, the public would come to demand retention of the islands as a prize of war, and he feared that Japan or possibly Germany might seize the islands.[133]

Meanwhile, in the Caribbean theater, a large force of regulars and volunteers gathered near Tampa, Florida, for an invasion of Cuba. The army faced difficulties in supplying the rapidly expanding force even before they departed for Cuba, but by June, Corbin had made progress in resolving the problems.[134] The U.S. Navy began a blockade of Cuba in April while the Army prepared to invade the island, on which Spain maintained a garrison of approximately 80,000.[135] Disease was a major factor: for every American soldier killed in combat in 1898, seven died of disease. The U.S. Army Medical Corps made great strides in treating tropical diseases.[136] There were lengthy delays in Florida—Colonel William Jennings Bryan spent the entire war there as his militia unit was never sent to combat.[137]

 
"Well, I hardly know which to take first!" exclaims Uncle Sam in this May 18, 1898, editorial cartoon celebrating the spoils of victory.

The combat army, led by Major General William Rufus Shafter, sailed from Florida on June 20, landing near Santiago de Cuba two days later. Following a skirmish at Las Guasimas on June 24, Shafter's army engaged the Spanish forces on July 2 in the Battle of San Juan Hill.[138] In an intense day-long battle, the American force was victorious, although both sides suffered heavy casualties.[139] Leonard Wood and Theodore Roosevelt, who had resigned as assistant secretary of the Navy, led the "Rough Riders" into combat. Roosevelt's battlefield exploits would later propel him to the governorship of New York in the fall election of 1898.[140] After the American victory at San Juan Hill, the Spanish Caribbean squadron, which had been sheltering in Santiago's harbor, broke for the open sea. The Spanish fleet was intercepted and destroyed by Rear Admiral William T. Sampson's North Atlantic Squadron in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, the largest naval battle of the war.[141] Shafter laid siege to the city of Santiago, which surrendered on July 17, placing Cuba under effective American control.[142] McKinley and Miles also ordered an invasion of Puerto Rico, which met little resistance when it landed in July.[142] The distance from Spain and the destruction of the Spanish navy made resupply impossible, and the Spanish government—its honor intact after losing to a much more powerful army and navy—began to look for a way to end the war.[143]

Peace treaty Edit

 
Signing of the Treaty of Paris

On July 22, the Spanish authorized Jules Cambon, the French Ambassador to the United States, to represent Spain in negotiating peace.[144] The Spanish initially wished to restrict their territorial loss to Cuba, but were quickly forced to recognize that their other possessions would be claimed as spoils of war.[143] McKinley's Cabinet unanimously agreed that Spain must leave Cuba and Puerto Rico, but they disagreed on the Philippines, with some wishing to annex the entire archipelago and some wishing only to retain a naval base in the area. Although public sentiment mostly favored annexation of the Philippines, prominent Democrats like Bryan and Grover Cleveland, along with some intellectuals and older Republicans, opposed annexation. These annexation opponents formed the American Anti-Imperialist League.[145] McKinley ultimately decided he had no choice but to annex the Philippines, because he believed Japan would take control of them if the U.S. did not.[146]

McKinley proposed to open negotiations with Spain on the basis of Cuban liberation and Puerto Rican annexation, with the final status of the Philippines subject to further discussion.[147] He stood firmly in that demand even as the military situation on Cuba began to deteriorate when the American army was struck with yellow fever.[147] Spain ultimately agreed to a ceasefire on those terms on August 12, and treaty negotiations began in Paris in September 1898.[148] The talks continued until December 18, when the Treaty of Paris was signed. The United States acquired Puerto Rico and the Philippines as well as the island of Guam, and Spain relinquished its claims to Cuba; in exchange, the United States agreed to pay Spain $20 million.[149] McKinley had difficulty convincing the Senate to approve the treaty by the requisite two-thirds vote, but his lobbying, and that of Vice President Hobart, eventually saw success, as the Senate voted to ratify the treaty on February 6, 1899 on a 57 to 27 vote.[150] Though a significant bloc of senators opposed the treaty, they were unable to unite behind an alternative to ratification.[151] Cuba came under temporary American occupation, which gave Army doctors under Walter Reed the chance to implement major medical reforms and eliminate yellow fever.[152][153]

The new American empire Edit

Cuba was devastated from the war and from the long insurrection against Spanish rule, and McKinley refused to recognize the Cuban rebels as the official government of the island.[154] Nonetheless, McKinley felt bound by the Teller Amendment, and he established a military government on the island with the intention of ultimately granting Cuba independence. Many Republican leaders, including Roosevelt and possibly McKinley himself, hoped that benevolent American leadership of Cuba would eventually convince the Cubans to voluntarily request annexation after they gained full independence. Even if annexation was not achieved, McKinley wanted to help establish a stable government that could resist European interference and would remain friendly to U.S. interests.[155] With input from the McKinley administration, Congress passed the Platt Amendment, which stipulated conditions for U.S. withdrawal from the island; the conditions allowed for a strong American role despite the promise of withdrawal. Cuba became independent in 1902, but the U.S. would re-occupy the island in 1906.[156]

McKinley also refused to recognize the native Filipino government of Emilio Aguinaldo, and relations between the United States and the Aguinaldo's supporters deteriorated after the conclusion of the Spanish–American War.[157] McKinley believed that Aguinaldo represented just a small minority of the Filipino populace, and that benevolent American rule would lead to a peaceful occupation.[158] In February 1899, Filipino and American forces clashed at the Battle of Manila, marking the start of the Philippine–American War.[159] The fighting in the Philippines engendered increasingly vocal criticism from the domestic anti-imperialist movement, as did the continued deployment of volunteer regiments.[160] Under General Elwell Stephen Otis, U.S. forces destroyed the rebel Filipino army, but Aguinaldo turned to guerrilla tactics.[161] McKinley sent a commission led by William Howard Taft to establish a civilian government, and McKinley later appointed Taft as the civilian governor of the Philippines.[162] The Filipino insurgency subsided with the capture of Aguinaldo in March 1901, and the U.S. maintained control of the islands until the 1946 Treaty of Manila.[163]

After Puerto Rico was devastated by the massive 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane, Secretary of War Root proposed to eliminate all tariff barriers with Puerto Rico. His proposal initiated a serious disagreement between the McKinley administration and Republican leaders in Congress, who were wary of lowering the tariffs on the newly-acquired territories. Rather than relying on Democratic votes to pass a no-tariff bill, McKinley compromised with Republican leaders on a bill that cut tariffs on Puerto Rican goods to a fraction of the rates set by the Dingley Tariff. While considering the tariff bill, the Senate also began hearings on a bill to establish a civil government for Puerto Rico, which the Senate passed in a party-line vote. McKinley signed the Foraker Act into law on April 12, 1900. Under the terms of the bill, all revenue collected from the tariff on Puerto Rican goods would be used for Puerto Rico, and the tariff would cease to function once the government of Puerto Rico established its own taxation system.[164] In the 1901 Insular Cases, the Supreme Court upheld the McKinley administration's policies in the territories acquired in the Spanish–American War, including the establishment of Puerto Rico's government.[165]

China Edit

Even before peace negotiations began with Spain, McKinley asked Congress to set up a commission to examine trade opportunities in Asia and espoused an "Open Door Policy", in which all nations would freely trade with China and none would seek to violate that nation's territorial integrity.[166] Secretary of State Hay circulated notes promoting the Open Door to that effect to the European powers. Great Britain favored the idea, but Russia opposed it; France, Germany, Italy and Japan agreed in principle, but only if all the other nations signed on.[167]

 
American soldiers scale the walls of Beijing to relieve the Siege of the International Legations, August 1900

American missionaries were threatened and trade with China became imperiled as the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 menaced foreigners and their property in China.[168] Americans and other westerners in Peking were besieged and, in cooperation with other western powers, McKinley ordered 5000 troops to the city in June 1900 in the China Relief Expedition.[169] The westerners were rescued the next month, but several Congressional Democrats objected to McKinley dispatching troops without consulting Congress.[170] McKinley's actions set a precedent that led to most of his successors exerting similar independent control over the military.[169] After the rebellion ended, the United States reaffirmed its commitment to the Open Door policy, which became the basis of American policy toward China.[171] It used the cash reparations paid by China to bring Chinese students to Americans schools.[172]

Planning the Panama Canal Edit

Secretary of State Hay engaged in negotiations with Britain over the possible construction of a canal across Central America. The Clayton–Bulwer Treaty, which the two nations had signed in 1850, prohibited either from establishing exclusive control over a canal there. The Spanish–American War had exposed the difficulty of maintaining a two-ocean navy without a connection closer than Cape Horn, at the southern tip of South America.[173] With American business, humanitarian and military interests even more involved in Asia following the Spanish–American War, a canal seemed more essential than ever, and McKinley pressed for a renegotiation of the treaty.[173] The British, who were distracted by the ongoing Second Boer War, agreed to negotiate a new treaty.[174] Hay and the British ambassador, Julian Pauncefote, agreed that the United States could control a future canal, provided that it was open to all shipping and not fortified. McKinley was satisfied with the terms, but the Senate rejected them, demanding that the United States be allowed to fortify the canal. Hay was embarrassed by the rebuff and offered his resignation, but McKinley refused it and ordered him to continue negotiations to achieve the Senate's demands. He was successful, and a new treaty was drafted and approved, but not before McKinley's assassination in 1901.[175] McKinley also appointed the Isthmian Canal Commission, which would eventually play a large role in selecting Panama over Nicaragua as the site of the Central American canal.[176] The Panama Canal would eventually be completed in 1914.[177]

Election of 1900 Edit

 
McKinley ran on his record of prosperity and victory in 1900, defeating Bryan by a comfortable margin.
Main article: 1900 United States presidential election

Republicans were generally successful in state and local elections around the country in 1899, making McKinley optimistic about his chances at re-election heading into 1900.[178] With McKinley widely popular in the Republican Party, his renomination at the 1900 Republican National Convention was assured, but the identity of his running mate was unclear due to the death of Vice President Hobart in 1899.[179] The president personally favored Secretary of War Elihu Root or former Secretary of the Interior Cornelius Newton Bliss for the position, while Governor Theodore Roosevelt, Secretary of the Navy John Long, Seth Low, Ambassador Andrew Dickson White, Senator William Allison, and Congressman Jonathan P. Dolliver of Iowa also stood out as potential running mates.[180]

When the convention began in Philadelphia in June 1900, none of the potential running mates had overwhelming support, but Roosevelt had the broadest range of support from around the country.[181] McKinley remained uncommitted in public, but Hanna was firmly opposed to the New York governor.[182] Hanna's stance was undermined by the efforts of political boss and New York Senator Thomas Platt, who, disliking Roosevelt's reform agenda, sought to sideline the governor by making him vice president.[183] On June 21, McKinley was unanimously renominated and, with Hanna's reluctant acquiescence, Roosevelt was nominated for vice president on the first ballot.[184] The Democratic convention convened the next month in Kansas City and nominated William Jennings Bryan, setting up a rematch of the 1896 contest.[185]

 
1900 electoral vote results.

The candidates were the same, but the issues of the campaign had shifted: free silver was still a question that animated many voters, but the Republicans focused on victory in war and prosperity at home as issues they believed favored their party.[186] Democrats knew the war had been popular, even if the imperialism issue was less sure, so they focused on the issue of trusts and corporate power, painting McKinley as the servant of capital and big business.[187] As in 1896, Bryan embarked on a speaking tour around the country while McKinley stayed at home.[188] Bryan's campaign to unseat McKinley faced several challenges, including the general prosperity of the country and factionalism within the Democratic Party.[189] Roosevelt emerged as the Republican campaign's primary speaker and Hanna helped the cause by settling a coal miners' strike in Pennsylvania.[190]

Bryan's campaigning failed to excite the voters as it had in 1896, and observers expected McKinley to be re-elected easily.[191] On November 6, 1900, McKinley won the largest victory for any Republican since 1872.[192] Bryan carried only four states outside the Solid South, and even lost his home state of Nebraska. The reasons for the turnabout in Nebraska included prosperity, the collapse of the Populist Party, the intensive Republican campaign in the state, and Bryan's neglect of his base.[193] Nationwide, turnout fell from 78.3 percent to 71.6 percent. In the concurrent congressional elections, Republicans kept control of both houses of Congress.[194]

Assassination Edit

Main article: Assassination of William McKinley
 
McKinley entering the Temple of Music on September 6, 1901.
 
