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William McKinley, Jr. (January 29, 1843 September 14, 1901) was the 25th President of the United States, and the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected.
By the 1880s, McKinley was a national Republican leader; his signature issue was high tariffs on imports as a formula for prosperity, as typified by his McKinley Tariff of 1890. As the Republican candidate in the 1896 presidential election, he upheld the gold standard, and promoted pluralism among ethnic groups.
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Quotations
Expositions are the timekeepers of progress.
Speech delivered at the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, New York (September 5, 1901)
Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously vouchsafe prosperity, happiness, and peace to all our neighbors, and like blessings to all the peoples and powers of earth.
Speech delivered at the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, New York (September 5, 1901)
Encyclopedia
William McKinley, Jr. (January 29, 1843 September 14, 1901) was the 25th President of the United States, and the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected.
By the 1880s, McKinley was a national Republican leader; his signature issue was high tariffs on imports as a formula for prosperity, as typified by his McKinley Tariff of 1890. As the Republican candidate in the 1896 presidential election, he upheld the gold standard, and promoted pluralism among ethnic groups. His campaign, designed by Mark Hanna, introduced new advertising-style campaign techniques that revolutionized campaign practices and beat back the crusading of his arch-rival, William Jennings Bryan. The 1896 election is often considered a realigning election that marked the beginning of the Progressive Era.
McKinley presided over a return to prosperity after the Panic of 1893 and was reelected in 1900 after another intense campaign against Bryan, this one focused on foreign policy. As president, he fought the Spanish-American War. McKinley for months resisted the public demand for war, which was based on news of Spanish atrocities in Cuba, but was unable to get Spain to agree to implement reforms immediately. Later he annexed the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam, as well as Hawaii, and set up a protectorate over Cuba. He was assassinated by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, and succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt.
Early life
Born in Niles, Ohio, on January 29, 1843, William McKinley was the seventh of nine children. His parents, William and Nancy (Allison) McKinley, were of Scots-Irish and English ancestry. When McKinley was nine years old, he moved to Poland, Ohio, where he attended Poland Seminary. He graduated from Poland Seminary and attended Mount Union College, where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, and attended Allegheny College for one term in 1860.
In June 1861, at the start of the American Civil War, he enlisted in the Union Army, as a private in the . The regiment was sent to western Virginia, where it spent a year fighting small Confederate units. His superior officer, another future U.S. President, Rutherford B. Hayes, promoted McKinley to commissary sergeant for his bravery in battle. For driving a mule team delivering rations under enemy fire at Antietam, Hayes promoted him to Second Lieutenant. This pattern repeated several times during the war, and McKinley eventually mustered out as Captain and brevet major of the same regiment in September 1865. In 1869, the year he entered politics, McKinley met and began courting his future wife, Ida Saxton, marrying her two years later when she was 23 and he was 28. Within the first three years of their marriage the McKinleys would have two daughters, Katherine and Ida, but neither child lived to see the age of five.
Legal and early political career
Following the war, McKinley attended Albany Law School in Albany, New York and was admitted to the bar in 1867. He practiced law in Canton, and served as prosecuting attorney of Stark County from 1869 to 1871. In June 1876, 33 striking miners in the employ of the industrialist Mark Hanna were imprisoned for rioting when Hanna brought in strikebreakers to do the work. McKinley chose to defend the miners in court, and was able to get all but one of them set free. When the miners came to McKinley to pay their legal fees, he refused to accept their money, which they had barely been able to scrape together. He first became active in the Republican party when he made "speeches in the Canton area for his old commander, Rutherford Hayes, then running for governor" in the state of Ohio.
