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• Born: 29 January 1843
• Birthplace: Niles, Ohio
• Died: 14 September 1901 (assassination)
• Best Known As: President of the United States, 1897-1901

A Republican congressman from Ohio, William McKinley beat out William Jennings Bryan in 1896 to become the 25th president of the United States. McKinley called for war against Spain in 1898, partly over the sinking of the battleship Maine. The war was over in four months, with the U.S. gaining control of Guam, Puerto Rico and The Philippines. McKinley was easily re-elected, this time with a new vice president, Theodore Roosevelt. Six months after his second inauguration, McKinley was shot twice in the chest by assassin Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley died eight days later and Roosevelt became president.

McKinley's inauguration was the first one ever filmed... McKinley had a distinguished career during the Civil War; in 1865, at the age of 22, he was breveted a major... McKinley's political career relied heavily on the financing of Ohio businessman Marcus A. Hanna... McKinley wore a pink carnation in his lapel.

(1843–1901), Civil War veteran and twenty‐fifth president of the United States

Born and raised in Ohio, McKinley enlisted in 1861 as a private in the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Regiment. A commissary sergeant at the Battle of Antietam (1862), he was later promoted to captain and ended his military service as brevet major. His career in law and Republican politics included terms as congressman, senator, and two‐term governor of Ohio before his election as president in 1896.

The president's own military experience and the opposition of big business made him reluctant to lead the nation into war, so he pressed the Spanish government to control a rebellion that had begun in Cuba in 1895. An astute politician, McKinley was aware of his countrymen's growing impatience as the conflict persisted, particularly after the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor. When the Spanish government proved unable to end the war, he asked Congress for a war declaration in April 1898.

As commander in chief in the Spanish‐American War, McKinley monitored all phases of the conflict. He also stepped in to run the War Department when Secretary of War Russell Alger proved incapable of the demands of managing a 27,000‐man regular army and thousands of volunteers. Fortunately, the Spanish were war‐weary and poorly supplied, and the U.S. Navy was newly outfitted. Only 379 Americans lost their lives in combat.

McKinley gave subordinates such as Commodore George Dewey in the Philippines and Gen. Rufus Shafter in Cuba considerable latitude, though he approved all key decisions, such as sending ground forces to support Dewey's tenuous naval control. (He welcomed Shafter's negotiation of a peaceful occupation of Santiago de Cuba after that city had fallen under U.S. siege.)

The president controlled the diplomatic agenda as well. He supported the Teller Amendment to the war declaration that ruled out annexation of Cuba, but refused to extend recognition to the rebel governments in Cuba or in the Philippines. The occupation government that Gen. Leonard Wood established in Cuba was removed only when the Cubans approved the Platt Amendment (1901) that effectively made their island a U.S. protectorate. McKinley demanded that Spain relinquish control of the Philippines to the United States in the peace treaty signed in Paris 10 December 1898, and he authorized the use of U.S. troops to put down a bloody guerrilla war against U.S. occupation of the Philippines.

[See also Cuba, U.S. Military Involvement in; Philippine War; Philippines, U.S. Military Involvement in the; Spanish‐American War.]

Bibliography

• Lewis L. Gould, The Presidency of William McKinley, 1982.
• John Dobson, Reticent Expansionism, 1988