Artist's conception of the shooting of McKinley

The president's personal secretary, George Cortelyou, became concerned with the president's security after several assassinations by anarchists in Europe, including the assassination of King Umberto I of Italy in 1900. Cortelyou twice tried to remove a public reception from the president's visit to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York in September 1901, but McKinley refused to cancel the appearance, as he enjoyed meeting with the public.[195] On September 5, the president delivered his address at the Pan-American Exposition before a crowd of some 50,000 people. In the speech, which indicated McKinley's second term plans, the president urged reciprocity treaties with other nations to assure American manufacturers access to foreign markets.[196][197] After the speech, McKinley shook hands with a long line of visitors, which included anarchist Leon Czolgosz. Inspired by a speech delivered by Emma Goldman, Czolgosz had come to the exposition with the intention of assassinating McKinley. Czolgosz concealed a gun in his handkerchief, and, when he reached the head of the line, shot McKinley twice in the abdomen.[198] McKinley was taken to the exposition aid station, where the doctor was unable to locate the second bullet.[199]

In the days after the shooting McKinley appeared to improve, and doctors issued increasingly optimistic bulletins. Members of the Cabinet, who had rushed to Buffalo on hearing the news, dispersed; Vice President Roosevelt departed on a camping trip to the Adirondacks.[200] However, unknown to the doctors, the gangrene that would kill McKinley was growing on the walls of his stomach, slowly poisoning his blood. On the morning of September 13, McKinley took a turn for the worse, and at 2:15 a.m. on September 14, President McKinley died. Theodore Roosevelt had rushed back and took the oath of office as president in Buffalo. Czolgosz, put on trial for murder nine days after McKinley's death, was found guilty, sentenced to death on September 26, and executed by electric chair on October 29, 1901.[201]

Gould reports, "the nation experienced a wave of genuine grief at the news of McKinley's passing."[202] The stock market, faced with sudden uncertainty, suffered a steep decline—almost unnoticed in the mourning. The nation focused its attention on the casket that made its way by train, first to Washington, where it lay in state in the Capitol, and then to McKinley's hometown of Canton.[203] A hundred thousand people passed by the open casket in the Capitol Rotunda, many having waited hours in the rain; in Canton, an equal number did the same at the Stark County Courthouse on September 18. The following day, a funeral service was held at the First Methodist Church; the casket was then sealed and taken to the McKinley house, where relatives paid their final respects.[204] It was then transported to the receiving vault at West Lawn Cemetery in Canton, to await the construction of the memorial to McKinley that was already being planned.[205]

Historical reputation Edit

McKinley's biographer, H. Wayne Morgan remarks that McKinley died the most beloved president in history.[206] However, the young, enthusiastic Roosevelt quickly captured public attention after his predecessor's death. The new president made little effort to secure the trade reciprocity McKinley had intended to negotiate with other nations. Controversy and public interest surrounded Roosevelt throughout the seven and a half years of his presidency as memories of McKinley faded; by 1920, according to Gould, McKinley's administration was deemed no more than "a mediocre prelude to the vigor and energy of Theodore Roosevelt's".[202] Beginning in the 1950s, McKinley received more favorable evaluations; nevertheless, in surveys ranking American presidents, he has generally been placed near the middle, often trailing contemporaries such as Hayes and Cleveland.[202] A 2018 poll of the American Political Science Association’s Presidents and Executive Politics section ranked McKinley as the 22nd best president,[207] while a 2017 C-SPAN poll of historians ranked McKinley as the 16th best president.[208] Morgan suggests that this relatively low ranking is due to a perception among historians that while many decisions during McKinley's presidency profoundly affected the nation's future, he more followed public opinion than led it, and that McKinley's standing has suffered from altered public expectations of the presidency.[209]

There has been broad agreement among historians that McKinley's election was at the time of a transition between two political eras, dubbed the Third and Fourth Party Systems.[210] Kenneth F. Warren emphasizes the national commitment to a pro-business, industrial, and modernizing program, represented by McKinley.[211] Historian Daniel P. Klinghard argued that McKinley's personal control of the 1896 campaign gave him the opportunity to reshape the presidency—rather than simply follow the party platform—by representing himself as the voice of the people.[3] However, more recently, as Republican political official Karl Rove exalted McKinley as the agent of sweeping political realignment in the 2000s, some scholars, such as David Mayhew, questioned whether the 1896 election truly represented a realignment, thereby placing in issue whether McKinley deserves credit for it.[212] Historian Michael J. Korzi argued in 2005 that while it is tempting to see McKinley as the key figure in the transition from congressional domination of government to the modern, powerful president, this change was an incremental process through the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[213]

A controversial aspect of McKinley's presidency is territorial expansion and the question of imperialism. The U.S. set Cuba free and granted independence to the Philippines in 1946. Puerto Rico remains in an ambiguous status. Hawaii is a state; Guam remains a territory. The territorial expansion of 1898 was the high water mark of American imperialism.[214] Morgan sees that historical discussion as a subset of the debate over the rise of America as a world power; he expects the debate over McKinley's actions to continue indefinitely without resolution, and argues that however one judges McKinley's actions in American expansion, one of his motivations was to change the lives of Filipinos and Cubans for the better.[215]

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  94. ^ Robert L. Beisner, Twelve Against Empire: The Anti-Imperialists, 1898–1900 (1968).
  95. ^ "The 1897 Petition Against the Annexation of Hawaii". National Archives. 15 August 2016.
  96. ^ Warren Zimmermann, "Jingoes, Goo-Goos, and the Rise of America's Empire." The Wilson Quarterly (1976) 22#2 (1998): 42–65. Online
  97. ^ William Michael Morgan, Pacific Gibraltar: U.S.-Japanese Rivalry Over the Annexation of Hawaii, 1885–1898 (2011) pp 200–1; see online review.
  98. ^ Herring, pp. 317–318.
  99. ^ Gould, pp. 98–99.
  100. ^ a b Morgan, p. 223.
  101. ^ Robert L. Beisner, ed. (2003). American Foreign Relations Since 1600: A Guide to the Literature. ABC-CLIO. p. 414. ISBN 9781576070802.
  102. ^ Offner, pp. 51–52.
  103. ^ Gould, p. 61.
  104. ^ George W. Auxier, "The propaganda activities of the Cuban Junta in precipitating the Spanish–American War, 1895–1898." Hispanic American Historical Review 19.3 (1939): 286–305 in JSTOR.
  105. ^ Gould, pp. 64–65.
  106. ^ Gould, pp. 65–66.
  107. ^ Gould, pp. 68–70.
  108. ^ Julius W. Pratt, "American business and the Spanish–American War." Hispanic American Historical Review 14#2 (1934): 163–201. in JSTOR, quote on p. 168.
  109. ^ Bloodworth 2009, pp. 135–157.
  110. ^ Donald H. Dyal et al. eds. (1996). Historical Dictionary of the Spanish American War. p. 114. ISBN 9780313288524. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  111. ^ Gould, p. 71–74.
  112. ^ Leech, pp. 171–72.
  113. ^ Leech, p. 173; Gould, pp. 78–79.
  114. ^ Gould, pp. 79–81.
  115. ^ Gould, pp. 86–87.
  116. ^ Sylvia L. Hilton and Steve Ickringill, European Perceptions of the Spanish–American War of 1898 (Peter Lang, 1999).
  117. ^ Offner, p. 58–59.
  118. ^ See William McKinley “First Annual Message” December 6, 1897.
  119. ^ Jules R Benjamin says, "The liberation theme has been the one around which the intervention has been understood by most U.S. historians.” Benjamin, “Feature Review” Diplomatic history (September 2000) 24#4 page 655.
  120. ^ Perez has a different view emphasizing the central role of American self interest. Louis A. Perez, Jr., review, in Journal of American History (Dec. 2006), p 889. See more detail in Perez, The War of 1898: The United States and Cuba in History and Historiography (1998) pp 23–56.
  121. ^ Perez (1998) pp 46–47.
  122. ^ Robert Endicott Osgood, Ideals and self-interest in America's foreign relations: The great transformation of the twentieth century (1953) p 43.
  123. ^ Joseph A. Fry, "William McKinley and the coming of the Spanish–American War: A study of the besmirching and redemption of an historical image." Diplomatic History 3#1 (1979): 77–98.
  124. ^ Robert L. Beisner, From the Old Diplomacy to the New, 1865–1900 (New York, 1975), p. 114
  125. ^ Joseph A. Fry, "William McKinley and the Coming of the Spanish–American War: A Study of the Besmirching and Redemption of an Historical Image" Diplomatic History (1979) 3#1 p 96
  126. ^ Gould, pp. 91–93.
  127. ^ Gould, pp. 102–03.
  128. ^ Gould, pp. 103–105.
  129. ^ David W BUght, Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (2001), pp. 350–54.
  130. ^ Robert J. Norrell, Up from History: The Life of Booker T. Washington (2009) pp. 164, 168–69, 289.
  131. ^ Gould, pp. 94–96.
  132. ^ David P. Barrows, "The Governor-General of the Philippines Under Spain and the United States." American Historical Review 21.2 (1916): 288–311. online
  133. ^ Paolo E. Coletta, "McKinley, the Peace Negotiations, and the Acquisition of the Philippines." Pacific Historical Review 30.4 (1961): 341–50.
  134. ^ Gould, pp. 104–106.
  135. ^ Gould, pp. 106–108.
  136. ^ Vincent J. Cirillo, Bullets and Bacilli: The Spanish–American War and Military Medicine (Rutgers UP, 2004).
  137. ^ Kazin, pp. 86–89.
  138. ^ Leech, pp. 249–52.
  139. ^ Angus Konstam, San Juan Hill 1898: America's emergence as a world power (Bloomsbury, 2013.
  140. ^ Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (1979) pp. 646–743.
  141. ^ Jim Leeke, Manila and Santiago: The New Steel Navy in the Spanish–American War (Naval Institute Press, 2013).
  142. ^ a b Gould, pp. 110–12.
  143. ^ a b Gould, pp. 112–13.
  144. ^ John Offner, "The United States and France: Ending the Spanish–American War." Diplomatic History 7.1 (1983): 1–22.
  145. ^ Fred H. Harrington, "The Anti-Imperialist Movement in the United States, 1898–1900," Mississippi Valley Historical Review (1935) 22#2 pp. 211–30 in JSTOR
  146. ^ Ephraim K. Smith, "'A Question from Which We Could Not Escape': William McKinley and the Decision to Acquire the Philippine Islands." Diplomatic History 9.4 (1985): 363–75.
  147. ^ a b Gould, pp. 118–19.
  148. ^ Gould, pp. 120–21.
  149. ^ Gould, pp. 142–143.
  150. ^ Gould, pp. 144–50; Morgan, p. 320.
  151. ^ Gould, pp. 149–150.
  152. ^ Graham A. Cosmas, "Securing the Fruits of Victory: The US Army Occupies Cuba, 1898–1899." Military Affairs: The Journal of Military History (1974): 85–91.
  153. ^ John R. Pierce, Yellow jack: how yellow fever ravaged America and Walter Reed discovered its deadly secrets (Wiley, 2005).
  154. ^ Gould, pp. 128–129.
  155. ^ Gould, pp. 189–191.
  156. ^ Gould, pp. 238–240.
  157. ^ Gould, pp. 146–147.
  158. ^ Gould, pp. 180–181.
  159. ^ Gould, pp. 149–151.
  160. ^ Gould, pp. 182–184.
  161. ^ Gould, pp. 185–186.
  162. ^ Gould, pp. 186, 236.
  163. ^ Gould, pp. 236–237.
  164. ^ Gould, pp. 208–212.
  165. ^ Gould, p. 248.
  166. ^ Yoneyuki Sugita, "The Rise of an American Principle in China: A Reinterpretation of the First Open Door Notes toward China." in Sugita, ed., Trans-Pacific relations: America, Europe, and Asia in the twentieth century (2003): 3–20.
  167. ^ Gould, pp. 202–04.
  168. ^ Diana Preston, The Boxer Rebellion: The Dramatic story of China's war on foreigners that shook the world in the summer of 1900 (Bloomsbury, 2000).
  169. ^ a b Lafeber, p. 714.
  170. ^ Gould, pp. 220–22.
  171. ^ Gould, p. 233.
  172. ^ Teresa Brawner Bevis, and Christopher J. Lucas, International students in American colleges and universities: A history (Macmillan, 2007) pp. 63–73.
  173. ^ a b Gould, pp. 196–98.
  174. ^ Gould, pp. 198–199.
  175. ^ McCullough, pp. 256–59.
  176. ^ Gould, pp. 197–198.
  177. ^ John Taliaferro, All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay, from Lincoln to Roosevelt (Simon and Schuster, 2013).
  178. ^ Gould, pp. 207–208.
  179. ^ Gould, pp. 213–217.
  180. ^ Gould, pp. 215–216.
  181. ^ Gould, pp. 215–217.
  182. ^ Leech, pp. 531–533.
  183. ^ Horner, pp. 260–266.
  184. ^ Leech, pp. 540–542.
  185. ^ Gould, pp. 219–220.
  186. ^ Gould, pp. 226–227; Leech, pp. 543–544.
  187. ^ Gould, pp. 227–228; Leech, pp. 544–546.
  188. ^ Leech, pp. 549–557.
  189. ^ Gould, pp. 227–228.
  190. ^ Gould, p. 228.
  191. ^ Gould, p. 229; Leech, p. 558.
  192. ^ Leech, p. 559.
  193. ^ John W. Bailey, Jr., "The Presidential Election of 1900 in Nebraska: McKinley Over Bryan." Nebraska History 54#4 (1973): 560–584.
  194. ^ Gould, pp. 229–230.
  195. ^ Miller, p. 294.
  196. ^ Miller, pp. 298–300.
  197. ^ Gould, pp. 250–251.
  198. ^ Miller, pp. 300–301.
  199. ^ Leech, pp. 596–597; Miller, pp. 312–315.
  200. ^ Miller, pp. 315–317; Morgan, pp. 401–402.
  201. ^ Miller, pp. 321–330.
  202. ^ a b c Gould, p. 252.
  203. ^ Morgan, pp. 402–403.
  204. ^ McElroy, p. 167.
  205. ^ Morgan, p. 403.
  206. ^ Morgan, p. 404.
  207. ^ Rottinghaus, Brandon; Vaughn, Justin S. (19 February 2018). "How Does Trump Stack Up Against the Best — and Worst — Presidents?". New York Times. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  208. ^ "Presidential Historians Survey 2017". C-SPAN. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  209. ^ Morgan, p. 472.
  210. ^ Nice, p. 448.
  211. ^ Kenneth F. Warren (2008). Encyclopedia of U.S. Campaigns, Elections, and Electoral Behavior. SAGE. p. 211. ISBN 978-1-4129-5489-1.
  212. ^ Rauchway, pp. 242–244.
  213. ^ Korzi, p. 281.
  214. ^ Phillips, p. 99.
  215. ^ Morgan, p. 468.