United States House of Representatives
With the help of Rutherford B. Hayes, McKinley was elected as a Republican to the United States House of Representatives for Ohio, and first served from 1877 to 1882, and second from 1885 to 1891. He was chairman of the Committee on Revision of the Laws from 1881 to 1883. He presented his credentials as a member-elect to the 48th Congress and served from March 4, 1883, until May 27, 1884. He was succeeded by Jonathan H. Wallace, who successfully contested his election. McKinley was again elected to the House of Representatives and served from March 4, 1885 to March 4, 1891. He was chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means from 1889 to 1891. In 1890, he authored the McKinley Tariff, which raised rates to the highest in history, devastating his party in the off-year Democratic landslide of 1890. He lost his seat by the narrow margin of 300 votes, partly due to the unpopular tariff bill and partly due to gerrymandering.
Governor of Ohio
After leaving Congress, McKinley won the governorship of Ohio in 1891, defeating Democrat James E. Campbell; he was reelected in 1893 over Lawrence T. Neal. He was an unsuccessful presidential hopeful in 1892 but campaigned for the reelection of President Benjamin Harrison. As governor, he imposed an excise tax on corporations, secured safety legislation for transportation workers and restricted anti-union practices of employers.
In 1895, a community of severely impoverished miners in Hocking Valley telegraphed Governor McKinley to report their plight, writing, "Immediate relief needed." Within five hours, McKinley had paid, out of his own pocket, for a railroad car full of food and other supplies to be sent to the miners. He then proceeded to contact the Chambers of Commerce in every major city in the state, instructing them to investigate the number of citizens living below poverty level. When reports returned revealing large numbers of starving Ohioans, the governor headed a charity drive and raised enough money to feed, clothe, and supply more than 10,000 people.
The 1896 election
Governor McKinley left office in early 1896 and, at the instigation of his friend Marcus Hanna began actively campaigning for the Republican party's presidential nomination. After sweeping the 1894 congressional elections, Republican prospects appeared bright at the start of 1896. The Democratic Party was split on the issue of silver and many voters blamed the nation's economic woes on incumbent Grover Cleveland. McKinley's well-known expertise on the tariff issue, successful record as governor, and genial personality appealed to many Republican voters. His major opponent for the nomination, House Speaker Thomas B. Reed of Maine, had acquired too many enemies within the party over his political career, and his supporters could not compete with Hanna's organization. After winning the nomination, he went home and conducted his famous "front porch campaign." Hanna, a wealthy industrialist, headed the McKinley campaign. His opponent was William Jennings Bryan, who ran on a single issue of "free silver" and money. McKinley was against silver because it was a debased currency and overseas markets used gold, so it would harm foreign trade. McKinley promised that he would promote industry and banking and guarantee prosperity for every group in a pluralistic nation. A Democratic cartoon ridiculed the promise, saying it would rock the boat. McKinley replied that the protective tariff would bring prosperity to all groups, city and country alike, while Bryan's free silver would create inflation but no new jobs, would bankrupt railroads, and would permanently damage the economy. McKinley was able to succeed in getting votes from the urban areas and ethnic labor groups. Campaign manager Hanna raised $3.5 million from big business, and adopted newly invented advertising techniques to spread McKinley's message. Although Bryan had been ahead in August, McKinley's counter-crusade put him on the defensive and gigantic parades for McKinley in every major city a few days before the election undercut Bryan's allegations that workers were coerced to vote for McKinley. He defeated Bryan by a large margin. His appeal to all classes marked a realignment of American politics. His success in industrial cities gave the Republican party a grip on the north comparable to that of the Democrats in the south.
Presidency 1897-1901
Domestic policies
McKinley's inauguration marked the beginning of the greatest movement of consolidation that American business had ever seen. He validated his claim as the "advance agent of prosperity" when the year 1897 brought a revival of business, agriculture and general prosperity. This was due in part to the end, at least for the time, of political suspense and agitation, in part to the confidence which capitalists felt in the new Administration.
