William McKinley

William McKinley, an Ohio Republican associated with protective tariffs, served as president from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. His election followed a bitter contest over currency and the economic depression of the 1890s. During his presidency, the United States acquired overseas possessions and assumed new military and administrative obligations in the Caribbean and Pacific. ¹

The Cuban rebellion against Spain, public outrage over Spanish repression, and the destruction of the battleship Maine in Havana intensified pressure for intervention. War began in 1898 after diplomacy failed. American victories in Cuba and the Philippines led to the Treaty of Paris, under which Spain relinquished sovereignty over Cuba and ceded Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The United States also annexed Hawaii during the war. ²

American rule in the Philippines brought conflict with Filipinos seeking independence, producing a prolonged and destructive war that began in 1899. In China, Secretary of State John Hay’s Open Door notes called for equal commercial opportunity and preservation of China’s territorial integrity. American troops joined the international intervention during the Boxer crisis in 1900. These policies combined opposition to exclusive foreign spheres with an expanding American military presence overseas. ²

At home, McKinley signed the Dingley Tariff and supported the gold standard, which Congress formally established in 1900. Economic recovery and victory over Spain contributed to his reelection. His administration largely accommodated industrial consolidation and offered little effective protection against the suppression of Black voting rights in the South. He was shot at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in September 1901 and died days later, bringing Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency. ^{3, 1}