President McKinley by Robert W. Merry
President McKinley by Robert W. Merry
A Book Report by Bobby Everett Smith
January 20, 2018
Spoiler Alert
Setting
White House, Washington, D.C. and around the world, 1890’s
Characters
William McKinley, Canton, Ohio, 25th President of the United States, assassinated in office in second term, “architect of the American Century.
William McKinley, Sr., father of William McKinley, Niles, OH.
Nancy McKinley, mother of William McKinley, Niles, OH
Rutherford Hayes, President of the United States, mentor of William McKinley
Ida Saxton McKinley, McKinley’s wife from Canton, Ohio. Physical and mental ailments during her marriage to McKinley.
Marcus Hannah, Ohio industrialist and benefactor who supported McKinley in his political campaigns
John Sherman, Secretary of State under President McKinley.
Joseph Benjamin Foraker, occasional McKinley political ally but frequently his opponent.
William Jennings Bryan, political opponent of McKinley in his quest to be president. Free silver policies. From Nebraska.
Theodore Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy under McKinley, President of the United States after McKinley.
Alfred Thayer Mahan, advocate of Sea Power. Influenced McKinley to support naval forces as a prime military tool.
John Hay, McKinley’s Ambassador to England and Secretary of State.
Elihu Root, Secretary of War under McKinley
Carl Shurz, opponent of McKinley’s expansionist policies
Mark Twain, leading activist against McKinley’s expansionist policies. Author of Huckleberry Finn
Thomas Reed, Speaker of the House, while McKinley was president. Frustrated by McKinley’s expansionist policies. Resigned over frustrations.
William Howard Taft, Federal judge sent to Philippines to build local institutions and further Philippine autonomy. Later President of the United States.
William Day, U. S. Secretary of State who supervised the victory over Spain in the Spanish American War which ended on August 12, 1898.
Leon Czolgosz, anarchist who assassinated McKinley in Buffalo, September 13, 1901
Executive Summary
William McKinley was born in Ohio in 1843, another famous citizen headed for the White House. McKinley went to college in Ohio, joined the Union Army at age 18. He received several battlefield promotions and ended the war alive and a temporary major in the Union Army.
McKinley was raised as a serious, conservative, abolitionist with a sense of moral authority, a good work ethic, and the ability to argue politely while winning his cause.
After the war ended, McKinley passed the bar in Ohio, started his own law practice, and began to participate in local politics starting with county prosecuting attorney. He married Ida Saxton and they had two girls, both of whom died before reaching the age of five. His wife developed a life-long illness which sometimes led to seizures. McKinley remained loving and devoted to his wife throughout their life.
In 1876, McKinley was elected to the United States House of Representatives for the 17th District of Ohio based in Canton. In 1891 he was elected governor of Ohio and in 1897, he was elected president of the United States.
On February 15, 1898 the USS Maine mysteriously blew up in Havana harbor. On April 25, 1898 the United States declared war on Spain.
On July 26, 1898 the Queen of Spain requested a meeting with President McKinley and Secretary of State Day. The Spanish agreed to relinquish Cuba and Puerto Rica to the U.S. and to negotiate the future of the Philippines. After negotiations, McKinley agreed to pay $20 million to Spain for the acquisition of the Philippine Archipelago.
On July 7, 1898 the Hawaiian Islands came under the U.S. flag. An annexation resolution was approved by Congress on July 7, 1898
The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. The war established the independence of Cuba, ceded Puerto Rico, and Guam to the United States, and allowed the US to purchase the Philippines Islands from Spain for $20 million.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the U.S. economy was good. The budget enjoyed a surplus of $40 million in 1900. The U.S. was now recognized as the world’s most industrial nation with industries in Iron, steel production, and ship building,
Even with the economic growth, McKinley paid minimum attention to civil rights issues.
McKinley approached with vigor the concept of a canal across Central America joining the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
On June 11, 1900 the Republican Presidential Convention was held in Philadelphia. McKinley was a sure winner for the nomination, but the battle was over who would become the Vice President. After much wrangling, the Republican Party nominated McKinley as president and Theodore Roosevelt as vice president.