On June 16, 1897, a treaty was signed annexing the Republic of Hawai'i to the United States. The Government of Hawai'i speedily ratified this, but it lacked the necessary 2/3 vote in the U.S. Senate. The solution was to annex Hawai'i by joint resolution, which required only a simple majority of both houses of Congress. The resolution provided for the assumption by the United States of the Hawaiian debt up to $4,000,000. The Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) was extended to the islands, and Chinese immigration from Hawai'i to the mainland was prohibited. The joint resolution passed on July 6, 1898, a majority of the Democrats and several Republicans, among these Speaker Reed, opposing. Shelby M. Cullom, John T. Morgan, Robert R. Hitt, Sanford B. Dole, and Walter F. Frear, made commissioners by its authority, drafted a territorial form of government, which became law April 30, 1900.
In Civil Service administration, McKinley reformed the system in order to make it more flexible in critical areas. The Republican platform, adopted after President Cleveland's extension of the merit system, emphatically endorsed this, as did McKinley himself. Against extreme pressure, particularly in the Department of War, the President resisted until May 29, 1899. His order of that date withdrew from the classified service 4,000 or more positions, removed 3,500 from the class theretofore filled through competitive examination or an orderly practice of promotion, and placed 6,416 more under a system drafted by the Secretary of War. The order declared regular a large number of temporary appointments made without examination, besides rendering eligible, as emergency appointees, without examination, thousands who had served during the Spanish War.
Republicans pointed to the deficit under the Wilson Law with much the same concern manifested by President Grover Cleveland in 1888 over the surplus. A new tariff law must be passed, and, if possible, before a new Congressional election. An extra session of Congress was therefore summoned for March 15, 1897. The Ways and Means Committee, which had been at work for three months, forthwith reported through Chairman Nelson Dingley the bill which bore his name. With equal promptness the Committee on Rules brought in a rule, at once adopted by the House, whereby the new bill, in spite of Democratic pleas for time to examine, discuss, and propose amendments, reached the Senate the last day of March. More deliberation marked procedure in the Senate. This body passed the bill after toning up its schedules with some 870 amendments, most of which pleased the Conference Committee and became law. The act was signed by the President July 24, 1897. The Dingley Act was estimated by its author to advance the average rate from the 40 percent of the Wilson Bill to approximately 50 percent, or a shade higher than the McKinley rate. As proportioned to consumption the tax imposed by it was probably heavier than that under either of its predecessors.
Reciprocity, a feature of the McKinley Tariff, was suspended by the Wilson Act. The Republican platform of 1896 declared protection and reciprocity twin measures of Republican policy. Clauses graced the Dingley Act allowing reciprocity treaties to be made, "duly ratified" by the Senate and "approved" by Congress.Under the third section of the Act some concessions were given and received, but the treaties negotiated under the fourth section, which involved lowering of strictly protective duties, met summary defeat when submitted to the Senate.
Foreign policies
McKinley hoped to make American producers supreme in world markets, and so his administration had a push for those foreign markets, which included the annexation of Hawaii and interests in China. While serving as a Congressman, McKinley had been an advocate for the annexation of Hawaii because he wanted to Americanize it and establish a naval base, but he was unable to get the two-thirds vote. One notable observer of the time, Henry Adams, declared that the nation at this time was ruled by "McKinleyism", a "system of combinations, consolidations, and trusts realized at home and abroad." Many of his diplomatic appointments went to political friends such as former Carnegie Steel president John George Alexander Leishman (minister to Switzerland and Turkey).
During this time there were some overseas conflicts, mainly with Spain. The U.S. had interests in Cuba, the Philippines, Hawaii and China. McKinley did not want to fully annex Cuba, just control it. In the Philippines, he wanted a base there to deal with China that would give the U.S. a voice in Asian affairs. Stories began to emerge of horrible atrocities committed in Cuba and of Spain's use of concentration camps and brutal military force to quash the Cubans' rebellion. Spain began to show it was no longer in control as rebellions within the rebellion broke out. The Spanish repeatedly promised new reforms, then repeatedly postponed them. American public opinion against Spain became heated, and created a demand for war coming mostly from Democrats and the sensationalist yellow journalism of William Randolph Hearst's newspapers. McKinley and the business community opposed the growing public demand for war, aided by House Speaker Reed.