Works cited Edit

  • Bacote, Clarence A. (July 1959). "Negro officeholders in Georgia under President McKinley". The Journal of Negro History. 44 (3): 217–239. doi:10.2307/2716432. JSTOR 2716432. S2CID 150351395.
  • Bailey, Thomas A. "Was the Presidential Election of 1900 a Mandate on Imperialism?." Mississippi Valley Historical Review 24.1 (1937): 43–52. in JSTOR
  • Bloodworth, Jeffrey (2009). "For Love or for Money?: William Mckinley and the Spanish–American War". White House Studies. 9 (2): 135–157.
  • Cherny, Robert W. (1997). American Politics in the Gilded Age: 1868 - 1900. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Connolly, Michael J. (2010). "'I Make Politics My Recreation': Vice President Garret A. Hobart and Nineteenth Century Republican Business Politics". New Jersey History. 125 (1): 29–31. doi:10.14713/njh.v125i1.1019.
  • Gould, Lewis L. (1980). The Presidency of William McKinley. American Presidency. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-0206-3.
  • Herring, George (2008). From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776. Oxford University Press.
  • Horner, William T. (2010). Ohio's Kingmaker: Mark Hanna, Man and Myth. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press. ISBN 978-0-8214-1894-9.
  • Jensen, Richard (1971). The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888–1896. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-39825-9.
  • Jones, Stanley L. (1964). The Presidential Election of 1896. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
  • Kazin, Michael (2006). A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan. Knopf. ISBN 978-0375411359.
  • Klinghard, Daniel P. (2005). "Grover Cleveland, William McKinley and the Emergence of the President as Party Leader". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 35 (4): 736–760. doi:10.1111/j.1741-5705.2005.00274.x. JSTOR 27552726.
  • Korzi, Michael J. (January 2004). "A New Migration of Political Forces: Party Decline and Presidential Leadership in Late Nineteenth-Century America". Polity. 36 (2): 251–282. doi:10.1086/POLv36n2ms3235481. JSTOR 3235481. S2CID 157657655.
  • Lafeber, Walter (1986). "The 'Lion in the Path': The U.S. Emergence as a World Power". Political Science Quarterly. 101 (5): 705–718. doi:10.2307/2150973. JSTOR 2150973.
  • Leech, Margaret (1959). In the Days of McKinley. New York: Harper and Brothers. OCLC 456809.
  • McCullough, David (1977). The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870–1914. New York: Touchstone. ISBN 978-0-671-24409-5.
  • McElroy, Richard L. (1996). William McKinley and Our America. Canton, Ohio: Stark County Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-9634712-1-5.
  • Miller, Scott (2011). The President and the Assassin. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6752-7.
  • Morgan, H. Wayne (2003). William McKinley and His America (revised ed.). The Kent State University Press. ISBN 978-0-87338-765-1.
  • Nice, David C. (September 1984). "The Influence of War and Party System Aging on the Ranking of Presidents". The Western Political Quarterly. 37 (3): 443–455. doi:10.2307/448445. JSTOR 448445.
  • Nichols, Jeannette P. (December 1933). "Silver Diplomacy". Political Science Quarterly. 48 (4): 565–588. doi:10.2307/2142930. JSTOR 2142930.
  • Offner, John L. (March 2004). "McKinley and the Spanish–American War". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 34 (1): 50–61. doi:10.1111/j.1741-5705.2004.00034.x. JSTOR 27552563.
  • Osborne, Thomas J. (August 1981). "Trade or War? America's Annexation of Hawaii Reconsidered". Pacific Historical Review. 50 (3): 285–307. doi:10.2307/3639601. JSTOR 3639601.
  • Phillips, Kevin (2003). William McKinley. New York: Times Books. ISBN 978-0-8050-6953-2.
  • Pratt, Walter F. (1999). The Supreme Court under Edward Douglass White, 1910–1921. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1-57003-309-4.
  • Rauchway, Eric (July 2005). "William McKinley and Us". The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. 4 (3): 235–253. doi:10.1017/S1537781400002644. JSTOR 25144402. S2CID 162552066.
  • Semonche, John E. (2009). "McKenna, Joseph". In Newman, Roger K. (ed.). The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11300-6.
  • Williams, R. Hal (2010). Realigning America: McKinley, Bryan and the Remarkable Election of 1896. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-1721-0.

Further reading Edit

Main article: Bibliography on William McKinley

Books Edit

  • Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. Ida McKinley: The Turn-of-the-Century First Lady Through War, Assassination, and Secret Disability (2013) excerpt
  • Auxier, George W. "The Cuban question as reflected in the editorial columns of Middle Western newspapers (1895–1898)" (PhD dissertation, Ohio State University, 1938) complete text online
  • Dobson, John M. Reticent Expansionism: The Foreign Policy of William McKinley (1988)
  • Gould, Lewis L. The Spanish–American War and President McKinley (University Press of Kansas, 1982). online
  • Grenville, John A. S. and George Berkeley Young. Politics, Strategy, and American Diplomacy: Studies in Foreign Policy, 1873–1917 (1966) pp 239–66 on"The breakdown of neutrality: McKinley goes to war with Spain"
  • Harpine, William D. (2005). From the Front Porch to the Front Page: McKinley and Bryan in the 1896 Presidential Campaign. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-1-58544-559-2.
  • Hilderbrand, Robert C. Power and the People: Executive Management of Public Opinion in Foreign Affairs, 1897–1921 (U of North Carolina Press, 1981).
  • Justesen, Benjamin R. Forgotten Legacy: William McKinley, George Henry White, and the Struggle for Black Equality (LSU Press, 2020). excerpt
  • Merry, Robert W. President McKinley: Architect of the American Century (Simon and Schuster, 2017). excerpt; also online review
  • Olcott, Charles (1916). The Life of William McKinley 2 vol. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. the life of william mckinley olcutt.
  • Peifer, Douglas Carl. Choosing War: Presidential Decisions in the Maine, Lusitania, and Panay Incidents (Oxford UP, 2016).
  • Phillips, Kevin. William McKinley: The American Presidents Series: The 25th President, 1897-1901 (Times Books, 2014).
  • Ponder, Stephen. Managing the press: Origins of the Media Presidency, 1897–1933 (Macmillan, 1999).
  • Rhodes, James Ford. The McKinley and Roosevelt Administrations, 1897–1909 (1922) 444pp; online free
  • Rove, Karl. The Triumph of William McKinley: Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters (Simon and Schuster, 2015). excerpt
  • Sturgis, Amy H. ed. Presidents from Hayes Through McKinley: Debating the Issues in Pro and Con Primary Documents (Greenwood, 2003).
  • Taliaferro, John. All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay, from Lincoln to Roosevelt (Simon and Schuster, 2013).
  • Vestner, Eliot. Ragtime in the White House: War, Race, and the Presidency in the Time of William McKinley (Simon and Schuster, 2020).
  • White, Leonard D. The Republican Era: 1869–1901; A Study in Administrative History (1958) history of federal agencies; no politics.

Articles Edit

  • Auxier, George W. "The propaganda activities of the Cuban Junta in precipitating the Spanish–American War, 1895–1898." Hispanic American Historical Review 19.3 (1939): 286–305. online
  • Baker, Richard B., Carola Frydman, and Eric Hilt. "From Plutocracy to Progressivism?: The Assassination of President McKinley as a Turning Point in American History" (Yale University, 2014) online.
  • Childers, Jay P. "The Democratic Balance: President McKinley's Assassination as Domestic Trauma." Quarterly Journal of Speech 99.2 (2013): 156-179. online
  • Coletta, Paolo E. "Bryan, McKinley, and the Treaty of Paris." Pacific Historical Review (1957): 131–146. in JSTOR
  • Fry, Joseph A. "William McKinley and the coming of the Spanish–American War: A study of the besmirching and redemption of an historical image." Diplomatic History 3#1 (1979): 77–98 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7709.1979.tb00302.x
  • Graff, Henry F., ed. The Presidents: A Reference History (3rd ed. 2002) online
  • Hamilton, Richard F. "McKinley's Backbone." Presidential Studies Quarterly 36.3 (2006): 482–492. On Cuba.
  • Holbo, Paul S. "Presidential leadership in foreign affairs: William McKinley and the Turpie-Foraker Amendment." American Historical Review 72.4 (1967): 1321–1335. in JSTOR
  • Kapur, Nick. "William McKinley's Values and the Origins of the Spanish‐American War: A Reinterpretation." Presidential Studies Quarterly 41.1 (2011): 18–38. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-5705.2010.03829.x
  • McCormick, Thomas (May 1963). "Insular Imperialism and the Open Door: The China Market and the Spanish–American War". Pacific Historical Review. 32 (2): 155–169. doi:10.2307/4492154. JSTOR 4492154.
  • Lind, Michael. "Review: Reassessing McKinley" The National Interest No. 152, (November/December 2017), pp. 69–82 online
  • McCartney, Paul T. "Religion, the Spanish-American War, and the idea of American mission." Journal of Church and State 54.2 (2012): 257-278. online
  • Miller III, John W. "President McKinley and American Imperialism: A Study on United States Foreign and Domestic Policy in the Philippines 1898-1900" (by Defense Technical Information Center, 1998) online
  • Morgan, H. Wayne. "William McKinley as a political leader." Review of Politics 28#4 (1966): 417–432. in JSTOR
  • Offner, John L. "McKinley and the Spanish‐American War." Presidential Studies Quarterly 34.1 (2004): 50–61. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-5705.2004.00034.x
  • Offner, John. "United States Politics and the 1898 War over Cuba." in Angel Smith and Emma Davilla-Cox eds. The Crisis of 1898 (Palgrave Macmillan UK, 1999) pp. 18–44.
  • Saldin, Robert P. "William McKinley and the Rhetorical Presidency." Presidential Studies Quarterly 41#1 (2011): 119–134. online
  • Smith, Ephraim K. "William McKinley's Enduring Legacy: The Historiographical Debate on the Taking of the Philippine Islands" in Crucible of Empire, ed. James C. Bradford. (1993) pp 205–49.

Online

  • "Biographical Dictionary of the Federal Judiciary". Washington, D.C.: Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved March 4, 2012. searches run from page, "select research categories" then check "court type" and "nominating president", then select U.S. District Courts (or U.S. Circuit Courts) and also William McKinley.

External links Edit

Official

  • William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum
  • United States Department of State, Papers relating to the foreign relations of the United States, with the annual message of the president transmitted to Congress December 6, 1897
    • 1898
    • 1899
    • 1800
    • 1901