On September 7, 1901 went to Buffalo, N.Y. to deliver a speech at the Pan American Exposition. While greeting visitors in a reception line, he was shot by a 27-year-old anarchist by the name of Leon Czolgosz, an independent assassin who had decided to kill the president, the leader of a strong international government. He shot the president twice in the chest with a 32-caliber hand gun. McKinley died at 2:15 a.m. on September 14, 1901. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt succeeded him.
The Story
McKinley’s Early Years
Ohio is the home of many presidents and national leaders. Bordered on the south by the Ohio, River, Ohio marked the boundary between states where slavery was legal on the south side and states where it was illegal on the north side of the river. William McKinley was born in Niles, Ohio on January 29, 1843. His parents were serious, religious, and patriotic Americans and they raised their children to be the same.
William McKinley, Jr. was impaired with a strong sense of duty, patriotism, and respect for humanity. His family members were strong abolitionists with a sense of moral authority. He had a good work ethic and enjoyed arguing, politely, with some of his neighbors, seldom rousing any violent opposition.
At age 17, McKinley went to Allegheny College, in Meadville, Pennsylvania, a local school near his home town. He borrowed money from his family to pay for tuition and living expenses. In June 1861, he joined the Ohio Guard as a private and went to war to “save the Union.” He ended up in Company E of the 23rd Ohio Voluntary Infantry Regiment, led by Major Rutherford B. Hayes who would later become president of the United States after serving a stint as Governor of Ohio.
In the Spring of 1862, McKinley’s regiment was sent to Washington, D.C. to protect the capital against the Confederate Army under General Robert E. Lee. McKinley distinguished himself in the battle of Antietam and was promoted to Second Lt. Later he was promoted to Captain and then to acting Major. He was dedicated, determined and able to overcome whatever fear that overtook him in the pursuit of the battles. Later in life, McKinley would ask his friends to call him, Major.
Law Career and Politics
After the war, McKinley attended the Albany Law School, in New York and passed the Ohio bar exam in March 1867. He joined a law firm in Canton, Ohio and started the practice of law about 60 miles south of Cleveland.
He started immediately to participate in local politics and was elected to be the county prosecuting attorney.
McKinley married Ida Saxton in Canton, Ohio in 1870. They had their first child and the following year a second girl. Both girls ended up dying before their fifth birthday. Ida was so upset she developed a lifetime depression that developed into a series of irregular seizures from which she never fully recovered.
McKinley retained a lifelong devotion and attention to Ida, but he did not allow her infirmity to jeopardize his own legal and political life.
In 1876, McKinley won the nomination for the Republican candidate for the United States House of Representatives. He won the election in November by a 3300-vote margin. He served four full terms as a congressman from the 17th District of Ohio.
In November 1891, McKinley was elected as Governor of Ohio with a 21,500-vote margin in a year when few Republicans win were around.
1896 Presidential Bid
In May 1895, McKinley met with his top political adviser, Mark Hanna, to discuss the upcoming presidential election. The Governor directed Hannah to go back East to meet with political big-wigs there. The party bosses agreed to support McKinley for president on the condition that he accept Tom Platt as his Secretary of Treasury. McKinley refused the condition, but he and Hanna decided to run without the support of the party leaders in the East.
Hanna took control of the campaign and set up national headquarters in Cleveland. Republicans owned the national leadership and they believed they were the voice of America. They had fostered the great postwar industrial expansion, provided land for state universities and the railroads, and promoted the construction of bridges, roads, and canals. Republicans were the national party comfortable with the application of federal power in pursuit of national goals. They were known for protecting the voting rights of blacks, curbing anti-trust abuses, and providing economic growth and a budget surplus.
Democrats pointed to the economic panic of 1893 and the business losses of local establishments, railroads, and banks. Unemployment reached 15%.
The Republican National Convention took place in St. Louis, starting on June 16, 1896. With debate centered around the gold standard or currency reform, McKinley won the nomination with a vote of 447 which was the minimum required for the nomination. Garret Hobart, New Jersey, was chosen as his running mate.