As a matter of protection for U.S. interests around Havana, a new warship, the U.S.S. Maine, was dispatched to Havana harbor. On February 15, 1898, it mysteriously exploded and sank, causing the deaths of 260 men. (In 1950, the Navy ruled that "the Maine had been sunk by a faulty boiler" and not by attack as was assumed at the time). Public opinion heated up and a greater demand for war ensued. McKinley turned the matter over to Congress, which voted for war, and gave Spain an ultimatum for an armistice and a permanent peace. Although the Army was poorly prepared, militia and national guard units rushed to the colors, most notably Theodore Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders." The naval war in Cuba and the Philippines was a success, the easiest and most profitable war in U.S. history, and after 113 days, Spain agreed to peace terms at the Treaty of Paris in July. Secretary of state John Hay called it a "splendid little war." The United States gained ownership of Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico, and temporary control over Cuba. McKinley had said, "we need Hawaii just as much as we did California", and Hawaii was annexed (see above). McKinley had begun by wanting only a naval base in the Philippines at Manila; in the end, he decided to take all of the Philippines, a move that led to the Philippine-American War.
Throughout these ordeals, McKinley controlled American policy and news with an "iron hand". McKinley was the first president to have the use of telephones and telegraphs giving him access to battlefield commanders and reporters in mere minutes, and he used this to his full advantage. These ordeals also gave life to an Anti-Imperialist League movement at home.
Election of 1900
McKinley was re-elected in 1900, this time with foreign policy paramount. Bryan had demanded war with Spain (and volunteered as a soldier), but strongly opposed annexation of the Philippines. He was also running on the same issue of free silver as he did before, but since the silver debate was ended with the passage of the Gold Standard Act of 1900, McKinley easily won re-election.
Significant events during presidency
Administration and cabinet
Judicial appointments
Supreme Court
McKinley appointed the following Justice to the Supreme Court of the United States:
Other judges
In addition to his Supreme Court appointment, McKinley appointed six judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 28 judges to the United States district courts.
Assassination
President and Mrs. McKinley attended the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. He delivered a speech about his positions on tariffs and foreign trade on September 5, 1901. On the second day, McKinley was at the Temple of Music, greeting the public. Leon Frank Czolgosz waited in line with a pistol in his right hand concealed by a handkerchief. At 4:07 P.M. Czolgosz fired twice at the president. The first bullet grazed the president's shoulder. The second, however, went through McKinley's stomach, pancreas, and kidney, and finally lodged in the muscles of his back. The president whispered to his secretary, George Cortelyou “My wife, Cortelyou, be careful how you tell her, oh be careful.” Czolgosz would have fired again, but he was struck by a bystander and then subdued by an enraged crowd. The wounded McKinley even called out "Boys! Don't let them hurt him!" because the angry crowd beat Czolgosz so severely it looked as if they might kill him on the spot.
One bullet was easily found and extracted, but doctors were unable to locate the second bullet. It was feared that the search for the bullet, using the medical techniques of the time, might cause more harm than good. In addition, McKinley appeared to be recovering, so doctors decided to leave the bullet where it was.
The newly-developed X-ray machine was displayed at the fair, but doctors were reluctant to use it on McKinley to search for the bullet because they did not know what side effects it might have on him. The operating room at the exposition's emergency hospital did not have any electric lighting, even though the exteriors of many of the buildings at the extravagant exposition were covered with thousands of light bulbs. The surgeons were unable to operate by candlelight because of the danger created by the flammable ether used to keep the president unconscious. So the doctors were forced to use pans instead to reflect sunlight onto the operating table while they treated McKinley's wounds.