McKinley, William (1843-1901)25th president of the United States (1897-1901), born in Niles, Ohio. During the Civil War McKinley fought with an Ohio infantry unit and displayed bravery in combat at Antietam (1862). As a U.S. representative (1877-91), he was identified with the protective tariff and economic nationalism. He became chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in 1889. The McKinley Tariff of 1890, which raised customs duties but authorized trade reciprocity, cost him his seat in the next election. After two terms as governor of Ohio (elected 1891, 1893), McKinley obtained the Republican nomination for president in 1896 and conducted his famous “front-porch” campaign against William Jennings Bryan on a platform endorsing the gold standard as well as the protective tariff. Remaining at his Ohio home while the oratorically flamboyant Bryan toured the country, McKinley, aided by an intense and expensive promotional print campaign, won both the popular and electoral vote. McKinley proved a forceful executive who traveled widely and cultivated the press, setting aside space in the White House for daily news briefings from the administration. Domestically his tenure was marked by increased tariffs and consolidation of the gold standard. In foreign policy, the key event of his tenure was the Spanish-American War (1898), brought about by the rebellion against Spanish rule in Cuba and precipitated by the sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor (February 1898). Throughout the short conflict and later protracted Philippine insurrection, McKinley played a key role as commander in chief, giving the attack order that sent George Dewey to Manila Bay and then governing the islands through the war powers. McKinley shaped the strategy of the peace talks that resulted in U.S. acquisition of the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. His administration also initiated the open door policy with China and oversaw the treaty that cleared the way for the building of the Panama Canal. His foreign policy record coupled with prosperity and complemented by Theodore Roosevelt as a running mate led to a decisive victory in the 1900 presidential election, in which his opponent was again Bryan. A few months after his inauguration, McKinley was shot by an anarchist while visiting the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. He died eight days later.

Throughout his political career McKinley was known as “Major” McKinley—a holdover from the brevet rank of major he had attained in the Civil War.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

William McKinley (1843-1901) was the twenty-fifth president of the United States. During his administration the Spanish-American War of 1898 over shadowed the two important issues of tariff and currency, presenting the United States with new problems of world power and territorial expansion.

With the growth of post-Civil War industrialism, serious social and economic problems developed in the United States. Agricultural depression brought severe hardship and farm unrest; relations between laborers and employers deteriorated; and Americans argued over what monetary policies the U.S. government should adopt to maintain a healthy economy.

As congressman, governor, and president, William McKinley emphasized obtaining prosperity by stimulating American business via a favorable tariff structure. Although early in his career he directed his energies toward protective tariffs on finished materials, he later favored tariffs modified by reciprocity treaties. Under these, he hoped that raw materials would enter the United States at low tariff rates, making possible low prices on finished goods, which could then compete on the world market. By agreeing to admit raw materials with low tariffs, the United States would gain low tariff entry to other nations for finished products.

Second in McKinley's thinking was the currency problem. Much of the political debate in the late 19th century focused on the currency question - whether the amount of currency in circulation should be increased and, if so, by what means. For 30 years McKinley advocated limited silver coinage. Yet, by the time he became president, he had been converted to international bimetallism: an agreement by several countries to base currency on both gold and silver, set at a fixed ratio. If international bimetallism was unobtainable, he favored maintaining currency soundness by using the gold standard. Devoted to business interests and a healthy economy, McKinley supported a foreign policy creating new markets for United States products. This was particularly manifest in his handling of the Spanish-American War and in the open-door policy with China.

Background and Early Career

William McKinley was born in Niles, Ohio, on Jan. 29, 1843. He was educated and later taught school in Ohio. In the Civil War he fought with the Union Army. Discharged with the brevet rank of major, he studied law briefly at the Albany Law School and opened an office in Canton, Ohio, in 1867, simultaneously plunging into Republican politics.

First elected to public office as Stark County prosecuting attorney in 1869, McKinley became a congressman in 1876. In and out of the House of Representatives until 1890 (depending on the gerrymandering of his district) he rose steadily in influence within Ohio Republican politics as well as in national circles. During this period, many prominent politicians came from Ohio. Although this made competition for leadership in the state very keen, it also assisted ambitious young men. For example, having served under Rutherford B. Hayes in the Civil War, McKinley continued to benefit from his counsel and prominence.

The Ohio Republican party, mirroring the diversity of the state, was held together through compromises, by middle-of-the-roaders. Moreover, Ohio was a two-party state, with Democrats effectively vying for all offices. A successful politician had to be sensitive to the wishes of farmers, steel mill owners, emerging labor unions, urban ethnic enclaves, city machines, soft-currency men, and powerful figures in commerce and finance. Aware of this, McKinley tried to balance between extreme positions on tariffs and on fiscal policy. This moderation was a key to his handling of men and his approach to problems.

