William
McKinley
25th
President of the United States
At the 1896 Republican
Convention, in time of depression, the wealthy Cleveland businessman Marcus
Alonzo Hanna ensured the nomination of his friend William McKinley as
"the advance agent of prosperity." The Democrats, advocating the
"free and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold"--which would
have mildly inflated the currency--nominated William Jennings Bryan.
While Hanna used large contributions from eastern Republicans frightened by
Bryan's views on silver, McKinley met delegations on his front porch in
Canton, Ohio. He won by the largest majority of popular votes since 1872.
Born in Niles, Ohio, in 1843, McKinley briefly attended Allegheny College, and
was teaching in a country school when the Civil War broke out. Enlisting as a
private in the Union Army, he was mustered out at the end of the war as a
brevet major of volunteers. He studied law, opened an office in Canton, Ohio,
and married Ida Saxton, daughter of a local banker.
At 34, McKinley won a seat in Congress. His attractive personality, exemplary
character, and quick intelligence enabled him to rise rapidly. He was
appointed to the powerful Ways and Means Committee. Robert M. La Follette,
Sr., who served with him, recalled that he generally "represented the
newer view," and "on the great new questions .. was generally on the
side of the public and against private interests."
During his 14 years in the House, he became the leading Republican tariff
expert, giving his name to the measure enacted in 1890. The next year he was
elected Governor of Ohio, serving two terms.
When McKinley became President, the depression of 1893 had almost run its
course and with it the extreme agitation over silver. Deferring action on the
money question, he called Congress into special session to enact the highest
tariff in history.
In the friendly atmosphere of the McKinley Administration, industrial
combinations developed at an unprecedented pace. Newspapers caricatured
McKinley as a little boy led around by "Nursie" Hanna, the
representative of the trusts. However, McKinley was not dominated by Hanna; he
condemned the trusts as "dangerous conspiracies against the public
good."
Not prosperity, but foreign policy, dominated McKinley's Administration.
Reporting the stalemate between Spanish forces and revolutionaries in Cuba,
newspapers screamed that a quarter of the population was dead and the rest
suffering acutely. Public indignation brought pressure upon the President for
war. Unable to restrain Congress or the American people, McKinley delivered
his message of neutral intervention in April 1898. Congress thereupon voted
three resolutions tantamount to a declaration of war for the liberation and
independence of Cuba.
In the 100-day war, the United States destroyed the Spanish fleet outside
Santiago harbor in Cuba, seized Manila in the Philippines, and occupied Puerto
Rico.
"Uncle Joe" Cannon, later Speaker of the House, once said that
McKinley kept his ear so close to the ground that it was full of grasshoppers.
When McKinley was undecided what to do about Spanish possessions other than
Cuba, he toured the country and detected an imperialist sentiment. Thus the
United States annexed the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
In 1900, McKinley again campaigned against Bryan. While Bryan inveighed
against imperialism, McKinley quietly stood for "the full dinner
pail."
His second term, which had begun auspiciously, came to a tragic end in
September 1901. He was standing in a receiving line at the Buffalo
Pan-American Exposition when a deranged anarchist shot him twice. He
died eight days later.