McKinley's doctors believed he would recover, and the President convalesced for more than a week in Buffalo at the home of the exposition's director. On the morning of September 12, he felt strong enough to receive his first food orally since the shooting—toast and a small cup of coffee. However, by afternoon he began to experience discomfort and his condition rapidly worsened. McKinley began to go into shock. At 2:15 A.M. on September 14, 1901, eight days after he was shot, he died from gangrene surrounding his wounds. His last words were "It is God's way; His will be done, not ours.". He was buried in Canton, Ohio.
Czolgosz was tried and found guilty of murder, and was executed by electric chair at Auburn Prison on October 29, 1901.
Image:Temple of Music postcard.jpg|"Temple of Music, Buffalo, N.Y. (Where Pres. McKinley was shot)," historical postcard.
Image:McKinley last photo.jpg|McKinley on steps of Temple of Music.
Image:McKinleyAssassination.jpg|Leon Czolgosz shoots President McKinley with a concealed revolver.
Image:McKinley Capitol casket.jpg|McKinley casket at Capitol.
Image:McKinley passing Treasury.jpg|McKinley's remains passing Treasury building.
Monuments and memorials
A funeral was held at the Milburn Mansion in Buffalo, after which the body was removed to Buffalo City Hall where it lay in-state for a public viewing. It was taken later to the White House, United States Capitol and finally to the late President's home in Canton for a memorial. Memorials for the President were held in London, England at Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral.
- William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum, Canton, Ohio.
- McKinley Memorial Mausoleum, Canton, Ohio, his final resting place.
- National McKinley Birthplace Memorial Library and Museum, Niles, Ohio, designed by McKim, Mead and White, dedicated October 5, 1917.
- McKinley Birthplace Home and Research Center, Niles, Ohio, a reconstruction on the site where he was born.
- The statue of McKinley in Muskegon, Ohio is believed to be the first raised in his honor in the country, put in place on May 23, 1902. It was sculpted by Charles Henry Niehaus.
- At Bluff Point, near Plattsburgh, New York, a small monument topped with a memorial urn was erected following the assassination at the site of a large pine tree, known locally as the "McKinley Pine." Beneath this tree, the President would often relax while summering at the nearby Hotel Champlain. One year after the assassination, the tree was struck by lightning and destroyed. Little remains of the monument today.
- McKinley Classical Junior Academy, middle school in St. Louis, Missouri.
- McKinley Monument, Buffalo, New York.
- McKinley Monument, Springfield, Massachusetts.
- McKinley Monument, Scranton, Pennsylvania.
- McKinley Statue, Adams, Massachusetts.
- McKinley County, New Mexico is named in his honor.
- Mount McKinley, Alaska is named after him.
- McKinley Statue, Arcata, California.
- McKinleyville, California.
- McKinley Statue, Dayton-Montgomery County Public Library, Dayton, Ohio.
- McKinley Statue, Walden, New York.
- McKinley Memorial, Redlands, California commemorates visit by the President.
- McKinley Monument, Antietam Battlefield, Maryland.
- McKinley Statue, Lucas County Courthouse Toledo, Ohio.
- McKinley Monument, Columbus, Ohio on the grounds of the Statehouse McKinley worked in as Ohio's Governor.
- McKinley Statue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania outside Philadelphia City Hall.
- Calle McKinley (McKinley Street), Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
- McKinley Vocational High School, Buffalo, New York.
- McKinley Parkway, part of the Frederick Law Olmsted Park System of Buffalo, New York.
- McKinley Mall, Blasdell, New York (Southtown of Erie County, New York).
- William McKinley Junior High School, Bay Ridge, New York.
- McKinley Elementary Schools: Elgin, Illinois; Toledo, Ohio; Marion, Ohio; Lakewood, Ohio; Fort Gratiot, Michigan; Port Huron, Michigan; Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan; Casper, Wyoming; Bakersfield, California; Corona, California; Redlands, California; Beaverton, Oregon; Arlington, VA; Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; Parkersburg, West Virginia; York, Pennsylvania; Wyandotte, Michigan; Tacoma, Washington;and Cadillac, Michigan.
