At the beginning of the 20th century, America was a country poised on the threshold of change. William McKinley, the 25th president, was instrumental in guiding America out of its Gilded Age past into a new epoch of international power and military strength. His presidency ushered in a quantum leap in the nation’s economic, political, and military path, setting the stage for the American empire that would control the century.
McKinley’s path started in Niles, Ohio, where he was born in 1843. He was the final Civil War veteran to become president, and his early life as a Union soldier ingrained in him a sense of duty and leadership. Following the war, McKinley established himself in law and politics, rising eventually to be an influential member of Congress and governor of Ohio. His record as a tariff champion brought him the appellation “tariff king,” and he was strongly committed to protectionism.
In terms of Douglas Irwin, professor of economics at Dartmouth, McKinley identified himself as “a tariff man, standing on a tariff platform.” His 1890 legislation increased tariffs on most imported manufactured items to approximately 50 percent, and tariffs became a huge source of government funds. While others, including recent presidents, have attributed McKinley’s tariffs to getting America wealthy, Irwin argues that it was technological innovation—electricity, telecommunications, and railroads—and the tide of immigrant labor that spurred on the nation’s economic growth.
McKinley’s presidency was not merely an economic one. The world was changing rapidly, and America was ready to assert its muscles on the international scene. The Spanish-American War in 1898 was the catalyst. The apocryphal explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor, killing 260 U.S. Navy personnel, was dramatized by the newspapers and placed enormous pressure on McKinley to intervene. The war itself lasted only 100 days but had a huge impact. The United States sank the Spanish fleet, and Spain was compelled to give up Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to America, and Cuba gained independence.
The annexation of Hawaii was a daring step. The U.S. Congress approved a joint resolution in 1898, taking over the cession of the Hawaiian Islands and its dependencies. According to the resolution, all rights of sovereignty and public property were conferred on the United States, and the revenue of the lands was to be utilized for the advantage of the inhabitants of Hawaii for educational and public ends. But not all were happy. Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii wrote to the House of Representatives a protest letter, contending that the U.S. claim to the Hawaiian Crown Lands was a taking of property without process or compensation. She requested that the President and Congress restore her rights and property.
Puerto Rico’s tale was just as dramatic. Following centuries under Spanish colonial domination, the island had a short experience of autonomy before it was ceded to the United States at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War. The utility of Puerto Rico to the U.S. was obvious: it was at once an outlet for surplus manufactured products and a strategic naval base in the Caribbean. U.S. Navy Captain Alfred T. Mahan, a premier strategist, counseled McKinley regarding the significance of naval capabilities, and the war exhibited America’s military dominance.
The growth of the nation’s maritime resources during and after the Spanish-American War was the beginning of America’s major international maritime and naval power development. McKinley’s final public address prior to his assassination promoted a Panama Canal, greatly expanding America’s merchant fleet, and an Asian-to-California telegraph line. He proclaimed, “We must have more ships. They must be under the American flag, built and manned, and owned by Americans. These will not only be profitable in a commercial sense; they will be messengers of peace and amity wherever they go.”. We have to construct the Isthmian Canal, which will join the two oceans and provide a straight line of water communication with the western shores of Central and South America and Mexico. The work on a Pacific cable cannot be delayed any further.
McKinley’s life was ended by an assassin’s bullet in 1901, but his legacy survived. His assassination prompted the Secret Service to be reconstituted into a modern agency responsible for protecting the president. More significantly, McKinley’s policies and vision laid the groundwork for America’s emergence as a world power, shaping everything from military strategy to economic policy.
The McKinley era was an age of tumultuous change—mass immigration, urbanization, industrialization, and the early days of the Progressive Era. The United States burst forth out of isolationism’s shadows to become a global player, with a strong navy, new lands, and a bold sense of manifest destiny. McKinley’s leadership, for good or ill, shaped the America we know today: ambitious, expansive, and ready to take its place on the world stage.