McKinley, William (Administration)

WILLIAM MCKINLEY (1843–1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 to 1901. He is most commonly remembered for his raising of import tariffs and his role in starting the SpanishAmerican War, which led to the United States obtaining a global empire.

Born in Ohio, McKinley served with distinction in the American Civil War and then went on to make a career in law. He became involved in politics and achieved a considerable level of electoral success as a representative of the Republican Party. His political views may best be summarized as compassionate conservatism. The strength with which he held to his position on protectionism was founded on genuine concern for the poor, especially the rural poor, who he thought would be best served by this stance.

In the 1890s, when he first began to plan seriously to become president, America was isolationist and suffering from economic depression. The economics debate was dominated by the gold standard, supported by McKinley, and the bimetallic standard, favored by his Democrat opponent, William Jennings Bryan. Assisted by the wealthy industrialist Mark Hanna, who obtained enormous campaign donations from big business (much of which was used in negative campaigning against Bryan), McKinley was elected despite scarcely leaving his own house.

McKinley ordered the United States into war with Spain in 1898, largely on the basis of the violent suppression of an independence movement by the Spanish in Cuba, and because of an explosion that destroyed the USS Maine, for which the partisan American press wrongly blamed the Spanish. The war was quickly won, as the Spanish then had only a few weak military forces spread across the world.

America then had to decide what to do with the captured Spanish possessions in the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. By a slender margin, the overseas possessions were voted to become imperial colonies. This act enabled the United States to challenge the European [Page 694]powers as a major player on the world stage, and the colonies represented sources of cheap resources and overseas markets for American products. There was a significant proportion of the American public that opposed this overseas expansion, but McKinley sided with imperialism on the basis that America would be better able to provide for the welfare of the poor people of the colonies. To the people of the colonies, the name of the colonizer made little difference and fierce insurrections erupted, notably in the Philippines, where bloody fighting continued for years. McKinley was successfully reelected in 1901 but, on September 6, he was shot twice by the anarchist Leon Czolgosz and died a week later.

William McKinley's protectionism was founded on a genuine concern for the poor, especially the rural poor.