McKinley made some concessions to the Ohio forces demanding bimetallism, cloaking his restrained advocacy of silver coinage with exhortations that currency must be stable and safe. On one side, gold proponents argued that every dollar should be backed by gold and the government should purchase no other metals. On the other side, silver forces argued for widespread silver purchasing and distribution of paper based on silver. Greenback forces advocated increasing the volume of paper money, without attempting to maintain deposits of metal sufficient for redemption. Finally, some argued that the best system would be an international agreement for currency based on both gold and silver. McKinley accepted something of each argument, emerging with views that were palatable rather than consistent or rational.

Not innovative in approaching issues, McKinley responded to others' suggestions without becoming a captive of their ideas. To some extent, his interest in tariff problems exceeded the sophistication of his economic analysis: in this, he shared the view widespread in the Republican party that tariff legislation was critical to the nation's economy.

Skilled in organization and administration, McKinley was effective with other politicians and convincing to constituents. He was considered sincere and amiable. Identified first with the Ohio gubernatorial campaign of Rutherford B. Hayes, he later supported Joseph Foraker for governor, Hayes for president, and, still later, John Sherman and then James G. Blaine for the presidency. At several national Republican conventions, he played a prominent role, primarily because he was able to compromise party disharmony and to defend the tariff policy.

Congressman and Governor

McKinley's forte in Congress was the tariff, which he believed was the key to economic vitality. He defended the tariff as a means of producing higher wages by expanding home markets; expanding home markets would be possible only if low-cost foreign products were kept off United States markets. Initially he supported high protective tariffs, but later he advocated a scheme of selective tariffs tied to reciprocity provisions.

After serving on the House Judiciary Committee and the Ways and Means Committee, McKinley became chairman of the latter in 1889, charged with bringing forth a new tariff bill. The McKinley Tariff of 1890, including limited reciprocity provisions, was oriented toward protection and included many compromise provisions favorable to special-interest groups. His tariff posture helped spread his fame outside the halls of Congress, even though he was defeated in the election of 1890.

Mark Hanna, a wealthy Cleveland industrialist, lent assistance to McKinley after 1890, helping him win the Ohio gubernatorial race in 1891 and secure reelection in 1893. Hanna, a skillful organizer and generous donor, encouraged McKinley to travel and to speak on public issues, especially the tariff. McKinley's views on fiscal policy had not been consistent, and he viewed the passion of the silver issue as misdirected.

As governor, McKinley won labor sympathy by contributing to relief funds for strikers, as well as by passing laws favorable to labor. Labor leaders, normally suspicious of a politician so sympathetic to industry, gave him lukewarm backing.

By the opening of the 1896 Republican convention in St. Louis, McKinley was the logical choice for the presidential nomination. Hanna's planning, McKinley's identification with tariffs as the protectors of prosperity, plus his ability to blur issues and to hold together a party split over both tariffs and currency gave him important advantages. As nominee, McKinley campaigned from Canton, Ohio, in a restrained manner, stressing that a Republican victory would mean prosperity for the nation. His opponent, William Jennings Bryan, traveled extensively, emphasizing the merits of free silver and seeming to challenge the familiar patterns of American politics. To many, Bryan seemed a threat to the whole system of government, if not to the social order. After a bitter campaign, McKinley, benefiting from the anti-Democratic voting pattern visible since 1893, swept handily into the White House.

