McKinley was born and raised in Ohio. When William McKinley was a young man, he wanted to
become a Methodist minister. When the Civil War started, McKinley was a valiant soldier,
and rose in the ranks from a private to a brevet major on the staff of Colonel
Rutherford B. Hayes. Hayes and McKinley became a lifelong friends. When McKinley returned
to Ohio to practice law, he used his connections with Hayes to rise rapidly in
Ohio politics. He served in Congress from 1877 to 1891. Congressman McKinley was the
Republican Party's leading spokesman for protectionism in foreign trade. The McKinley Tariff
of 1890 established higher tariff rates on imported goods in order to protect U.S.
business and manufacturing.
The nation's economic collapse in 1893 turned voters against the Democratic
Party's hold on the presidency, and gave McKinley an open door to the White House in 1896.
McKinley argued that his commitment to protective tariffs on imported goods would cure
unemployment and stimulate industrial growth. McKinley beat Democrat William Jennings
Bryan in the greatest electoral sweep in twenty-five years. Four years later, McKinley ran
on his record and defeated Bryan again, by an even larger margin.
McKinley led the U.S. into its first international war with a European power since the War of 1812.
The decision to come to the aid of the Cubans struggling to throw off Spanish rule was hastened
by reports that Spain was responsible for the explosion of the U.S. battleship Maine.
On April 25, 1898, Congress declared war, promising to secure independence for Cuba
once the war ended. To secure America's position in the Pacific, McKinley immediately
pushed a joint resolution through Congress to annex the Hawaiian Islands. After three
short months of fighting, the U.S. was victorious. The peace treaty between the United
States and Spain granted Cuba its independence. The island became a U.S.
protectorate, and gave the United States control of former Spanish colonies, the
Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam. The United States became a colonial power.
The United States then entered into a brutal conflict with Filipino nationalists
who rejected American rule.
McKinley next sent 2,000 troops to China to help the Europeans put down the Boxer
Rebellion. He also intervened twice in Nicaragua to protect U.S. property interests.
These actions were examples of the United States as a rising and world power.
McKinley authorized his secretary of state,
John Hay, to issue the "Open Door" notes on China. These notes declared U.S.
support for an independent China and expressed the American desire that all
nations with commercial interests in China compete on an equal footing.
The war with Spain and the Open Door strategy laid the groundwork
for a new American empire.
First Lady Ida Saxton McKinley developed epilepsy. McKinley gave the
First Lady his full attention, breaking White House protocol in seating
her by his side at State dinners. When he was shot by an assassin in 1901,
McKinley said to his personal secretary, "My wife,
be careful how you tell her, oh be careful." McKinley died
from his wounds eight days later, on September 14, 1901.
McKinley was a President who acted decisively in going to war with Spain,
asserted great presidential authority over his cabinet and generals,
and understood the link between foreign markets and national prosperity.
During his administration, the United States
acquired possessions that allowed it to become a major world power.