Speeches

Media coverage

Other

October 23, 2023
presidency, william, mckinley, presidency, william, mckinley, began, march, 1897, when, william, mckinley, inaugurated, ended, september, 1901, upon, assassination, longtime, republican, mckinley, best, known, conducting, successful, spanish, american, 1898, f. The presidency of William McKinley began on March 4 1897 when William McKinley was inaugurated and ended September 14 1901 upon his assassination A longtime Republican McKinley is best known for conducting the successful Spanish American War 1898 freeing Cuba from Spain taking ownership of the Republic of Hawaii and purchasing the Philippines Guam and Puerto Rico It includes the 1897 Dingley Tariff which raised rates to protect manufacturers and factory workers from foreign competition and the Gold Standard Act of 1900 that rejected free silver inflationary proposals Rapid economic growth and a decline in labor conflict marked the presidency and he was easily reelected Presidency of William McKinley March 4 1897 September 14 1901 Assassination CabinetSee listPartyRepublicanElection18961900SeatWhite House Grover Cleveland 2nd Theodore Roosevelt Seal of the president 1894 1945 Library websiteThe 25th United States president McKinley took office following the 1896 presidential election in which he defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan In the campaign McKinley advocated sound money promised that high tariffs would restore prosperity and denounced Bryan as a radical who promoted class warfare He defeated Bryan again in the 1900 presidential election in a campaign focused on imperialism in the Philippines high tariffs and free silver McKinley s presidency marked the beginning of an era in American political history called the Fourth Party System or Progressive Era which lasted from the mid 1890s to the early 1930s On the national level this period was generally dominated by the Republican Party In 1897 1898 the most pressing issue was an insurrection in Cuba against repressive Spanish colonial rule which had been worsening for years Americans sympathized with the rebels and demanded action to resolve the crisis The administration tried to persuade Spain to liberalize its rule but when negotiations failed both sides wanted war American victory in the Spanish American War was quick and decisive During the war the United States took temporary possession of Cuba it was promised independence but it remained under the control of the U S Army throughout McKinley s presidency The status of the Philippines was heavily debated and became an issue in the 1900 election with Democrats opposed to American ownership McKinley decided it needed American protection and it remained under U S control until the 1940s As a result of the war the United States also took permanent possession of Guam and Puerto Rico Under McKinley s leadership the United States also annexed the independent Republic of Hawaii in 1898 Unlike the other new possessions citizens of Hawaii became American citizens and Hawaii became a territory with an appointed governor McKinley s foreign policy created an overseas empire and put the U S on the world s list of major powers In 1897 the economy rapidly recovered from the severe depression called the Panic of 1893 McKinley s supporters in 1900 argued that the new high tariff and the commitment to the gold standard were responsible Historians looking at his domestic and foreign policies typically rank McKinley as an above average president Historian Lewis L Gould argues that McKinley was the first modern president He was a political leader who confirmed the Republicans as the nation s majority party he was the architect of important departures in foreign policy and he was a significant contributor to the evolution of the modern presidency On these achievements rest his substantial claims as an important figure in history of the United States 1 Contents 1 Election of 1896 2 First inauguration 3 Administration 4 Judicial appointments 5 Domestic affairs 5 1 Economy and trusts 5 2 Tariffs and monetary policy 5 2 1 Dingley Tariff 5 2 2 Monetary policy 5 3 Pluralism 5 3 1 Reconciliation with Southern whites 5 3 2 Growing racial tensions 5 4 Civil service reform 6 Foreign affairs 6 1 Annexation of Hawaii 6 2 Spanish American War 6 2 1 Cuban crisis 6 2 2 Historical interpretations of McKinley s role 6 2 3 Course of the war 6 2 4 Peace treaty 6 2 5 The new American empire 6 3 China 6 4 Planning the Panama Canal 7 Election of 1900 8 Assassination 9 Historical reputation 10 References 10 1 Works cited 11 Further reading 11 1 Books 11 2 Articles 12 External linksElection of 1896 EditFurther information William McKinley 1896 presidential campaign and 1896 United States presidential election McKinley rose to prominence within the Republican Party as a congressman closely associated with protective tariffs He earned national notoriety in the 1880s and 1890s for his nationwide campaigning and in 1891 he won election as Governor of Ohio 2 In the lead up to the 1896 election McKinley and his manager Cleveland businessman Mark Hanna quietly built up support for a presidential bid 3 When rivals Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed and Senator William B Allison sent agents outside their states to organize support for their candidacies they found that McKinley agents had preceded them 4 By the time the 1896 Republican National Convention began in St Louis in June McKinley had an ample majority of delegates and he won the nomination on the first ballot of the convention Hanna selected Republican National Committee vice chairman Garret Hobart of New Jersey for vice president Hobart a wealthy lawyer businessman and former state legislator was not widely known but as Hanna biographer Herbert Croly pointed out if he did little to strengthen the ticket he did nothing to weaken it 5 nbsp June 1896 Harper s Weekly cartoon showing McKinley painfully riding the rail of the currency question In the final days before the convention McKinley decided after hearing from politicians and businessmen that the platform should endorse the gold standard though it should allow for bimetallism by international agreement Adoption of the platform caused some western delegates led by Colorado Senator Henry M Teller to walk out of the convention However Republicans were not nearly as divided on the issue as were Democrats especially as McKinley promised future concessions to silver advocates 6 7 Democratic President Grover Cleveland firmly supported the gold standard but an increasing number of rural Democrats especially in corn belt and western states called for a bimetallic free silver system 8 9 The silverites took control of the 1896 Democratic National Convention and chose William Jennings Bryan for president he had electrified the delegates with his Cross of Gold speech which became famous for its closing phrase You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold 10 Bryan s financial radicalism shocked bankers as many thought that his inflationary program would bankrupt the railroads and ruin the economy Hanna cultivated the backing of these bankers giving Republicans a massive financial advantage that allowed McKinley s campaign to invest 3 5 million for speakers and distribute over 200 million pamphlets advocating the Republican position on the money and tariff questions 8 9 The Republican Party printed and distributed 200 million pamphlets and sent hundreds of speakers out across the nation to deliver stump speeches on McKinley s behalf Bryan was portrayed as a radical a demagogue and a socialist while McKinley was cast as the guarantor of full employment and industrial growth By the end of September the party had discontinued printing material on the silver issue and were entirely concentrating on the tariff question 11 12 The battleground proved to be the Midwest the South and most of the West were conceded to the Democrats and Bryan spent much of his time in those crucial states 13 14 nbsp 1896 electoral vote results On November 3 1896 McKinley was victorious winning the Electoral College vote 271 to 176 and receiving 7 102 246 popular votes to Bryan s 6 502 925 15 McKinley won the entire Northeast and Midwest Bryan had concentrated entirely on the silver issue and had not failed to broaden his appeal to include urban workers McKinley s view of a stronger central government building American industry through protective tariffs and a dollar based on gold triumphed 16 McKinley s coalition included most Northern cities well to do farmers industrial laborers and most ethnic voters aside from Irish Americans 17 The 1896 presidential election is often seen as a realigning election as with it the nation s focus shifted from repairing the damage caused by the Civil War to building for the future through social reform 18 It was also a realigning election in that it launched a long period of Republican control over Congress and the White House the Fourth Party System that would continue until 1932 19 First inauguration Edit nbsp Chief Justice Melville Fuller swears in William McKinley as president outgoing President Grover Cleveland at right McKinley s first presidential inauguration was held on March 4 1897 in front of the Original Senate Wing at the U S Capitol Chief Justice Melville Fuller administered the oath of office It was the first inaugural ceremony recorded by a motion picture camera 20 McKinley gave a lengthy inaugural address in which he urged tariff reform and stated that the currency issue would have to await tariff legislation He also warned against U S foreign interventions declaring We want no wars of conquest We must avoid the temptation of territorial aggression 21 Nick Kapur says that McKinley s priorities were based on his values of arbitrationism pacifism humanitarianism and manly self restraint and not on external pressures 22 Administration EditThe McKinley cabinetOfficeNameTermPresidentWilliam McKinley1897 1901Vice PresidentGarret Hobart1897 1899none1899 1901Theodore Roosevelt1901Secretary of StateJohn Sherman1897 1898William R Day1898John Hay1898 1901Secretary of the TreasuryLyman J Gage1897 1901Secretary of WarRussell A Alger1897 1899Elihu Root1899 1901Attorney GeneralJoseph McKenna1897 1898John W Griggs1898 1901Philander C Knox1901Postmaster GeneralJames Albert Gary1897 1898Charles Emory Smith1898 1901Secretary of the NavyJohn Davis Long1897 1901Secretary of the InteriorCornelius Newton Bliss1897 1899Ethan A Hitchcock1899 1901Secretary of AgricultureJames Wilson1897 1901Maine Congressman Nelson Dingley Jr was McKinley s first choice for secretary of the treasury but Dingley preferred to remain as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee Charles Dawes who had been Hanna s lieutenant in Chicago during the campaign was considered for the Treasury post but by some accounts Dawes considered himself too young he would instead become the comptroller of the currency in 1898 McKinley ultimately appointed Lyman J Gage president of the First National Bank of Chicago and a Gold Democrat as secretary of the treasury 23 Leadership of the Navy Department went to former Massachusetts Congressman John Davis Long an old colleague of McKinley s from his time serving in the House of the Representatives 24 Although McKinley was initially inclined to allow Long to choose his own the assistant secretary of the navy there was considerable pressure on the president elect to appoint Theodore Roosevelt the head of the New York City Police Commission McKinley was reluctant to appoint Roosevelt stating to one Roosevelt booster I want peace and I am told that your friend Theodore is always getting into rows with everybody Nevertheless he appointed Roosevelt 25 McKinley chose James Wilson a former congressman with strong support in the state of Iowa to be his secretary of agriculture McKinley s first choice for Postmaster General was Mark Hanna but he declined the position McKinley also considered appointing Henry Clay Payne but opposition from Robert M La Follette s faction of the party convinced him to appoint another individual McKinley settled on James Albert Gary a Republican from Maryland For the position of Attorney General McKinley turned to another old friend from the House Joseph McKenna of California Cornelius Newton Bliss who was acceptable to the divided New York Republican Party was selected as the secretary of the interior 26 The position of secretary of war went to Russell A Alger a former general who had also served as the governor of Michigan Competent enough in peacetime Alger proved inadequate once the Spanish American War began With the War Department plagued by scandal Alger resigned at McKinley s request in mid 1899 and was succeeded by Elihu Root During the war General Henry Clark Corbin gained McKinley s trust as the adjutant general of the army and Corbin acted as the de facto commander of the army under McKinley administration s auspices 27 nbsp President McKinley and his Cabinet 1898At far left William McKinley Left to right in back of table Lyman J Gage John W Griggs John D Long James Wilson standing and Cornelius N Bliss Left to right in front of table John Hay Russell A Alger and Charles E SmithMcKinley s most controversial Cabinet appointment was that of John Sherman as secretary of state 28 Sherman was not McKinley s first choice for the position he initially offered it to Senator William Allison One consideration in Senator Sherman s appointment was to provide a place in the Senate for Hanna and as Sherman had served as secretary of the treasury under President Rutherford B Hayes only the State position was likely to entice him from the Senate Sherman s mental faculties were decaying even in 1896 this was widely spoken of in political circles but McKinley did not believe the rumors 29 Sherman s mental incapacity became increasingly apparent after he took office He was often bypassed by his first assistant McKinley s Canton crony William R Day and by the second secretary Alvey A Adee Day an Ohio lawyer unfamiliar with diplomacy was often reticent in meetings Adee was somewhat deaf One diplomat characterized the arrangement the head of the department knew nothing the first assistant said nothing and the second assistant heard nothing 30 McKinley asked Sherman to resign in 1898 and Day became the new secretary of state Later that year Day was succeeded by John Hay a veteran diplomat who had served as assistant secretary of state in the Hayes Administration 31 McKinley made two other changes to his Cabinet in 1898 Charles Emory Smith succeeded the ailing Gary as Postmaster General while John W Griggs replaced McKenna as Attorney General after McKenna joined the Supreme Court 32 For most of McKinley s time in office George B Cortelyou served as the president s personal secretary Cortelyou acted as the de facto White House press secretary and chief of staff 33 Vice President Garret Hobart as was customary at the time was not invited to Cabinet meetings but he proved a valuable adviser to McKinley Hobart leased a residence close to the White House and the two families visited each other without formality 34 Hobart died of heart disease in November 1899 35 As no constitutional provision existed for filling an intra term vacancy in the vice presidency prior to ratification of the Twenty fifth Amendment in 1967 the office was left vacant for the balance of his term In March 1901 Theodore Roosevelt who served as McKinley s running mate in the 1900 election became vice president Judicial appointments EditMain article List of federal judges appointed by William McKinley After the retirement of Justice Stephen Johnson Field McKinley appointed Attorney General Joseph McKenna to the Supreme Court of the United States in December 1897 36 The appointment aroused some controversy as McKenna s critics in the Senate said he was too closely associated with railroad interests and lacked the qualifications of a Supreme Court justice 37 Despite the objections McKenna s nomination was approved unanimously 38 McKenna responded to the criticism of his legal education by taking some courses at Columbia Law School for several months before taking his seat 37 McKenna served on the court until 1925 often taking centrist positions between more conservative and more progressive judges 39 Along with his Supreme Court appointment McKinley appointed six judges to the United States Courts of Appeals and 28 judges to the United States district courts 40 Domestic affairs EditEconomy and trusts Edit Further information Panic of 1893 nbsp 1899 antitrust cartoon by Homer DavenportThe long deep depression that followed the Panic of 1893 finally ended in late 1896 as all the economic indicators in 1897 turned positive Business newspapers and magazines were filled with optimistic reports throughout 1897 The New York Commercial of 3 January 1898 surveyed a wide variety of businesses and industries nationwide and concluded after three years of waiting and of false starts the groundswell of demand is at last begun to rise with the steadiness which leaves little doubt that an era of prosperity has appeared It reported that January 1898 represents a supreme moment in the period of transition from depression to comparative prosperity 41 The unemployment rate which had been at nearly 20 percent in 1895 dropped to 15 percent in 1897 and to 8 percent in early 1898 42 McKinley largely adhered to the laissez faire attitude that the Cleveland administration had held towards trusts Attorneys General Joseph McKenna and John W Griggs pursued some antitrust cases under the terms of the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Supreme Court