The President

For his Cabinet, McKinley chose politicians and businessmen, including John Sherman as secretary of state. Later, he added several other men of considerable stature and ability. Though he had enjoyed cordial relations with colleagues in Congress, he settled for a cautious domestic program, central to which was tariff reform. The Dingley Tariff, incorporating additional reciprocity features, raised tariffs to new heights. Administration efforts to promote international bimetallism came to naught, opening the way to the passage of the Gold Standard Act of 1900 (legalizing the gold standard and setting aside special funds for currency redemption). The battle between gold and silver was for all practical purposes at an end, as world production of gold increased simultaneously with the return of prosperity.

Benefiting from better times, McKinley skillfully manipulated both politicians and the public, welding a more united Republican party with tours and personal charm. His domestic program and achievements as party leader were overwhelmed, however, by the diplomatic imbroglio that led to the Spanish-American War and annexation of overseas territories.

The Cuban revolution of 1895 against Spain inflamed United States citizens for various reasons: the press reported in detail the savage repressive techniques used by the Spanish army; American sugar companies decried the interruption of their trade and profit by protracted war; and some business and financial leaders saw declaration of war against Spain as necessary for the growth of American trade and the stability of the stock market. Meanwhile, proponents of world power and leadership for the United States spread the opinion that Spanish tyranny had to be curtailed in the Western Hemisphere. The fever pitch of interest in the 1896 election and the agrarian resentment of the 1890s were replaced by widespread calls for war.

To these pressures McKinley responded reluctantly, resisting congressional insistence on war in favor of negotiation with Spain. He preferred an autonomous Cuba, perhaps loosely linked to Spain - a suggestion that Spain at first resisted strongly and then accepted. But events moved too fast: domestic pressure for war was very strong, and McKinley hardened his policy, going to Congress with a war message in April 1898. By that time Spain had met most of McKinley's earlier demands, but it was too late to avert a military clash.

The Spanish-American War was brief, with United States forces triumphant over the Spanish fleet in the Philippines and later over both land and naval forces in Cuba. In establishing peace terms, the United States faced the vexatious problem of how to dispose of former Spanish colonies. The President, admitting to indecision and lack of knowledge, was urged by anti-imperialists to renounce permanent sovereignty or protectorate arrangements as hostile to American traditions of freedom of choice for peoples. However, the proannexation forces carried the day, arguing that national interest lay with expansion, that it was America's duty to uplift the people of the Spanish possessions, and that relinquishing the Philippines would invite a power scramble among other nations. Confused and uncertain, McKinley finally opted for annexation of the Philippines, which was accomplished by the Treaty of Paris (ratified in 1899). Cuba was set free of Spain; Puerto Rico and Guam were ceded to the United States. In choosing territorial expansion, McKinley was enhancing the prospects for development of United States trade, an end to which he had long been devoted.

One of the key pins of American diplomacy was securing trade rights, preferably without political or military intervention. To safeguard trading rights in the Far East, McKinley sent to the Great Powers the open-door notes of 1899 and 1900. Basically, these stipulated that the United States expected nations with spheres of influence in China not to interfere with American rights and privileges nor to discriminate against other nations in setting port and railroad rates.

The major issue of the 1900 campaign, in which McKinley was again opposed by Bryan, was imperialism, though for all practical purposes the decisions had already been taken. McKinley was reelected by a large margin. Of great concern during his second administration were problems of governing the new dependencies. But before McKinley could turn to another round of tariff reform, he was shot by Leon F. Czolgosz, an anarchist, in Buffalo, N.Y., on Sept. 6, 1901. McKinley died eight days later.

Further Reading

The best biographies of McKinley are Margaret Leech, In the Days of McKinley (1959), and Howard W. Morgan, William McKinley and His America (1963). George H. Mayer, The Republican Party, 1854-1966 (2d ed. 1967), describes Republican politics on the national level; and Joseph R. Hollingsworth, The Whirligig of Politics: The Democracy of Cleveland and Bryan (1963), emphasizes the contest between the Republican and Democratic parties at the turn of the century. The excitement of the 1896 election is captured in Paul W. Glad, McKinley, Bryan and the People (1964). For an overview Harold U. Faulkner, Politics, Reform, and Expansion, 1890-1900 (1959), is helpful. A broader view of the problems in the United States faced after Reconstruction is offered by Robert H. Wiebe, The Search for Order, 1877-1920 (1967).

