William McKinley

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The name "Mckinley" redirects here. For other uses, see McKinley, including Mount McKinley.

William McKinley (January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901) was the 25th President of the United States. He was elected twice, in 1896 and 1900, but was assassinated in 1901 at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. He fought the Spanish-American War to liberate Cuba, and afterwards annexed the Philippines and Puerto Rico, as well as Hawaii. He promoted high tariffs as a formula for prosperity, helped rebuild the Republican party in 1896 by introducing new campaign techniques, and presided over a return to prosperity after the Panic of 1893. He was succeeded by his Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt.

Born in Niles, Ohio on Sunday January 29, 1843, William McKinley was the seventh of nine children. His parents, William and Nancy (Allison) McKinley were of Scots-Irish ancestry. He graduated from Poland Academy and briefly attended Allegheny College.

In June 1861, at the start of the American Civil War, he enlisted in the Union Army, as a private in the Twenty-third Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. 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 he was promoted to second lieutenant by Hayes. 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.

On the third of June 1891, William McKinley was initiated to Sigma Alpha Epsilon by the Ohio Theta chapter. Ohio Theta was also establisheed at the Chittenden Hotel on this date. The brothers of the Ohio State Association of Sigma Alpha Epsilon threw an impromptu banquet for Mr. McKinley for he had to preside over the Republican National Convention.

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Legal and early political career

Following the war, McKinley attended Albany Law School in Albany, New York, being admitted to the bar in 1867. He commenced practice in Canton, Ohio. He was prosecuting attorney of Stark County, Ohio, from 1869 to 1871, and was elected as a Republican to the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, and Forty-seventh U.S. Congress (1877-1883). He was chairman of the Committee on Revision of the Laws (Forty-seventh Congress). He presented his credentials as a Member-elect to the Forty-eighth Congress and served from March 4, 1883 until May 27, 1884, when he was succeeded by Jonathan H. Wallace, who successfully contested his election. McKinley was again elected to the Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, and Fifty-first Congresses (March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1891). He was chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means (Fifty-first Congress). In 1890, he authored the McKinley Tariff, which hurt his party in the off-year elections of 1890, in which he lost his seat. McKinley was elected Governor of Ohio in 1891, and re-elected in 1893, serving until January 13, 1896. Image:96GOP.JPG

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Presidency 1897-1901

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Policy

William McKinley defeated William Jennings Bryan in the U.S. Presidential election of 1896, in what is considered the forerunner of modern political campaigning. Republican strategist Mark Hanna raised an unprecedented sum for the campaign and made extensive use of the media in managing the McKinley victory. McKinley promised that he would promote industry and banking and guarantee prosperity for every group in a pluralistic nation. The Democratic cartoon ridicules the promise saying it will rock the boat.

McKinley led the country into the Spanish-American War, bringing the former colonies of Spain in the Pacific (Guam and the Philippines) and the Caribbean Sea (Cuba and Puerto Rico) under American control. In addition, the territories of Hawaii and Wake Island were annexed during his first term. Despite some vocal domestic opposition, his administration ushered the U.S. into the "New Imperialism" of the era. Image:1900McKinley.JPG He was re-elected in 1900, defeating the Democratic candidate, Bryan, by an even larger margin.

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Significant events during presidency

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Administration and Cabinet

OFFICENAMETERM
PresidentWilliam McKinley1897–1901
Vice PresidentGarret A. Hobart1897–1899
 Theodore Roosevelt1901
Secretary of StateJohn Sherman1897–1898
 William R. Day1898
 John Hay1898–1901
Secretary of the TreasuryLyman J. Gage1897–1901
Secretary of WarRussell A. Alger1897–1899
 Elihu Root1899–1901
Attorney GeneralJoseph McKenna1897–1898
 John W. Griggs1898–1901
 Philander C. Knox1901
Postmaster GeneralJames A. Gary1897–1898
 Charles E. Smith1898–1901
Secretary of the NavyJohn D. Long1897–1901
Secretary of the InteriorCornelius N. Bliss1897–1899
 Ethan A. Hitchcock1899–1901
Secretary of AgricultureJames Wilson1897–1901


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Supreme Court appointments

McKinley appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:

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States admitted to the union

none

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Assassination

Image:McKinleyAssassination.jpg McKinley was shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz on September 6 1901, 4:07 P.M., at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley died from his wounds on September 14 1901, 2:15 A.M., Buffalo, New York.

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Trivia

  • McKinley was supposely the inspiration for the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz.
  • McKinley's portrait appeared on the U.S. $500 bill from 1928 to 1946.
  • McKinley had a pet parrot named 'Washington Post'.
  • At his inauguration, the only item of jewelry McKinley wore was his Sigma Alpha Epsilon badge.
  • McKinley was the first president to use the telephone for campaign purposes.
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Disputed quotation

In 1903 after McKinley died 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 -- a 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. Conclusion of historians such as Lewis Gould: it is remotely possible but highly unlikely McKinley said the last part. For a discussion of this question, see Gould 1980, pp. 140-142.

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Monuments and memorials

Image:Walden McKinley statue.JPG

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Media

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See also

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References

  • Harold U. Faulkner, Politics, Reform, and Expansion, 1890-1900 (1959). general history of decade
  • Paul W. Glad, McKinley, Bryan, and the People (1964) brief history of 1896 election
  • Lewis L. Gould, The Presidency of William McKinley (Kansas UP, 1980), standard history of his term
  • 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).
  • Margaret Leech, In the Days of McKinley (1959)
  • 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).
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External links

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