The Democrats met in Chicago in July and nominated William Jennings Bryan as their standard bearer. Democrats took a radical approach to the money issue. They developed a plank in their platform that gave free and unlimited coinage of gold and silver in the ratio of 16 to 1. They advocated regulations to control trusts and pushed for the income tax.
Hanna told McKinley that he had to stump to win the election, but Ida was not well enough to accompany him on any substantial trips, so McKinley came up with the idea to stay home in Canton and invite voters to come to his house for visits. The idea worked better than anyone expected with streams of visitors coming to McKinley’s Front Porch in Canton to voice their support for him as the next president.
McKinley weaved together three threads: currency, protection, and patriotism. This articulated his vision of the future for America and it worked well with the thoughts of most Americans.
In the November election, McKinley captured 271 electoral votes to 176 for Bryan. McKinley also captured the popular vote with over 7 million votes and a 600,000-vote margin. The political force that McKinley and Hanna put together would dominate American politics for the next 35 years.
On taking office, McKinley made a better impression on people when he first met them than they anticipated. They found a man better informed and more decisive than they expected. McKinley was inaugurated as president and commander-in-chief on March 4, 1897, 54 years old and the nation’s 25th president.
Spanish American War
On February 15, 1898 the USS Maine mysteriously blew up in Havana harbor. On April 25, 1898 the United States declared war on Spain.
A resolution passed by both houses of Congress required that Spain relinquish its authority and government in Cuba and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuban territory.
When the war started, U.S. Naval forces created a blockade around Cuba. In Hong, U.S. naval forces were commanded by George Dewey, Commodore, USN. Dewey was given orders to proceed to the Philippines and to search out and destroy Spanish naval forces there.
Dewey’s Asiatic naval forces consisted of four battleships and 48 other ships included cruisers, torpedo boats and other naval vehicles.
Dewey set out for the Philippines on April 27 with nine ships heading for Subic Bay on the Island of Luzon. The Spanish Fleet was not there so Dewey assumed they were in Manila Bay to the south but also on Luzon. Dewey caught the Spanish fleet under Admiral Paricio Montojo under the cover of darkness and unprepared for an American attack.
“Fire when ready, Gridley,” was the order Commodore Dewey gave to the commander of his flagship. This became a famous slogan back home when word got out about the success of Commodore Dewey in Manila Bay.
The Spanish lost all eight of their major ships—sunk or disabled. 161 Spaniards killed and 210 injured. Americans sustained no serious casualties of their warships, no deaths and nine men wounded.
Americans, including the president were ecstatic when they got the news of the attack on Manila Bay. The City of Manila was virtually surrendered to the U.S. George Dewey was now a hero back home, where the president promoted him to Rear Admiral. McKinley now had the power to take over the entire archipelago of the Philippine Islands, but he was not immediately prepared to deal with that issue.
The invasion of Cuba was more troubling. On April 22, 1898, Congress authorized a call for volunteers—125,000 reservists and upgrade of the regular army to 62,500. Russell Alger, Secretary of War, was not up to the task of processing, training, and equipping all these troops in short order. The Navy seemed to be in better shape than the Army and they went about the task of blockading of Cuban ports.
Yellow fever and malaria were rampant in those days and the Army health services were not prepared to treat soldiers with these diseases.
Nelson A. Miles, the Army’s Commanding General and Brigadier General William R. Shafter, the Fifth Corps Commander, were ordered to assemble a 5,000-man force in Tampa, Florida and to prepare for the invasion of Cuba. Theodore Roosevelt resigned his position as Assistant Secretary of the Navy and enlisted as a Lt. Col. In the U.S. Army where he was given command of his cavalry unit known as the Rough Riders. Roosevelt was part of the 17,500 troops assembled at Tampa preparing for the Cuban invasion.
By early May it was obvious that the U.S. Army was not ready for an invasion of Cuba. Roosevelt was frustrated. He could not get supplies, equipment, ammunition, horses, food, and medical supplies. Some things would come express and other things, with higher priority, were shipped second class.