For more information on William McKinley, visit Britannica.com.

• Born: Jan. 29, 1843, Niles, Ohio
• Political party: Republican
• Education: Allegheny College, 1860; Albany Law School, 1866
• Military service: 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 1861–65
• Previous government service: prosecuting attorney, Stark County, Ohio, 1870–71; U.S. House of Representatives, 1877–85, 1887–91; governor of Ohio, 1892–96
• Elected President, 1896; served, 1897–1901
• Died: Sept. 14, 1901, Buffalo, N.Y.

William McKinley protected the interests of big business while doing little to alleviate the social problems caused by industrialization. McKinley's victory in the Spanish-American War made the United States into a world power and transformed the Presidency into an office of world leadership.

McKinley grew up in a small town in Ohio. During the Civil War he enlisted in the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving as an aide to Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes. He was promoted to major for bravery in the Battle of Fisher's Hill.

After the war McKinley studied law. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Stark County in 1869 but was defeated for reelection two years later. In 1876 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he gained a reputation for supporting high tariffs. His grandfather and father were iron manufacturers, which may explain why he championed business interests as chair of the Committee on Ways and Means. But the high rates of the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 were so unpopular with the voters that he was defeated in the next election. He then organized two successful campaigns for governor of Ohio with the help of Mark Hanna, a Cleveland businessman and political fund-raiser.

In 1896 the Republican convention nominated McKinley for President on the first ballot, and Hanna organized his successful campaign. McKinley sat on his front porch in Canton, Ohio, and greeted 750,000 visitors from 30 states while his Democratic opponent, William Jennings Bryan, frantically traveled 18,000 miles by rail. Hanna organized a pro-tariff, probusiness coalition for McKinley, who won by a healthy margin in the electoral college.

McKinley presided over a period of industrial expansion. He supported the record-high Dingley Tariff of 1897. Soon he had to turn his attention to foreign affairs. Spain was trying to put down a rebellion in its Cuban province that had begun in 1895. The Spanish commander, known as Butcher Weyler, put Cuban civilians into concentration camps and American opinion swung solidly behind the rebellion. The sinking of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, with the loss of 260 lives, fanned the war fever in the United States. On March 1, the U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry sent its findings to Washington–results that implicated Spain (though the U.S. Navy much later, in 1976, agreed with the results of the Spanish investigation that claimed that the explosion was an accident). McKinley tried to prevent war by winning some concessions from Spain, including the closing of the concentration camps and an armistice with the Cuban rebels. But two days after the Spanish made those concessions, McKinley finally bowed to public opinion and asked Congress for a declaration of war. On April 19 Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing U.S. intervention to win Cuban independence from Spain.

With Admiral George Dewey's destruction of the Spanish Pacific fleet in Manila, the Philippines, on May 1, 1898, the United States became a world power with global influence. Three days later, Congress approved a long-standing resolution of annexation for the Hawaiian Islands. According to the terms of the Treaty of Paris with Spain in December 1898, the United States became a colonial power, occupying Cuba (temporarily), Puerto Rico, and Guam and gaining Wake Island and Samoa in 1899.

McKinley then won a series of victories in Congress for his foreign policy. He got Senate consent for the Treaty of Paris in spite of the opposition of House Speaker Thomas Reed and the Anti-Imperialist League, an American organization opposed to the acquisition of colonies. McKinley's tariff reciprocity policies, designed to encourage free trade in selected markets–trade under low or no tariffs–were accepted by Congress even though they contradicted traditional Republican support for protectionist tariffs. He won passage of the Spooner Amendment, which allowed him to institute military government in the Philippines, and the Platt Amendment, which permitted U.S. intervention in Cuban affairs.