case of United States v E C Knight Co but the McKinley administration sympathized with the view that consolidation could be beneficial in many cases Debate over the role of trusts grew throughout McKinley s presidency and the issue would become increasingly important after McKinley s presidency 43 Tariffs and monetary policy Edit Dingley Tariff Edit nbsp 1900 reelection poster celebrates McKinley standing tall on the gold standard with support from soldiers sailors businessmen factory workers and professionals After the 1896 election McKinley indicated that he would call special session of Congress to address the tariff and Congressman Dingley began hearings on the bill in December 1896 during the lame duck period of Cleveland s presidency 44 While Democrats tended to oppose high tariffs arguing that they hurt consumers by raising prices McKinley and other leading Republicans viewed high tariffs as essential to the protection of American businesses against foreign competition 45 Additionally the tariff provided nearly half of the government s revenue and a rate increase could help put an end to the deficits that the government had experienced in the midst of the Panic of 1893 45 Before taking office McKinley also authorized Senator Edward O Wolcott of Colorado to travel to Europe to discuss the possibility of an international bimetallic agreement 44 International bimetallism represented a middle course between proponents of free silver and those who favored a gold standard 46 When the special session of Congress convened in March 1897 Dingley introduced the Dingley Act to revise the Wilson Gorman Tariff Act of 1894 47 McKinley supported the bill which increased tariffs on wool sugar and luxury goods but the proposed new rates alarmed the French who exported many luxury items to the United States 48 The Dingley Act passed the House easily but faced resistance in the Senate Passage of the bill in the Senate required the support of several Western Republicans including Wolcott whose chief priority was an international agreement on bimetallism 49 French representatives offered to cooperate with the United States in developing such an international agreement if the new tariff rates were reduced 50 Led by Wolcott Allison Nelson Aldrich and Orville H Platt the Senate amended the Dingley Bill to lower rates on French products and approved of a commission charged with negotiating the international bimetallic agreement 51 As doubts about the likelihood of reaching an international monetary agreement grew the Senate inserted a provision that authorized the president to reach bilateral treaties providing for the mutual reduction of tariff duties 52 The Senate passed its version of the bill in July 1897 and a conference committee produced a final bill that contained the reciprocity provision but generally adhered to the higher tariff rates set by the original House bill 53 McKinley who strongly supported the idea of reciprocity signed the Dingley Act into law in late July 1897 54 The McKinley administration later reached reciprocity treaties with France and other countries but opposition in the Senate prevented their ratification 55 The final tariff was highest on products considered to be necessities of life 56 and some numbers show that cost of living rose by as much as 25 as a result of the Dingley Tariff 57 Monetary policy Edit While Congress debated the tariff the U S and France approached Britain to gauge its enthusiasm for bimetallism The government of Prime Minister Lord Salisbury showed some interest in the idea and told Wolcott that he would be amenable to reopening the mints in India to silver coinage if the Indian Viceroy s Executive Council agreed News of a possible departure from the gold standard stirred up immediate opposition from gold partisans and misgivings by the Indian administration led Britain to reject the proposal Opposition from Britain led to the collapse of negotiations for joint adoption of bimetallism by France Britain and the United States 58 With the international effort a failure McKinley turned away from silver coinage and embraced the gold standard Agitation for free silver eased as prosperity returned and gold from recent strikes in the Yukon and Australia increased the monetary supply even without silver coinage 59 In the absence of international agreement McKinley favored legislation to formally affirm the gold standard but was initially deterred by the silver strength in the Senate 60 In 1900 with another campaign ahead McKinley urged Congress to pass such a law while economic conditions were strong Aldrich and other leading Senate Republicans fashioned a bill that established gold as the only standard for the redemption of paper money but placated Wolcott and other Western Republicans by including a provision allowing for international bimetallism The Senate passed the bill in a near party line vote in March 1900 and McKinley signed the bill into law later that month 61 Democrats tried to make free silver a campaign issue in 1900 but it failed to attract much attention 62 Pluralism Edit A key element of McKinley s appeal in an 1896 election was the spirit of pluralism No group in America was to be ostracized or banned Everyone was welcome to enjoy the new prosperity 63 McKinley had a very broad appeal in terms of race ethnicity region and class Where Bryan had ridiculed and denounced bankers and railroads McKinley welcomed the business community McKinley was famous as a champion of high tariffs to protect the high wages of American factory workers Proposals for immigration restriction and attacks on Jews Eastern Europeans and Southern Europeans had no place in the McKinley administration He appointed Irish Catholic labor leader Terence Vincent Powderly founder of the Knights of Labor organization as Commissioner General of Immigration 64 Immigration restrictions such as literacy tests proposed by Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts and his allies in the Immigration Restriction League founded in 1894 had been included in the 1896 GOP platform but McKinley and the party leadership in Congress blocked their passage 65 The anti Catholicism that had started to appear in the 1890s faded away as shown by the rapid decline of the American Protective Association 66 Nonetheless restrictive immigration laws would continue to receive support during and after McKinley s tenure partly due to the rising number of immigrants from Southern Europe and Eastern Europe 67 Reconciliation with Southern whites Edit A high priority for McKinley s pluralism was full unification of the white South psychologically and patriotically back into the United States This initiative conflicted with the civil rights of blacks which were being increasingly restricted in the South While McKinley did not officially endorse the Lost Cause of the Confederacy he did reach out in terms of appointments and speeches and visits to the white South Reconciliation was achieved during the Spanish American War as enlistment rates across the South were quite high The swift stunning victory certainly boosted the reconciliation process 68 Historian David W Blight argues The Lost Cause became an integral part of national reconciliation by dint of sheer sentimentalism by political argument and by recurrent celebrations and rituals For most white Southerners the Lost Cause evolved into a language of vindication and renewal as well as an array of practices and public monuments through which they could solidify both their Southern pride and their Americanness In the 1890s Confederate memories no longer dwelled as much on mourning or explaining defeat they offered a set of conservative traditions by which the entire country could gird itself against racial political and industrial disorder And by the sheer virtue of losing heroically the Confederate soldier provided a model of masculine devotion and courage in an age of gender anxieties and ruthless material striving 69 Growing racial tensions Edit See also Nadir of American race relations The black vote supported McKinley in 1896 and African Americans were hopeful of progress towards racial equality McKinley had spoken out against lynching while governor and most African Americans who could vote supported him in 1896 McKinley s priority however was in ending sectionalism and African Americans were generally disappointed by his policies and appointments Although McKinley made some appointments of African Americans to low level government posts and received some praise for that the appointments were less than they had received under previous Republican administrations Blanche Bruce an African American who during Reconstruction had served as senator from Mississippi received the post of register at the Treasury Department this post was traditionally given to an African American by Republican presidents McKinley appointed several black postmasters however when whites protested the appointment of Justin W Lyons as postmaster of Augusta Georgia McKinley asked Lyons to withdraw he was subsequently given the post of Treasury register after Bruce s death in 1898 70 The president also appointed George B Jackson a former slave to the post of customs collector in Presidio Texas African Americans in Northern states felt that their contributions to McKinley s victory were overlooked as few were appointed to office 70 nbsp McKinley right of center flanked by Georgia Governor Allen D Candler front row to McKinley s left and Gen William Rufus Shafter reviewing the Atlanta Peace Jubilee parade December 15 1898 African Americans saw the onset of war in 1898 as an opportunity to display their patriotism and black soldiers fought bravely at El Caney and San Juan Hill African Americans in the peacetime Army had formed elite units nevertheless they were harassed by whites as they traveled from the West to Tampa for embarkation to the war Under pressure from black leaders McKinley required the War Department to commission black officers above the rank of lieutenant The heroism of the black troops did not still racial tensions in the South as the second half of 1898 saw several outbreaks of racial violence eleven African Americans were killed in riots in Wilmington North Carolina 71 McKinley toured the South in late 1898 hoping for sectional reconciliation In addition to visiting Tuskegee Institute and Booker T Washington he addressed the Georgia legislature wearing a badge of gray and visited Confederate memorials In his tour of the South McKinley did not mention the racial tensions or violence Although the president received a rapturous reception from Southern whites many African Americans excluded from official welcoming committees felt alienated by the president s words and actions 71 72 The administration s response to racial violence was minimal causing McKinley to lose further black support 70 When black postmasters were assaulted at Hogansville Georgia in 1897 and at Lake City South Carolina the following year McKinley issued no statement of condemnation Although black leaders criticized McKinley for inaction supporters responded by saying there was little the president could do to intervene Critics replied by saying that he could at least publicly condemn such events as former President Benjamin Harrison had done 73 McKinley also took no action to prevent the passage of Jim Crow laws designed to disenfranchise and segregate African Americans in the South 74 According to Gould and later biographer Phillips given the political climate in the South there was little McKinley could have done to improve race relations and he did better than later presidents Theodore Roosevelt who doubted racial equality and Woodrow Wilson who supported segregation 75 Civil service reform Edit The issue of the spoils system and reform of civil service had been one of the dominant issues of the Gilded Age Past presidents had made significant inroads with regards to the expansion of the merit system McKinley attempted to strike a middle ground on this issue More partisan Republicans however despised the reforms made by President Grover Cleveland which had left many Democratic officials in the civil service 76 McKinley ended up caving to the partisans and on May 29 1899 issued an executive order which exempted 3 to 4000 jobs from competitive civil service examinations a backtrack from the merit system 77 Foreign affairs EditFurther information History of U S foreign policy 1897 1913 The McKinley administration brought foreign affairs to the top of the agenda for the first time since the 1840s Most Republicans supported an expansionist foreign policy building the American presence in the world that suited its increasing economic dominance Opposition came from an anti imperialist element that include some old time Republicans as well as most Democrats However in 1898 the Democrats took the lead in demanding Spain stop oppressing the independent minded people of Cuba while McKinley tried to stop the rush to war 78 Annexation of Hawaii Edit nbsp Annexation of the Republic of Hawaii in 1898Hawaii long had very close political cultural religious and economic relations with the United States The native population was virtually powerless in small villages Large sugar interests had imported tens of thousands of workers mostly Japanese Expansionists spoke of annexation and the business community in Honolulu wanted annexation by the U S fearing that otherwise Japan would take it over from a king who had no army The reciprocity treaty in the 1870s had made the Kingdom of Hawaii a virtual satellite of the United States After Queen Liliʻuokalani announced plans to issue a new constitution designed to give her absolute power she was immediately overthrown by the business community which requested annexation by the United States 79 President Harrison tried to annex Hawaii but his term ended before he could win Senate approval of an annexation treaty and Cleveland withdrew the treaty 80 Cleveland deeply opposed annexation because of a personal conviction that would not tolerate what he viewed as an immoral action against the little kingdom 81 Additionally annexation faced opposition from domestic sugar interests opposed to the importation of Hawaiian sugar and from some Democrats who opposed acquiring an island with a large non white population 82 The temporary government of Hawaii thereupon established the Republic of Hawaii which was recognized by the world powers as an independent nation McKinley pursued the annexation of the Republic of Hawaii as one of his top foreign policy priorities 83 In American hands Hawaii would serve as a base to dominate much of the Pacific defend the Pacific Coast and expand trade with Asia 84 Republican Congressman William Sulzer stated that the Hawaiian Islands will be the key that will unlock to us the commerce of the Orient 85 McKinley stated we need Hawaii just as much and a good deal more than we did California It is manifest destiny 86 President McKinley s position was that Hawaii could never survive on its own It would quickly be gobbled up by Japan already a fourth of the islands population was Japanese 87 Japan would then dominate the Pacific and undermine American hopes for large scale trade with Asia 88 89 The issue of annexation became a major political issue heatedly debated across the United States which carried over into the 1900 presidential election By then the national consensus was in favor of the annexation of both Hawaii and the Philippines 90 Historian Henry Graff says that in the mid 1890s unmistakably the sentiment at home was maturing with immense force for the United States to join the great powers of the world in a quest for overseas colonies 91 The drive for expansion was opposed by a vigorous nationwide anti expansionist movement organized as the American Anti Imperialist League The anti imperialists listened to Bryan as well as industrialist Andrew Carnegie author Mark Twain sociologist William Graham Sumner and many older reformers from the Civil War era 92 The anti imperialists believed that imperialism violated the fundamental principle that just republican government must derive from consent of the governed The anti imperialist league argued that such activity would necessitate the abandonment of American ideals of self government and non intervention ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence George Washington s Farewell Address and Abraham Lincoln s Gettysburg Address 93 94 In addition to the Anti Imperialist League within the United States forces in Hawaii vigorously opposed the annexation The Hawaiian Patriotic League and its female counterpart both of which were made up of native Hawaiians began a mass petition drive The petition which was clearly titled Petition Against Annexation was signed by over half of the native Hawaiian population 95 However the anti imperialists could not stop the even more energetic forces of imperialism They were led by Secretary of State Hay naval strategist Alfred T Mahan Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Secretary of War Root and Theodore Roosevelt These expansionists had vigorous support from newspaper publishers William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer who whipped up popular excitement Mahan and Roosevelt designed a global strategy calling for a competitive modern navy Pacific bases an isthmian canal through Nicaragua or Panama and above all an assertive role for the United States as the largest industrial power 96 They warned that Japan was sending a warship and was poised to seize an independent Hawaii and thereby be within range of California a threat that alarmed the West Coast The Navy