John Sherman

John Sherman served as Secretary of State under William McKinley from March 1897 to April 1898. An Ohio Republican with long experience in Congress and the Senate, he had also been secretary of the treasury under Rutherford B. Hayes. His public reputation rested largely on financial policy and legislation, including the antitrust law bearing his name. ¹

Sherman entered the department as relations with Spain deteriorated over the Cuban rebellion. He opposed a war that might lead the United States to acquire Cuba and favored a negotiated settlement. McKinley, however, increasingly conducted policy through Assistant Secretary William R. Day. Sherman’s position consequently carried less influence than his seniority and formal office implied. ¹

Commercial questions also shaped his approach. He favored equal access to overseas markets and protection of American trading opportunities, including in China, where the European powers were competing for concessions. These interests anticipated debates that became more prominent under his successors. Sherman resigned in April 1898 as the United States went to war with Spain. His brief tenure marked a transition from the cabinet prominence of a long-serving congressional leader to a department more closely directed by McKinley and his immediate diplomatic advisers. ¹