In his annual message to Congress in 1899, McKinley denied the claim of the Philippine leader Emilio Aguinaldo that Admiral Dewey had promised independence to the islands in return for local help against the Spanish. The McKinley administration was determined to keep the islands. To do so, it put down a bloody rebellion of Philippine patriots that lasted three years and employed 120,000 U.S. soldiers.

In 1900 the McKinley administration intervened in China with 2,500 troops (along with Japan and several Western nations) to put down the Boxer Rebellion against Westerners in Beijing. The United States received a payment of $25 million from China for damages suffered but returned $18 million so that Chinese students could study in the United States. McKinley also intervened twice in Nicaragua to protect lives and property.

McKinley's Vice President, Garret Hobart, died in office in 1899, and McKinley accepted Theodore Roosevelt as the choice of the Republican convention to be his running mate in 1900. Mark Hanna opposed the nomination. “Don't you realize there's only one life between this madman and the Presidency?” he asked convention delegates. McKinley's margin over William Jennings Bryan improved in their 1900 rematch, and he became the first President since Ulysses S. Grant to win a second consecutive term.

McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901, and died of his wounds eight days later. Hanna and the Republican party would now have to deal with Teddy Roosevelt and his progressive policies.

See also Hobart, Garret; Roosevelt, Theodore; Treaty powers

Sources

• Margaret Leech, In the Days of McKinley (New York: Harper, 1959).
• Lewis L. Gould, The Presidency of William McKinley (Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas, 1980).
• H. Wayne Morgan, William McKinley and His America (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1963)

(1843-1901), twenty-fifth president of the United States. Born in Ohio, McKinley attended Allegheny College in Pennsylvania until his ill health forced him to return to Ohio, where he taught school. When the Civil War came, McKinley, who was eighteen, joined Rutherford B. Hayes's regiment as a private and after four years of fighting was breveted a major. After the war, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1867.

A staunch Republican and good campaigner, McKinley owed his rapid rise in Ohio politics to his friend Hayes. Although his district was strongly Democratic, McKinley was elected to serve in Congress from 1877 to 1883 and from 1885 to 1891, losing only in the Democratic landslide years of 1882 and 1890. In Congress he became the most conspicuous champion of protectionism and the primary author of the McKinley Tariff of 1890; he included in it (at the behest of James G. Blaine) a novel feature authorizing reciprocal trade agreements designed to enhance American exports abroad.

Elected governor of Ohio in 1891 and 1893, McKinley was by 1896 a leading Republican, and aided by his political lieutenant Marcus Alonzo Hanna, he easily secured the presidential nomination. The Democratic party, led by William Jennings Bryan, was discredited, demoralized, and divided by the depression following the panic of 1893. Whereas Bryan wished to inflate the currency by the unlimited coinage of silver, McKinley stressed protection and prosperity, defended the gold standard, and triumphed decisively.

McKinley's amiable personality, his pragmatic approach to issues, his willingness to compromise, and his patient, unobtrusive maneuvering toward his objectives masked his strength of character and his capacity to deal with Congress and dominate his advisers. After his inauguration McKinley called for a special session of Congress to revise the tariff. With rates higher than the McKinley Tariff, the new Dingley Tariff (1897) also included the reciprocity feature. Not a doctrinaire supporter of gold currency, McKinley initially favored international bimetalism, but when the British rejected that system, he abandoned it and in 1900 approved the Gold Standard Act.

Questions of war and empire, however, not domestic problems, dominated McKinley's presidency. In Cuba a bloody rebellion against Spain, which began in 1895, outraged many Americans who clamored for war with Spain. Using diplomacy and the threat of military intervention, McKinley secured some concessions from Spain, but when it would not give up Cuba, he led the nation into war in 1898. He personally directed the war effort and made the crucial decisions that brought the United States a colonial empire in the Caribbean and the Pacific. His administration suppressed armed Philippine resistance to American rule with tactics similar to those Spain had employed in Cuba, established an American protectorate in Cuba, negotiated the Hay-Pauncefote treaties (1900, 1901), which allowed the United States to construct unilaterally an isthmian canal, and circulated the Open Door notes (1899, 1900), which opposed the dismemberment of China.