prepared the first plans regarding a war with Japan 97 McKinley submitted an annexation treaty in June 1897 but anti imperialists prevented it from winning the support of two thirds of the Senate In mid 1898 during the Spanish American War McKinley and his congressional allies made another attempt to win congressional approval of an annexation measure 98 With McKinley s support Democratic Representative Francis G Newlands of Nevada introduced a joint resolution that provided for the annexation of Hawaii The Newlands Resolution faced significant resistance from Democrats and anti expansionist Republicans like Speaker of the House Reed but pressure from McKinley helped the bill win passage by wide margins in both houses of Congress 99 McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution into law on July 8 1898 100 McKinley biographer H Wayne Morgan notes McKinley was the guiding spirit behind the annexation of Hawaii showing a firmness in pursuing it 100 Congress passed the Hawaiian Organic Act in 1900 establishing the Territory of Hawaii McKinley appointed Sanford B Dole who had served as the president of the Republic of Hawaii from 1894 to 1898 as the first territorial governor 101 Spanish American War Edit Main article Spanish American War Cuban crisis Edit nbsp Editorial cartoon calling for humanitarian intervention in Cuba Columbia the American people reaches out to help oppressed Cuba in 1897 while Uncle Sam the U S government is blind to the crisis and will not use its powerful guns to help Judge magazine February 6 1897 By the time McKinley took office rebels in Cuba had waged an intermittent campaign for freedom from Spanish colonial rule for decades By 1895 the conflict had expanded to a war for independence The United States and Cuba enjoyed close trade relations and the Cuban rebellion adversely affected the American economy which was already weakened by the depression 102 As rebellion engulfed the island Spanish reprisals grew ever harsher and Spanish authorities began removing Cuban families to guarded camps near Spanish military bases 103 The rebels put high priority on their appeals to the sympathy of ordinary Americans and public opinion increasingly favored the rebels 104 President Cleveland had supported continued Spanish control of the island as he feared that Cuban independence would lead to a racial war or intervention by another European power 105 McKinley also favored a peaceful approach but he hoped to convince Spain to grant Cuba independence or at least to allow the Cubans some measure of autonomy 106 The United States and Spain began negotiations on the subject in 1897 but it became clear that Spain would never concede Cuban independence while the rebels and their American supporters would never settle for anything less 107 Business interests overwhelmingly gave strong support to McKinley s go slow policies Big business high finance and Main Street businesses across the country were vocally opposed to war and demanded peace as the uncertainties of a potentially long expensive war posed serious threat to full economic recovery The leading railroad magazine editorialized from a commercial and mercenary standpoint it seems peculiarly bitter that this war should come when the country had already suffered so much and so needed rest and peace The strong anti war consensus of the business community strengthened McKinley s resolve to use diplomacy and negotiation rather than brute force to end the Spanish tyranny in Cuba 108 On the other hand humanitarian sensibilities reached fever pitch as church leaders and activists wrote hundreds of thousands of letters to political leaders calling for intervention in Cuba These political leaders in turn pressured McKinley to turn the ultimate decision for war over to Congress 109 In January 1898 Spain promised some concessions to the rebels but when American consul Fitzhugh Lee reported riots in Havana McKinley obtained Spanish permission to send the battleship USS Maine to Havana to demonstrate American concern 110 On February 15 the Maine exploded and sank with 266 men killed 111 Public opinion was disgusted with Spain for losing control of the situation but McKinley insisted that a court of inquiry determine whether the explosion of the Maine was accidental 112 Negotiations with Spain continued as the court of inquiry considered the evidence but on March 20 the court ruled that the Maine was blown up by an underwater mine 113 As pressure for war mounted in Congress McKinley continued to negotiate for Cuban independence 114 Spain refused McKinley s proposals and on April 11 McKinley turned the matter over to Congress He did not ask for war but Congress declared war anyway on April 20 with the addition of the Teller Amendment which disavowed any intention of annexing Cuba 115 European powers called on Spain to negotiate and give in Britain supported the American position 116 Spain ignored the calls and fought the hopeless war alone in order to defend its honor and keep the monarchy alive 117 Historical interpretations of McKinley s role Edit McKinley put it succinctly in late 1897 that if Spain failed to resolve its crisis the United States would see a duty imposed by our obligations to ourselves to civilization and humanity to intervene with force 118 Most historians argue that an upsurge of humanitarian concern with the plight of the Cubans was the main motivating force that caused the war with Spain in 1898 119 Louis Perez states Certainly the moralistic determinants of war in 1898 has been accorded preponderant explanatory weight in the historiography 120 By the 1950s however some political scientists said that policy was unwise because it was based on idealism arguing that a better policy would have been realism in terms of American self interest They discredited the idealism by suggesting the people were deliberately misled by propaganda and sensationalist yellow journalism Political scientist Robert Osgood writing in 1953 led the attack on the American decision process as a confused mix of self righteousness and genuine moral fervor in the form of a crusade and a combination of knight errantry and national self assertiveness 121 Osgood argued A war to free Cuba from Spanish despotism corruption and cruelty from the filth and disease and barbarity of General Butcher Weyler s reconcentration camps from the devastation of haciendas the extermination of families and the outraging of women that would be a blow for humanity and democracy No one could doubt it if he believed and skepticism was not popular the exaggerations of the Cuban Junta s propaganda and the lurid distortions and imaginative lies pervade by the yellow sheets of Hearst and Pulitzer at the combined rate of 2 million newspaper copies a day 122 For much of the 20th century historians and textbooks disparaged McKinley as a weak leader echoing Roosevelt who called him spineless They blamed McKinley for losing control of foreign policy and agreeing to an unnecessary war A wave of new scholarship in the 1970s from both right and left reversed the older interpretation 123 Robert L Beisner summed up the new views of McKinley as a strong leader He said McKinley called for war not because he was bellicose but because he wanted what only war could bring an end to the Cuban rebellion which outraged his humanitarian impulses prolonged instability in the economy destroyed American investments and trade with Cuba created a dangerous picture of an America unable to master the affairs of the Caribbean threatened to arouse uncontrollable outburst of jingoism and diverted the attention of U S policymakers from historic happenings in China Neither spineless nor bellicose McKinley demanded what seemed to him morally unavoidable and essential to American interests 124 Along similar lines Joseph Fry summarizes the new scholarly appraisals McKinley was a decent sensitive man with considerable personal courage and great political facility A master manager of men he tightly controlled policy decisions within his administration Fully cognizant of the United States economic strategic and humanitarian interests he had laid out a policy early in his administration that ultimately and logically led to war If Spain could not quell the rebellion through civilized warfare the United States would have to intervene In early 1898 the Havana riots the De Lome letter the destruction of the Maine and the Redfield Proctor speech convinced McKinley that the autonomy project had failed and that Spain could not defeat the rebels He then demanded Cuban independence to end both the suffering on the island and the uncertainty in American political and economic affairs 125 Course of the war Edit The telegraph and the telephone gave McKinley a greater control over the day to day management of the war than previous presidents had enjoyed He set up the first war room and used the new technologies to direct the army s and navy s movements 126 McKinley did not get along with the Army s commanding general Nelson A Miles Bypassing Miles and Secretary of War Alger the president looked for strategic advice first from Miles s predecessor General John Schofield and later from Adjutant General Henry Clarke Corbin 127 McKinley presided over an expansion of the Regular Army from 25 000 to 61 000 personnel including volunteers a total of 278 000 men served in the Army during the war 128 McKinley not only wanted to win the war he also sought to bring North and South together again as white Southerners enthusiastically supported the war effort and one senior command went to a former Confederate General His ideal was a unity with Northerner and Southerner white and black fighting together for the United States 129 130 Since 1895 the Navy had planned to attack the Philippines if war broke out between the United States and Spain On April 24 McKinley ordered the Asiatic Squadron under the command of Commodore George Dewey to launch an attack on the Philippines On May 1 Dewey s force defeated the Spanish navy at the Battle of Manila Bay destroying Spanish naval power in the Pacific 131 The next month McKinley increased the number of troops sent to the Philippines and granted the force s commander Major General Wesley Merritt the power to set up legal systems and raise taxes necessities for a long occupation 132 By the time the troops arrived in the Philippines at the end of June 1898 McKinley had decided that Spain would be required to surrender the archipelago to the United States He professed to be open to all views on the subject however he believed that as the war progressed the public would come to demand retention of the islands as a prize of war and he feared that Japan or possibly Germany might seize the islands 133 Meanwhile in the Caribbean theater a large force of regulars and volunteers gathered near Tampa Florida for an invasion of Cuba The army faced difficulties in supplying the rapidly expanding force even before they departed for Cuba but by June Corbin had made progress in resolving the problems 134 The U S Navy began a blockade of Cuba in April while the Army prepared to invade the island on which Spain maintained a garrison of approximately 80 000 135 Disease was a major factor for every American soldier killed in combat in 1898 seven died of disease The U S Army Medical Corps made great strides in treating tropical diseases 136 There were lengthy delays in Florida Colonel William Jennings Bryan spent the entire war there as his militia unit was never sent to combat 137 nbsp Well I hardly know which to take first exclaims Uncle Sam in this May 18 1898 editorial cartoon celebrating the spoils of victory The combat army led by Major General William Rufus Shafter sailed from Florida on June 20 landing near Santiago de Cuba two days later Following a skirmish at Las Guasimas on June 24 Shafter s army engaged the Spanish forces on July 2 in the Battle of San Juan Hill 138 In an intense day long battle the American force was victorious although both sides suffered heavy casualties 139 Leonard Wood and Theodore Roosevelt who had resigned as assistant secretary of the Navy led the Rough Riders into combat Roosevelt s battlefield exploits would later propel him to the governorship of New York in the fall election of 1898 140 After the American victory at San Juan Hill the Spanish Caribbean squadron which had been sheltering in Santiago s harbor broke for the open sea The Spanish fleet was intercepted and destroyed by Rear Admiral William T Sampson s North Atlantic Squadron in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba the largest naval battle of the war 141 Shafter laid siege to the city of Santiago which surrendered on July 17 placing Cuba under effective American control 142 McKinley and Miles also ordered an invasion of Puerto Rico which met little resistance when it landed in July 142 The distance from Spain and the destruction of the Spanish navy made resupply impossible and the Spanish government its honor intact after losing to a much more powerful army and navy began to look for a way to end the war 143 Peace treaty Edit nbsp Signing of the Treaty of ParisOn July 22 the Spanish authorized Jules Cambon the French Ambassador to the United States to represent Spain in negotiating peace 144 The Spanish initially wished to restrict their territorial loss to Cuba but were quickly forced to recognize that their other possessions would be claimed as spoils of war 143 McKinley s Cabinet unanimously agreed that Spain must leave Cuba and Puerto Rico but they disagreed on the Philippines with some wishing to annex the entire archipelago and some wishing only to retain a naval base in the area Although public sentiment mostly favored annexation of the Philippines prominent Democrats like Bryan and Grover Cleveland along with some intellectuals and older Republicans opposed annexation These annexation opponents formed the American Anti Imperialist League 145 McKinley ultimately decided he had no choice but to annex the Philippines because he believed Japan would take control of them if the U S did not 146 McKinley proposed to open negotiations with Spain on the basis of Cuban liberation and Puerto Rican annexation with the final status of the Philippines subject to further discussion 147 He stood firmly in that demand even as the military situation on Cuba began to deteriorate when the American army was struck with yellow fever 147 Spain ultimately agreed to a ceasefire on those terms on August 12 and treaty negotiations began in Paris in September 1898 148 The talks continued until December 18 when the Treaty of Paris was signed The United States acquired Puerto Rico and the Philippines as well as the island of Guam and Spain relinquished its claims to Cuba in exchange the United States agreed to pay Spain 20 million 149 McKinley had difficulty convincing the Senate to approve the treaty by the requisite two thirds vote but his lobbying and that of Vice President Hobart eventually saw success as the Senate voted to ratify the treaty on February 6 1899 on a 57 to 27 vote 150 Though a significant bloc of senators opposed the treaty they were unable to unite behind an alternative to ratification 151 Cuba came under temporary American occupation which gave Army doctors under Walter Reed the chance to implement major medical reforms and eliminate yellow fever 152 153 The new American empire Edit Cuba was devastated from the war and from the long insurrection against Spanish rule and McKinley refused to recognize the Cuban rebels as the official government of the island 154 Nonetheless McKinley felt bound by the Teller Amendment and he established a military government on the island with the intention of ultimately granting Cuba independence Many Republican leaders including Roosevelt and possibly McKinley himself hoped that benevolent American leadership of Cuba would eventually convince the Cubans to voluntarily request annexation after they gained full independence Even if annexation was not achieved McKinley wanted to help establish a stable government that could resist European interference and would remain friendly to U S interests 155 With input from the McKinley administration Congress passed the Platt Amendment which stipulated conditions for U S withdrawal from the island the conditions allowed for a strong American role despite the promise of withdrawal Cuba became independent in 1902 but the U S would re occupy the island in 1906 156 McKinley also refused to recognize the native Filipino government of Emilio Aguinaldo and relations between the United States and the Aguinaldo s supporters deteriorated after the conclusion of the Spanish American War 157 McKinley believed that Aguinaldo represented just a small minority of the Filipino populace and that benevolent American rule would lead to a peaceful occupation 158 In February 1899 Filipino and American forces clashed at the Battle of Manila marking the start of the Philippine American War 159 The fighting in the Philippines engendered increasingly vocal criticism from the domestic anti imperialist movement as did the continued deployment of volunteer regiments 160 Under General Elwell Stephen Otis U S forces destroyed the rebel Filipino army but Aguinaldo turned to guerrilla tactics 161 McKinley sent a commission led by William Howard Taft to establish a civilian government and McKinley later appointed Taft as the civilian governor of the Philippines 162 The Filipino insurgency subsided with the capture of Aguinaldo in March 1901 and the U S maintained control of the islands until the 1946 Treaty of Manila 163 After Puerto Rico was devastated by the massive 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane Secretary of War Root proposed to eliminate all tariff barriers with Puerto Rico His proposal initiated a serious disagreement between the McKinley administration and Republican leaders in Congress who were wary of lowering the tariffs on the newly acquired territories Rather than relying on Democratic votes to pass a no tariff bill McKinley compromised with Republican leaders on a bill that cut tariffs on Puerto Rican goods to a fraction of the rates set by the Dingley Tariff While considering the tariff bill the Senate also began hearings on a bill to establish a civil government for Puerto Rico which the Senate passed in a party line vote McKinley signed the Foraker Act into law on April 12 1900 Under the terms of the bill all revenue collected from the tariff on Puerto Rican goods would be used for Puerto Rico and the tariff would cease to function once the government of Puerto Rico established its own taxation system 164 In the 1901 Insular Cases the Supreme Court upheld the McKinley administration s policies in the territories acquired in the Spanish American War including the establishment of Puerto Rico s government 165 China Edit Even before peace negotiations began with Spain McKinley asked Congress to set up a commission to examine trade opportunities in Asia and espoused an Open Door Policy in which all nations would freely trade with China and none would seek to violate that nation s territorial integrity 166 Secretary of State Hay circulated notes promoting the Open Door to that effect to the European powers Great Britain favored the idea but Russia opposed it France Germany Italy and Japan agreed in principle but only if all the other nations signed on 167 nbsp American soldiers scale the walls of Beijing to relieve the Siege of the International Legations August 1900American missionaries were threatened and trade with China became imperiled as the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 menaced foreigners and their property in China 168 Americans and other westerners in Peking were besieged and in cooperation with other western powers McKinley ordered 5000 troops to the city in June 1900 in the China Relief Expedition 169 The westerners were rescued the next month but several Congressional Democrats objected to McKinley dispatching troops without consulting Congress 170 McKinley s actions set a precedent that led to most of his successors exerting similar independent control over the military 169 After the rebellion ended the United States reaffirmed its commitment to the Open Door policy which became the basis of American policy toward China 171 It used the cash reparations paid by China to bring Chinese students to Americans schools 172 Planning the Panama Canal Edit Secretary of State Hay engaged in negotiations with Britain over the possible construction of a canal across Central America The Clayton Bulwer Treaty which the two nations had signed in 1850 prohibited either from establishing exclusive control over a canal there The Spanish American War had exposed the difficulty of maintaining a two ocean navy without a connection closer than Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America 173 With American business humanitarian and military interests even more involved in Asia following the Spanish American War a canal seemed more essential than ever and McKinley pressed for a renegotiation of the treaty 173 The British who were distracted by the ongoing Second Boer War agreed to negotiate a new treaty 174 Hay and the British ambassador Julian Pauncefote agreed that the United States could control a future canal provided that it was open to all shipping and not fortified McKinley was satisfied with the terms but the Senate rejected them demanding that the United States be allowed to fortify the canal Hay was embarrassed by the rebuff and offered his resignation but McKinley refused it and ordered him to continue negotiations to achieve the Senate s demands He was successful and a new treaty was drafted and approved but not before McKinley s assassination in 1901 175 McKinley also appointed the Isthmian Canal Commission which would eventually play a large role in selecting Panama over Nicaragua as the site of the Central American canal 176 The Panama Canal would eventually be completed in 1914 177 Election of 1900 Edit nbsp McKinley ran on his record of prosperity and victory in 1900 defeating Bryan by a comfortable margin Main article 1900 United States presidential election Republicans were generally successful in state and local elections around the country in 1899 making McKinley optimistic about his chances at re election heading into 1900 178 With McKinley widely popular in the Republican Party his renomination at the 1900 Republican National Convention was assured but the identity of his running mate was unclear due to the death of Vice President Hobart in 1899 179 The president personally favored Secretary of War Elihu Root or former Secretary of the Interior Cornelius Newton Bliss for the position while Governor Theodore Roosevelt Secretary of the Navy John Long Seth Low Ambassador Andrew Dickson White Senator William Allison and Congressman Jonathan P Dolliver of Iowa also stood out as potential running mates 180 When the convention began in Philadelphia in June 1900 none of the potential running mates had overwhelming support but Roosevelt had the broadest range of support from around the country 181 McKinley remained uncommitted in public but Hanna was firmly opposed to the New York governor 182 Hanna s stance was undermined by the efforts of political boss and New York Senator Thomas Platt who disliking Roosevelt s reform agenda sought to sideline the governor by making him vice president 183 On June 21 McKinley was unanimously renominated and with Hanna s reluctant acquiescence Roosevelt was nominated for vice president on the first ballot 184 The Democratic convention convened the next month in Kansas City and nominated William Jennings Bryan setting up a rematch of the 1896 contest 185 nbsp 1900 electoral vote results The candidates were the same but the issues of the campaign had shifted free silver was still a question that animated many voters but the Republicans focused on victory in war and prosperity at home as issues they believed favored their party 186 Democrats knew the war had been popular even if the imperialism issue was less sure so they focused on the issue of trusts and corporate power painting McKinley as the servant of capital and big business 187 As in 1896 Bryan embarked on a speaking tour around the country while McKinley stayed at home 188 Bryan s campaign to unseat McKinley faced several challenges including the general prosperity of the country and factionalism within the Democratic Party 189 Roosevelt emerged as the Republican campaign s primary speaker and Hanna helped the cause by settling a coal miners strike in Pennsylvania 190 Bryan s campaigning failed to excite the voters as it had in 1896 and observers expected McKinley to be re elected easily 191 On November 6 1900 McKinley won the largest victory for any Republican since 1872 192 Bryan carried only four states outside the Solid South and even lost his home state of Nebraska The reasons for the turnabout in Nebraska included prosperity the collapse of the Populist Party the intensive Republican campaign in the state and Bryan s neglect of his base 193 Nationwide turnout fell from 78 3 percent to 71 6 percent In the concurrent congressional elections Republicans kept control of both houses of Congress 194 Assassination EditMain article Assassination of William McKinley nbsp McKinley entering the Temple of Music on September 6 1901 nbsp Artist s conception of the shooting of McKinleyThe president s personal secretary George Cortelyou became concerned with the president s security after several assassinations by anarchists in Europe including the assassination of King Umberto I of Italy in 1900 Cortelyou twice tried to remove a public reception from the president s visit to the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo New York in September 1901 but McKinley refused to cancel the appearance as he enjoyed meeting with the public 195 On September 5 the president delivered his address at the Pan American Exposition before a crowd of some 50 000 people In the speech which indicated McKinley s second term plans the president urged reciprocity treaties with other nations to assure American manufacturers access to foreign markets 196 197 After the speech McKinley shook hands with a long line of visitors which included anarchist Leon Czolgosz Inspired by a speech delivered by Emma Goldman Czolgosz had come to the exposition with the intention of assassinating McKinley Czolgosz concealed a gun in his handkerchief and when he reached the head of the line shot McKinley twice in the abdomen 198 McKinley was taken to the exposition aid station where the doctor was unable to locate the second bullet 199 In the days after the shooting McKinley appeared to improve and doctors issued increasingly optimistic bulletins Members of the Cabinet who had rushed to Buffalo on hearing the news dispersed Vice President Roosevelt departed on a camping trip to the Adirondacks 200 However unknown to the doctors the gangrene that would kill McKinley was growing on the walls of his stomach slowly poisoning his blood On the morning of September 13 McKinley took a turn for the worse and at 2 15 a m on September 14 President McKinley died Theodore Roosevelt had rushed back and took the oath of office as president in Buffalo Czolgosz put on trial for murder nine days after McKinley s death was found guilty sentenced to death on September 26 and executed by electric chair on October 29 1901 201 Gould reports the nation experienced a wave of genuine grief at the news of McKinley s passing 202 The stock market faced with sudden uncertainty suffered a steep decline almost unnoticed in the mourning The nation focused its attention on the casket that made its way by train first to Washington where it lay in state in the Capitol and then to McKinley s hometown of Canton 203 A hundred thousand people passed by the open casket in the Capitol Rotunda many having waited hours in the rain in Canton an equal number did the same at the Stark County Courthouse on September 18 The following day a funeral service was held at the First Methodist Church the casket was then sealed and taken to the McKinley house where relatives paid their final respects 204 It was then transported to the receiving vault at West Lawn Cemetery in Canton to await the construction of the memorial to McKinley that was already being planned 205 Historical reputation EditMcKinley s biographer H Wayne Morgan remarks that McKinley died the most beloved president in history 206 However the young enthusiastic Roosevelt quickly captured public attention after his predecessor s death The new president made little effort to secure the trade reciprocity McKinley had intended to negotiate with other nations Controversy and public interest surrounded Roosevelt throughout the seven and a half years of his presidency as memories of McKinley faded by 1920 according to Gould McKinley s administration was deemed no more than a mediocre prelude to the vigor and energy of Theodore Roosevelt s 202 Beginning in the 1950s McKinley received more favorable evaluations nevertheless in surveys ranking American presidents he has generally been placed near the middle often trailing contemporaries such as Hayes and Cleveland 202 A 2018 poll of the American Political Science Association s Presidents and Executive Politics section ranked McKinley as the 22nd best president 207 while a 2017 C SPAN poll of historians ranked McKinley as the 16th best president 208 Morgan suggests that this relatively low ranking is due to a perception among historians that while many decisions during McKinley s presidency profoundly affected the nation s future he more followed public opinion than led it and that McKinley s standing has suffered from altered public expectations of the presidency 209 There has been broad agreement among historians that McKinley s election was at the time of a transition between two political eras dubbed the Third and Fourth Party Systems 210 Kenneth F Warren emphasizes the national commitment to a pro business industrial and modernizing program represented by McKinley 211 Historian Daniel P Klinghard argued that McKinley s personal control of the 1896 campaign gave him the opportunity to reshape the presidency rather than simply follow the party platform by representing himself as the voice of the people 3 However more recently as Republican political official Karl Rove exalted McKinley as the agent of sweeping political realignment in the 2000s some scholars such as David Mayhew questioned whether the 1896 election truly represented a realignment thereby placing in issue whether McKinley deserves credit for it 212 Historian Michael J Korzi argued in 2005 that while it is tempting to see McKinley as the key figure in the transition from congressional domination of government to the modern powerful president this change was an incremental process through the late 19th and early 20th centuries 213 A controversial aspect of McKinley s presidency is territorial expansion and the question of imperialism The U S set Cuba free and granted independence to the Philippines in 1946 Puerto Rico remains in an ambiguous status Hawaii is a state Guam remains a territory The territorial expansion of 1898 was the high water mark of American imperialism 214 Morgan sees that historical discussion as a subset of the debate over the rise of America as a world power he expects the debate over McKinley s actions to continue indefinitely without resolution and argues that however one judges McKinley s actions in American expansion one of his motivations was to change the lives of Filipinos and Cubans for the better 215 References Edit Gould pp 231 253 Gould pp 5 7 a b Klinghard pp 736 760 Jones 1964 p 103 Herbert Croly 1912 Marcus Alonzo Hanna his life and work The Macmillan Company p 191 Cherny 1997 pp 55 56 Jones 1964 p 177 a b Gould pp 10 11 a b Leech pp 85 87 Morison Samuel Eliot 1965 The Oxford History of the American People New York Oxford University Press pp 798 99 Morgan p 184 William McKinley Campaigns and Elections Miller Center of Public Affairs University of Virginia 4 October 2016 Retrieved April 24 2017 Leech p 95 Kazin p 68 Presidential Elections history com A E Networks Retrieved April 27 2017 Kazin pp 76 77 Gould pp 12 13 Walter Dean Burnham The system of 1896 An analysis in Paul Kleppner et al The evolution of American electoral systems 1981 166 69 Williams p xi The 28th Presidential Inauguration William McKinley March 4 1897 Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies Retrieved April 27 2017 Phillips pp 207 08 Nick Kapur William McKinley s Values and the Origins of the Spanish American War A Reinterpretation Presidential Studies Quarterly 41 1 2011 18 38 online Gould p 15 Horner pp 236 238 Gould p 14 Morgan pp 199 200 Gould pp 14 16 Gould pp 16 17 102 174 76 Gould pp 17 18 Morgan pp 152 153 Morgan pp 194 95 285 Leech pp 152 53 Gould pp 94 129 Gould pp 93 94 Horner pp 139 40 240 41 Connolly p 29 31 Garret A Hobart 1897 1899 Miller Center of Public Affairs University of Virginia 4 October 2016 Retrieved April 27 2017 Gould p 94 a b Semonche p 374 Pratt p 29 Galloway Jr Russell Wl 1 January 1985 The Taft Court 1921 29 Santa Clara Law Review 25 1 1 2 Retrieved 4 March 2016 Federal Judicial Center Julius W Pratt American business and the Spanish American War Hispanic American Historical Review 14 2 1934 163 201 quote p 166 The only soft spot was in the cotton goods industry Gould pp 24 Gould pp 160 164 a b Gould pp 13 a b Gould pp 26 27 Gould pp 25 26 Gould pp 39 40 Robert P Porter The Dingley Tariff Bill The North American Review 164 486 1897 576 84 in JSTOR Gould pp 40 41 Morgan pp 211 12 Gould p 41 Gould pp 42 43 Gould p 43 Gould pp 43 44 Gould pp 244 247 Dingley Tariff of 1897 History Engine 3 0 Retrieved July 24 2021 Dingley Tariff Encyclopedia com Free Online Encyclopedia Gould pp 45 47 Nichols p 586 Gould p 46 Morgan pp 218 19 Gould pp 169 172 Thomas A Bailey Was the Presidential Election of 1900 a Mandate on Imperialism Mississippi Valley Historical Review 24 1 1937 43 52 in JSTOR Richard Jensen The Winning of the Midwest Social and Political Conflict 1888 1896 1971 pp 269 308 Edward T James T V Powderly a Political Profile Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 99 4 1975 443 59 online Roger Daniels Guarding the Golden Door American Immigration Policy and Immigrants Since 1882 2004 pp 32 33 John E Wiltz APA ism in Kentucky and Elsewhere Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 56 2 1958 143 55 in JSTOR Gould pp 30 31 Paul H Buck Road to reunion 1865 1900 1938 David W Blight 2009 Race and Reunion The Civil War in American Memory Harvard UP p 266 ISBN 9780674022096 a b c Gould pp 153 54 a b Gould pp 156 57 Bacote pp 235 37 Leech p 348 Gould p 155 Gould pp 27 29 Gould pp 159 60 Phillips p 149 William McKinley Domestic Affairs Miller Center of Public Affairs University of Virginia 4 October 2016 Retrieved July 20 2021 William McKinley Key Events Miller Center of Public Affairs University of Virginia 7 October 2016 Retrieved July 20 2021 Frank Ninkovich The United States and Imperialism in Robert D Schulzinger ed A Companion to U S Foreign Relations 2006 pp 79 102 Herring pp 296 297 Herring pp 305 306 Alyn Brodsky 2000 Grover Cleveland A Study in Character Macmillan p 1 ISBN 9780312268831 Gould pp 49 50 Gould pp 48 50 Osborne