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In the time of darkest
defeat, victory may be nearest. – William McKinley
[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.azquotes.com/quote/194856]
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William McKinley (January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901) was an
American politician and lawyer who served as the 25th President of
the United States from March 4, 1897 until his assassination in
September 1901, six months into his second term. McKinley led the nation to
victory in the Spanish–American War,
raised protective tariffs
to promote American industry, and maintained the nation on the gold standard in a rejection of inflationary proposals.
McKinley was
the last president to have served in the American Civil War,
beginning as a private in the Union Army and ending as
a brevet major.
After the war, he settled in Canton, Ohio, where he practiced law and married Ida Saxton. In 1876, he was elected to Congress,
where he became the Republican
Party's expert on the protective tariff, which he promised would bring
prosperity. His 1890 McKinley Tariff was
highly controversial; which together with a Democratic
redistricting aimed at gerrymandering him out
of office, led to his defeat in the Democratic landslide of 1890. He was
elected Ohio's governor in 1891 and 1893, steering a moderate course between
capital and labor interests. With the aid of his close adviser Mark Hanna, he secured
the Republican nomination for president in 1896, amid a deep
economic depression. He defeated his Democratic rival, William Jennings Bryan,
after a front-porch campaign
in which he advocated "sound money" (the gold standard unless altered
by international agreement) and promised that high tariffs would restore
prosperity.
Rapid
economic growth marked McKinley's presidency. He promoted the 1897 Dingley Tariff to protect manufacturers and
factory workers from foreign competition, and in 1900, he secured the passage
of the Gold Standard Act.
McKinley hoped to persuade Spain to grant independence to
rebellious Cuba without conflict, but when negotiation
failed, he led the nation in the Spanish–American War of 1898; the U.S. victory
was quick and decisive. As part of the peace settlement,
Spain turned over to the United States its main overseas colonies of Puerto Rico, Guam,
and the Philippines; Cuba was promised independence, but
at that time remained under the control of the U.S. Army. The United States annexed the independent Republic of Hawaii
in 1898 and it became a U.S. territory.
Historians
regard McKinley's 1896 victory as a realigning election,
in which the political stalemate
of the post–Civil War era gave way to the Republican-dominated Fourth Party System,
which began with the Progressive Era.
McKinley defeated Bryan again in the 1900
presidential election, in a campaign focused on imperialism, protectionism, and free silver. However, his
legacy was quickly cut short when he was shot
on September 6, 1901 by Leon Czolgosz, a
second-generation Polish-American with anarchist
leanings; McKinley died eight days later, and was succeeded by his Vice
President Theodore Roosevelt.
As an innovator of American interventionism
and pro-business sentiment, McKinley's presidency is generally considered above average, though his
universally positive public perception was soon overshadowed by Roosevelt.
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