McKinley, who had done much to enhance the power and prestige of the presidency, was reelected in 1900, but his second term ended abruptly when he was assassinated by an anarchist, Leon Czolgosz, the next year.

Bibliography:

Lewis L. Gould, The Presidency of William McKinley (1980); H. Wayne Morgan, William McKinley and His America (1963).

Author:

Ari Hoogenboom

See also Elections: 1896 , 1900; Hanna, Marcus Alonzo; Tariff. For events during McKinley's administration, see Caribbean-U.S. Relations; Hawaii Annexation; Open Door Policy; Panama Canal; Philippines; Platt Amendment; Spanish-American War.

1843–1901, 25th president of the United States (1897–1901), b. Niles, Ohio. He was educated at Poland (Ohio) Seminary and Allegheny College. After service in the Union army in the Civil War, he returned to Ohio and became a lawyer at Canton. He entered politics and was elected as a Republican to Congress in 1876. As a congressman until 1891 (except for part of one term when his election was declared invalid), he strongly advocated protective tariffs, thus pleasing Ohio industrialists. The highly protective McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 was unpopular and helped to bring about the Republican defeat in 1892. It had already cost McKinley his seat in Congress in the election of 1890, but he had attracted the attention of the powerful capitalist-politician Marcus A. Hanna, who put the force of the efficiently organized Ohio Republican machine behind the ex-congressman. McKinley was elected governor in 1891 and again in 1893.

Two years later Hanna began a skillful and successful preconvention campaign to have McKinley nominated by the Republicans for president in 1896. The Democrats took a radical position and nominated William Jennings Bryan with a platform favoring free silver. Although McKinley had earlier favored bimetallism and voted for the Bland-Allison Act, he accepted a platform endorsing the gold standard, and the issue was squarely joined. Many conservative Democrats viewed their party's stand as reckless, and Hanna's handling of the campaign was a masterpiece of adroitness. Conservatism and McKinley won. The Republicans also had control of Congress, and in 1897 a thoroughgoing Republican tariff was adopted.

Interest then swung to external affairs. There was much sympathy in the United States for the rebels in Cuba, who were seeking independence from Spain. The destruction of the battleship Maine gave the advocates of war a rallying cry, and McKinley made the decision to ask Congress for a declaration of war. The Spanish-American War was brief, and from it the United States emerged a world power. McKinley directed the peace commissioners to demand the Philippine Islands for the United States. This resulted in the unsuccessful and bloody Philippine insurrection (1899–1901) led by Emilio Aguinaldo against U.S. rule. Cuba became a U.S. protectorate. The president also signed the bill to annex Hawaii and supported the Open Door policy in China, thus vigorously advancing the interests of the United States and American commerce. The Currency Act of 1900 consolidated the gold standard policy on which McKinley had been elected in 1896. He was reelected in 1900, but his new administration was short. On Sept. 5, 1901, he addressed the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, N.Y., advocating commercial reciprocity among nations. The next day he was shot down by an anarchist, Leon Czolgosz, and on Sept. 14 he died. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt succeeded him.

Bibliography

See biographies by C. S. Olcott (1916, repr. 1972), W. C. Spielman (1954), and K. Phillips (2003); L. L. Gould, The Presidency of William McKinley (1981).

A political leader of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; he was president from 1897 to 1901. McKinley, a Republican, led the United States during the Spanish-American War, although he at first opposed taking action against Spain. The United States annexed the Philippines in his presidency. McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist (see anarchism) shortly after his reelection.

McKinley's presidency is often remembered as a time of rising American jingoism and imperialism.