- McKinley High Schools: Washington, D.C.; Honolulu, Hawaii; Canton, Ohio; Niles, Ohio; Sebring, Ohio; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Saint Louis, Missouri (now McKinley Middle Classical Leadership Academy).
 - McKinley Street, Dearborn, MI.
- McKinley Avenue, Tacoma, WA.
- McKinley's, a cafeteria in the Campus Center building at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, where President McKinley briefly attended as an undergraduate student.
- The $500 bill featured a portrait of William McKinley.
- McKinley Park in Soudan, Minnesota: a state park and campground named in his honor.
- Obelisk that was created to honor a visit from McKinley in Tower, Minnesota.
- McKinley Mezzanine: Albany Law School of Union University, Albany, NY.
Media
William McKinley was the first President to appear on film extensively. His inauguration was also the first Presidential inauguration to be filmed. Most of the films were recorded by the Edison Company.
Disputed quotation
In 1903, an elderly supporter named James F. Rusling recalled that in 1899, McKinley had said to a religious delegation:
"The truth is I didn't want the Philippines, and when they came to us as a gift from the gods, I did not know what to do with them... I sought counsel from all sides - Democrats as well as Republicans - but got little help. I thought first we would take only Manila; then Luzon; then other islands, perhaps, also. I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night."
"And one night late it came to me this way - I don't know how it was, but it came: (1) That we could not give them back to Spain - that would be cowardly and dishonorable; (2) that we could not turn them over to France or Germany - our commercial rivals in the Orient - that would be bad business and discreditable; (3) that we could not leave them to themselves - they were unfit for self-government - and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain's was; and (4) that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and "Christianize them, and by God's grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow men for whom Christ also died." And then I went to bed and went to sleep and slept soundly."
The question is whether McKinley said any such thing as is italicized in point #4, especially regarding "Christianize" the natives, or whether Rusling added it. McKinley was a religious person but never said God told him to do anything. McKinley never used the term Christianize (and indeed it was rare in 1898). McKinley operated a highly effective publicity bureau in the White House and he gave hundreds of interviews to reporters, and hundreds of public speeches to promote his Philippines policy. Yet no authentic speech or newspaper report contains anything like the purported words or sentiment. The man who remembered it—an American Civil War veteran—had written a book on the war that was full of exaggeration. The supposed highly specific quote from memory years after the event is unlikely enough—especially when the quote uses words like "Christianize" that were never used by McKinley. The conclusion of historians such as Lewis Gould is that, although it is possible this quote is legitimate (certainly McKinley expressed most of these sentiments generally), it is unlikely that he spoke these specific words, or that he said the last part at all.
See also
Primary sources
- McKinley, William. (1896)
- McKinley, William. (1893)
- McKinley, William. (1900)
- McKinley, William. (1904)
Secondary sources
- Harold U. Faulkner, Politics, Reform, and Expansion, 1890-1900 (1959). general history of decade
- H. Wayne Morgan, William McKinley and His America (Syracuse UP, 1963), the standard biography
- John L. Offner, An Unwanted War: The Diplomacy of the United States and Spain over Cuba, 1895-1898 (U of North Carolina Press, 1992).
- Lewis L. Gould, The Presidency of William McKinley (Kansas UP, 1980), standard history of his term
- Margaret Leech, In the Days of McKinley (1959) Pulitzer Prize winning biography
- Paul W. Glad, McKinley, Bryan, and the People (1964) brief history of 1896 election
- Richard Jensen, The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888-1896 (U Chicago Press, 1971) analysis of McKinley's campaigns in Ohio and 1896
- Stanley L. Jones. The Presidential Election of 1896 (U Wisconsin Press., 1964).
- Matthew Josephson. The President Makers (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1979)
- Walter LaFeber, The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion, 1860-1898 (Cornell University Press, 1963) an influential, though controversial, examination of the causes of the Spanish-American War and William McKinley's foreign policy
External links
- from the Library of Congress
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