pp 285 297 Osborne pp 299 301 Morgan p 225 Hilary Conroy The Japanese Frontier in Hawaii 1868 1898 U of California Press 1953 Thomas J Osborne The Main Reason for Hawaiian Annexation in July 1898 Oregon Historical Quarterly 1970 71 2 pp 161 178 in JSTOR William Michael Morgan The anti Japanese origins of the Hawaiian Annexation treaty of 1897 Diplomatic History 6 1 1982 23 44 online Bailey Thomas A 1937 Was the Presidential Election of 1900 a Mandate on Imperialism Mississippi Valley Historical Review 24 1 43 52 doi 10 2307 1891336 JSTOR 1891336 Henry F Graff 2002 Grover Cleveland Macmillan p 121 ISBN 9780805069235 Fred H Harrington The Anti Imperialist Movement in the United States 1898 1900 Mississippi Valley Historical Review 22 2 1935 211 230 online Fred Harvey Harrington Literary Aspects of American Anti Imperialism 1898 1902 New England Quarterly 10 4 1937 pp 650 67 online Robert L Beisner Twelve Against Empire The Anti Imperialists 1898 1900 1968 The 1897 Petition Against the Annexation of Hawaii National Archives 15 August 2016 Warren Zimmermann Jingoes Goo Goos and the Rise of America s Empire The Wilson Quarterly 1976 22 2 1998 42 65 Online William Michael Morgan Pacific Gibraltar U S Japanese Rivalry Over the Annexation of Hawaii 1885 1898 2011 pp 200 1 see online review Herring pp 317 318 Gould pp 98 99 a b Morgan p 223 Robert L Beisner ed 2003 American Foreign Relations Since 1600 A Guide to the Literature ABC CLIO p 414 ISBN 9781576070802 Offner pp 51 52 Gould p 61 George W Auxier The propaganda activities of the Cuban Junta in precipitating the Spanish American War 1895 1898 Hispanic American Historical Review 19 3 1939 286 305 in JSTOR Gould pp 64 65 Gould pp 65 66 Gould pp 68 70 Julius W Pratt American business and the Spanish American War Hispanic American Historical Review 14 2 1934 163 201 in JSTOR quote on p 168 Bloodworth 2009 pp 135 157 Donald H Dyal et al eds 1996 Historical Dictionary of the Spanish American War p 114 ISBN 9780313288524 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a author has generic name help Gould p 71 74 Leech pp 171 72 Leech p 173 Gould pp 78 79 Gould pp 79 81 Gould pp 86 87 Sylvia L Hilton and Steve Ickringill European Perceptions of the Spanish American War of 1898 Peter Lang 1999 Offner p 58 59 See William McKinley First Annual Message December 6 1897 Jules R Benjamin says The liberation theme has been the one around which the intervention has been understood by most U S historians Benjamin Feature Review Diplomatic history September 2000 24 4 page 655 Perez has a different view emphasizing the central role of American self interest Louis A Perez Jr review in Journal of American History Dec 2006 p 889 See more detail in Perez The War of 1898 The United States and Cuba in History and Historiography 1998 pp 23 56 Perez 1998 pp 46 47 Robert Endicott Osgood Ideals and self interest in America s foreign relations The great transformation of the twentieth century 1953 p 43 Joseph A Fry William McKinley and the coming of the Spanish American War A study of the besmirching and redemption of an historical image Diplomatic History 3 1 1979 77 98 Robert L Beisner From the Old Diplomacy to the New 1865 1900 New York 1975 p 114 Joseph A Fry William McKinley and the Coming of the Spanish American War A Study of the Besmirching and Redemption of an Historical Image Diplomatic History 1979 3 1 p 96 Gould pp 91 93 Gould pp 102 03 Gould pp 103 105 David W BUght Race and Reunion The Civil War in American Memory 2001 pp 350 54 Robert J Norrell Up from History The Life of Booker T Washington 2009 pp 164 168 69 289 Gould pp 94 96 David P Barrows The Governor General of the Philippines Under Spain and the United States American Historical Review 21 2 1916 288 311 online Paolo E Coletta McKinley the Peace Negotiations and the Acquisition of the Philippines Pacific Historical Review 30 4 1961 341 50 Gould pp 104 106 Gould pp 106 108 Vincent J Cirillo Bullets and Bacilli The Spanish American War and Military Medicine Rutgers UP 2004 Kazin pp 86 89 Leech pp 249 52 Angus Konstam San Juan Hill 1898 America s emergence as a world power Bloomsbury 2013 Edmund Morris The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt 1979 pp 646 743 Jim Leeke Manila and Santiago The New Steel Navy in the Spanish American War Naval Institute Press 2013 a b Gould pp 110 12 a b Gould pp 112 13 John Offner The United States and France Ending the Spanish American War Diplomatic History 7 1 1983 1 22 Fred H Harrington The Anti Imperialist Movement in the United States 1898 1900 Mississippi Valley Historical Review 1935 22 2 pp 211 30 in JSTOR Ephraim K Smith A Question from Which We Could Not Escape William McKinley and the Decision to Acquire the Philippine Islands Diplomatic History 9 4 1985 363 75 a b Gould pp 118 19 Gould pp 120 21 Gould pp 142 143 Gould pp 144 50 Morgan p 320 Gould pp 149 150 Graham A Cosmas Securing the Fruits of Victory The US Army Occupies Cuba 1898 1899 Military Affairs The Journal of Military History 1974 85 91 John R Pierce Yellow jack how yellow fever ravaged America and Walter Reed discovered its deadly secrets Wiley 2005 Gould pp 128 129 Gould pp 189 191 Gould pp 238 240 Gould pp 146 147 Gould pp 180 181 Gould pp 149 151 Gould pp 182 184 Gould pp 185 186 Gould pp 186 236 Gould pp 236 237 Gould pp 208 212 Gould p 248 Yoneyuki Sugita The Rise of an American Principle in China A Reinterpretation of the First Open Door Notes toward China in Sugita ed Trans Pacific relations America Europe and Asia in the twentieth century 2003 3 20 Gould pp 202 04 Diana Preston The Boxer Rebellion The Dramatic story of China s war on foreigners that shook the world in the summer of 1900 Bloomsbury 2000 a b Lafeber p 714 Gould pp 220 22 Gould p 233 Teresa Brawner Bevis and Christopher J Lucas International students in American colleges and universities A history Macmillan 2007 pp 63 73 a b Gould pp 196 98 Gould pp 198 199 McCullough pp 256 59 Gould pp 197 198 John Taliaferro All the Great Prizes The Life of John Hay from Lincoln to Roosevelt Simon and Schuster 2013 Gould pp 207 208 Gould pp 213 217 Gould pp 215 216 Gould pp 215 217 Leech pp 531 533 Horner pp 260 266 Leech pp 540 542 Gould pp 219 220 Gould pp 226 227 Leech pp 543 544 Gould pp 227 228 Leech pp 544 546 Leech pp 549 557 Gould pp 227 228 Gould p 228 Gould p 229 Leech p 558 Leech p 559 John W Bailey Jr The Presidential Election of 1900 in Nebraska McKinley Over Bryan Nebraska History 54 4 1973 560 584 Gould pp 229 230 Miller p 294 Miller pp 298 300 Gould pp 250 251 Miller pp 300 301 Leech pp 596 597 Miller pp 312 315 Miller pp 315 317 Morgan pp 401 402 Miller pp 321 330 a b c Gould p 252 Morgan pp 402 403 McElroy p 167 Morgan p 403 Morgan p 404 Rottinghaus Brandon Vaughn Justin S 19 February 2018 How Does Trump Stack Up Against the Best and Worst Presidents New York Times Retrieved 14 May 2018 Presidential Historians Survey 2017 C SPAN Retrieved 14 May 2018 Morgan p 472 Nice p 448 Kenneth F Warren 2008 Encyclopedia of U S Campaigns Elections and Electoral Behavior SAGE p 211 ISBN 978 1 4129 5489 1 Rauchway pp 242 244 Korzi p 281 Phillips p 99 Morgan p 468 Works cited Edit Bacote Clarence A July 1959 Negro officeholders in Georgia under President McKinley The Journal of Negro History 44 3 217 239 doi 10 2307 2716432 JSTOR 2716432 S2CID 150351395 Bailey Thomas A Was the Presidential Election of 1900 a Mandate on Imperialism Mississippi Valley Historical Review 24 1 1937 43 52 in JSTOR Bloodworth Jeffrey 2009 For Love or for Money William Mckinley and the Spanish American War White House Studies 9 2 135 157 Cherny Robert W 1997 American Politics in the Gilded Age 1868 1900 Hoboken NJ Wiley Blackwell Connolly Michael J 2010 I Make Politics My Recreation Vice President Garret A Hobart and Nineteenth Century Republican Business Politics New Jersey History 125 1 29 31 doi 10 14713 njh v125i1 1019 Gould Lewis L 1980 The Presidency of William McKinley American Presidency Lawrence Kansas University Press of Kansas ISBN 978 0 7006 0206 3 Herring George 2008 From Colony to Superpower U S Foreign Relations Since 1776 Oxford University Press Horner William T 2010 Ohio s Kingmaker Mark Hanna Man and Myth Athens Ohio Ohio University Press ISBN 978 0 8214 1894 9 Jensen Richard 1971 The Winning of the Midwest Social and Political Conflict 1888 1896 Chicago The University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0 226 39825 9 Jones Stanley L 1964 The Presidential Election of 1896 Madison University of Wisconsin Press Kazin Michael 2006 A Godly Hero The Life of William Jennings Bryan Knopf ISBN 978 0375411359 Klinghard Daniel P 2005 Grover Cleveland William McKinley and the Emergence of the President as Party Leader Presidential Studies Quarterly 35 4 736 760 doi 10 1111 j 1741 5705 2005 00274 x JSTOR 27552726 Korzi Michael J January 2004 A New Migration of Political Forces Party Decline and Presidential Leadership in Late Nineteenth Century America Polity 36 2 251 282 doi 10 1086 POLv36n2ms3235481 JSTOR 3235481 S2CID 157657655 Lafeber Walter 1986 The Lion in the Path The U S Emergence as a World Power Political Science Quarterly 101 5 705 718 doi 10 2307 2150973 JSTOR 2150973 Leech Margaret 1959 In the Days of McKinley New York Harper and Brothers OCLC 456809 McCullough David 1977 The Path Between the Seas The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870 1914 New York Touchstone ISBN 978 0 671 24409 5 McElroy Richard L 1996 William McKinley and Our America Canton Ohio Stark County Historical Society ISBN 978 0 9634712 1 5 Miller Scott 2011 The President and the Assassin New York Random House ISBN 978 1 4000 6752 7 Morgan H Wayne 2003 William McKinley and His America revised ed The Kent State University Press ISBN 978 0 87338 765 1 Nice David C September 1984 The Influence of War and Party System Aging on the Ranking of Presidents The Western Political Quarterly 37 3 443 455 doi 10 2307 448445 JSTOR 448445 Nichols Jeannette P December 1933 Silver Diplomacy Political Science Quarterly 48 4 565 588 doi 10 2307 2142930 JSTOR 2142930 Offner John L March 2004 McKinley and the Spanish American War Presidential Studies Quarterly 34 1 50 61 doi 10 1111 j 1741 5705 2004 00034 x JSTOR 27552563 Osborne Thomas J August 1981 Trade or War America s Annexation of Hawaii Reconsidered Pacific Historical Review 50 3 285 307 doi 10 2307 3639601 JSTOR 3639601 Phillips Kevin 2003 William McKinley New York Times Books ISBN 978 0 8050 6953 2 Pratt Walter F 1999 The Supreme Court under Edward Douglass White 1910 1921 Columbia SC University of South Carolina Press ISBN 978 1 57003 309 4 Rauchway Eric July 2005 William McKinley and Us The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 4 3 235 253 doi 10 1017 S1537781400002644 JSTOR 25144402 S2CID 162552066 Semonche John E 2009 McKenna Joseph In Newman Roger K ed The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law New Haven Connecticut Yale University Press ISBN 978 0 300 11300 6 Williams R Hal 2010 Realigning America McKinley Bryan and the Remarkable Election of 1896 Lawrence Kansas University Press of Kansas ISBN 978 0 7006 1721 0 Further reading EditMain article Bibliography on William McKinley Books Edit Anthony Carl Sferrazza Ida McKinley The Turn of the Century First Lady Through War Assassination and Secret Disability 2013 excerpt Auxier George W The Cuban question as reflected in the editorial columns of Middle Western newspapers 1895 1898 PhD dissertation Ohio State University 1938 complete text online Dobson John M Reticent Expansionism The Foreign Policy of William McKinley 1988 Gould Lewis L The Spanish American War and President McKinley University Press of Kansas 1982 online Grenville John A S and George Berkeley Young Politics Strategy and American Diplomacy Studies in Foreign Policy 1873 1917 1966 pp 239 66 on The breakdown of neutrality McKinley goes to war with Spain Harpine William D 2005 From the Front Porch to the Front Page McKinley and Bryan in the 1896 Presidential Campaign College Station Texas Texas A amp M University Press ISBN 978 1 58544 559 2 Hilderbrand Robert C Power and the People Executive Management of Public Opinion in Foreign Affairs 1897 1921 U of North Carolina Press 1981 Justesen Benjamin R Forgotten Legacy William McKinley George Henry White and the Struggle for Black Equality LSU Press 2020 excerpt Merry Robert W President McKinley Architect of the American Century Simon and Schuster 2017 excerpt also online review Olcott Charles 1916 The Life of William McKinley 2 vol Boston Houghton Mifflin the life of william mckinley olcutt Peifer Douglas Carl Choosing War Presidential Decisions in the Maine Lusitania and Panay Incidents Oxford UP 2016 Phillips Kevin William McKinley The American Presidents Series The 25th President 1897 1901 Times Books 2014 Ponder Stephen Managing the press Origins of the Media Presidency 1897 1933 Macmillan 1999 Rhodes James Ford The McKinley and Roosevelt Administrations 1897 1909 1922 444pp online free Rove Karl The Triumph of William McKinley Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters Simon and Schuster 2015 excerpt Sturgis Amy H ed Presidents from Hayes Through McKinley Debating the Issues in Pro and Con Primary Documents Greenwood 2003 Taliaferro John All the Great Prizes The Life of John Hay from Lincoln to Roosevelt Simon and Schuster 2013 Vestner Eliot Ragtime in the White House War Race and the Presidency in the Time of William McKinley Simon and Schuster 2020 White Leonard D The Republican Era 1869 1901 A Study in Administrative History 1958 history of federal agencies no politics Articles Edit Auxier George W The propaganda activities of the Cuban Junta in precipitating the Spanish American War 1895 1898 Hispanic American Historical Review 19 3 1939 286 305 online Baker Richard B Carola Frydman and Eric Hilt From Plutocracy to Progressivism The Assassination of President McKinley as a Turning Point in American History Yale University 2014 online Childers Jay P The Democratic Balance President McKinley s Assassination as Domestic Trauma Quarterly Journal of Speech 99 2 2013 156 179 online Coletta Paolo E Bryan McKinley and the Treaty of Paris Pacific Historical Review 1957 131 146 in JSTOR Fry Joseph A William McKinley and the coming of the Spanish American War A study of the besmirching and redemption of an historical image Diplomatic History 3 1 1979 77 98 https doi org 10 1111 j 1467 7709 1979 tb00302 x Graff Henry F ed The Presidents A Reference History 3rd ed 2002 online Hamilton Richard F McKinley s Backbone Presidential Studies Quarterly 36 3 2006 482 492 On Cuba Holbo Paul S Presidential leadership in foreign affairs William McKinley and the Turpie Foraker Amendment American Historical Review 72 4 1967 1321 1335 in JSTOR Kapur Nick William McKinley s Values and the Origins of the Spanish American War A Reinterpretation Presidential Studies Quarterly 41 1 2011 18 38 https doi org 10 1111 j 1741 5705 2010 03829 x McCormick Thomas May 1963 Insular Imperialism and the Open Door The China Market and the Spanish American War Pacific Historical Review 32 2 155 169 doi 10 2307 4492154 JSTOR 4492154 Lind Michael Review Reassessing McKinley The National Interest No 152 November December 2017 pp 69 82 online McCartney Paul T Religion the Spanish American War and the idea of American mission Journal of Church and State54 2 2012 257 278 online Miller III John W President McKinley and American Imperialism A Study on United States Foreign and Domestic Policy in the Philippines 1898 1900 by Defense Technical Information Center 1998 online Morgan H Wayne William McKinley as a political leader Review of Politics 28 4 1966 417 432 in JSTOR Offner John L McKinley and the Spanish American War Presidential Studies Quarterly 34 1 2004 50 61 https doi org 10 1111 j 1741 5705 2004 00034 x Offner John United States Politics and the 1898 War over Cuba in Angel Smith and Emma Davilla Cox eds The Crisis of 1898 Palgrave Macmillan UK 1999 pp 18 44 Saldin Robert P William McKinley and the Rhetorical Presidency Presidential Studies Quarterly 41 1 2011 119 134 online Smith Ephraim K William McKinley s Enduring Legacy The Historiographical Debate on the Taking of the Philippine Islands in Crucible of Empire ed James C Bradford 1993 pp 205 49 Online Biographical Dictionary of the Federal Judiciary Washington D C Federal Judicial Center Retrieved March 4 2012 searches run from page select research categories then check court type and nominating president then select U S District Courts or U S Circuit Courts and also William McKinley External links EditPresidency of William McKinley at Wikipedia s sister projects nbsp Media from Commons nbsp Quotations from Wikiquote nbsp Texts from Wikisource Official William McKinley Presidential Library and MuseumUnited States Department of State Papers relating to the foreign relations of the United States with the annual message of the president transmitted to Congress December 6 1897 1898 1899 1800 1901Speeches Text of a number of McKinley speeches Miller Center of Public AffairsMedia coverage Presidency of William McKinley collected news and commentary at The New York TimesOther William McKinley A Resource Guide Library of Congress Extensive essays on William McKinley and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs McKinley Assassination Ink a documentary history of William McKinley s assassination Life Portrait of William McKinley from C SPAN s American Presidents Life Portraits August 23 1999 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Presidency of William McKinley amp oldid 1177370597, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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