William McKinley served as the twenty-fifth president of the United States, from 1897 until his death from an assassin's bullet in 1901. A conservative Republican who advocated high tariffs to protect U.S. industry, McKinley waged the Spanish-American War and at the end of it gained overseas territories for the United States.

McKinley was born January 29, 1843, in Niles, Ohio. As a young man, he briefly attended Allegheny College, in Meadville, Pennsylvania; taught school; and fought in the Union army during the Civil War, attaining the rank of major. McKinley was aide-de-camp to the regimental commander, Rutherford B. Hayes, who was later governor of Ohio and the nineteenth U.S. president. After the war McKinley studied law with an attorney and attended Albany Law School, in New York. He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1867, and established a law practice in Canton, Ohio, which remained his official residence for the rest of his life. From 1869 to 1871, he served as county attorney.

McKinley's political ambitions were nurtured by Hayes. McKinley became active in Ohio Republican politics and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1876. McKinley was an outspoken advocate of higher tariffs, believing that U.S. industry and U.S. workers were protected by the taxation of imported foreign goods. His stand on tariffs culminated in the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890, which raised duties on many imports to the highest levels up to that time. The act was an unpopular measure, and McKinley was voted out of office in the election of 1890.

McKinley returned to Ohio, where he was elected governor in 1891 and reelected governor in 1893. Mark Hanna, a wealthy Ohio industrialist and a leader in national Republican politics, became McKinley's benefactor and helped him secure the 1896 Republican presidential nomination. The Democratic candidate was William Jennings Bryan, who supported free coinage of silver, arguing that it would increase the money supply and thus help farmers and small-business owners. McKinley, who advocated retaining the gold standard, defeated Bryan, with Hanna raising large sums of money from big business to support the campaign. The money was used to help fund more than three hundred delegations and more than 750,000 people who traveled to McKinley's front porch in Canton to hear him campaign.

As president, McKinley signed the Currency Act of 1900 (31 Stat. 45), institutionalizing the gold standard until the 1930s. However, his first term was dominated by foreign affairs and overseas territorial expansion. When McKinley took office, a national independence movement had arisen in Cuba, seeking freedom from Spain. The United States tried to remain neutral while negotiating a solution acceptable to both sides. On February 15, 1898, the U.S. warship Maine blew up in the Havana harbor. Though later investigation suggested that a boiler explosion sank the Maine and killed its crew, immediate public reaction, inflamed by the newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst, blamed Spain for the attack. At McKinley's request Congress approved a declaration of war.

The Spanish-American War was brief, with Spain agreeing to terms in August 1898. Cuba gained its independence, though the United States reserved the right to intervene to ensure stability. Under the peace treaty, Spain transferred to the United States its claims to Puerto Rico and the Philippine Islands. In addition, the U.S. Congress voted in July 1898 to take possession of the Hawaiian Islands. This territorial expansion increased the United States' international prestige as a imperialist power, but some citizens questioned its constitutionality and whether it fit with the U.S. national character. The U.S. Supreme Court decided the legal question in 1901 in a set of decisions known as the Insular cases. The Court held that these new possessions were domestic territory of the United States, under the full control of Congress, and the residents of these new dependencies did not have the rights of citizens (De Lima v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 1, 21 S. Ct. 743, 45 L. Ed. 1041; Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244, 21 S. Ct. 770, 45 L. Ed. 1088).

In the 1900 presidential election, McKinley easily again defeated Bryan, who continued to campaign for free silver and against U.S. imperialism.

On September 6, 1901, McKinley was shot by Leon F. Czolgosz, an anarchist who had dreamed of killing a prominent person, at the Pan-American Exposition, in Buffalo, New York. An infection set into McKinley's wound, and he died September 14, in Buffalo. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt succeeded McKinley as president.

IN BRIEF: n. - A mountain in south central Alaska; 25th President of the United States.

Quotes:

"The mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation."

"Let us ever remember that our interest is in concord, not in conflict; and that our real eminence rests in the victories of peace, not those of war."