The Spanish forces in Cuba were not much better prepared or equipped.
On May 31, McKinley ordered Shafter and the Fifth Corps to invade Cuba and capture the Cuban forces at Santiago. Shafter was not up to the task and confusion described the efforts to execute the president’s orders. Some of Roosevelt’s troops were forced to buy food from local shops in Tampa with their own money just to have food to eat.
Despite the confusion, by June 8, General Shafter had a force of 17,000 men, 35 ships, 959 horses, and 1336 mules ready to sail for Cuba from their Tampa docks. Additional delays kept the force from leaving until June 14.
After many blunders and miscalculations, General Shafter finally subdued the Spanish Army at Santiago and relayed a message to McKinley and his cabinet that the Spanish forces in Cuba had surrendered.
On July 26, 1898 the Queen of Spain requested a meeting with President McKinley and Secretary of State Day. The Spanish agreed to relinquish Cuba and Puerto Rica to the U.S. and to negotiate the future of the Philippines. After negotiations, McKinley agreed to pay $20 million to Spain for the acquisition of the Philippine Archipelago.
On July 7, 1898 the Hawaiian Islands came under the U.S. flag. An annexation resolution was approved by Congress on July 7, 1898
The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. The war established the independence of Cuba, ceded Puerto Rico, and Guam to the United States, and allowed the US to purchase the Philippines Islands from Spain for $20 million.
The war cost the United States $250 million and 3,000 lives, 90% of whom perished from yellow fever, typhoid fever, and other infectious diseases. Cuba gained formal independence from the U.S. on May 20, 1902, as the Republic of Cuba.
McKinley’s Second Term
McKinley was not enthusiastic about running for a second term but agreed to do so if the public wanted him to. Since the days of Andrew Jackson in the 1830’s only three presidents had been elected for a second term, Lincoln, Grant and Cleveland. McKinley was considering whether he would attempt to become the fourth.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the U.S. economy was good. The budget enjoyed a surplus of $40 million in 1900. The U.S. was now recognized as the world’s most industrial nation. Iron, steel production, and ship building,
Even with the economic growth, McKinley paid minimum attention to civil rights issues.
McKinley approached the concept of a canal across Central America joining the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans with vigor.
On June 11, 1900 the Republican Presidential Convention was held in Philadelphia. McKinley was a shoo-in for the nomination, but the battle was over who would become the Vice President. After much wrangling, the Republican Party nominated McKinley as president and Theodore Roosevelt as vice president.
Democrats nominated William Jennings Bryan as president and Adlai Stevenson as vice president.
McKinley won. He carried the Electoral College 292 to 155. Bryan, the Democrat carried the south and four western states. Republicans gained 13 House seats and three Senate seats gaining majority control over both houses of Congress.
Buffalo
On March 3, 1901, McKinley and his vice president, Teddy Roosevelt were sworn in during inauguration ceremonies in Washington, D.C. The country had a growing economy, an $80 million surplus and was considered one of the most powerful nations in the world. McKinley considered his new goals to “reign in the trusts” and achieve trade reciprocity to be his highest priority. He did not consider the U.S. to be an Imperial empire and he gave little thought to the problems about civil rights in the U.S. He was pushing for Cuban independence and U.S. citizenship for residents of Puerto Rico which was now a U.S. domestic territory.
On September 7, 1901 McKinley went to Buffalo, N.Y. to deliver a speech at the Pan American Exposition. While greeting visitors in a reception line, he was shot by a 27-year-old anarchist by the name of Leon Czolgosz, who was an independent assassin who had decided to kill the president. He shot the president twice in the chest with a 32-caliber hand gun. McKinley died at 2:15 a.m. on September 14, 1901. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt succeeded him.
Rating
Three stars out of five. William McKinley is a somewhat lesser known U.S. president perhaps under-estimated for his excellence in managing a growing U.S. geography and economy. McKinley was strong on the money supply but paid less attention to civil rights.
I recommend reading this book if you have a thirst for knowledge about American History.
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