William McKinley: Building the American Century

this video is brought to you by squarespace from websites and online stores to marketing tools and analytics squarespaces the all-in-one platform to build a beautiful online presence and run your business check out squarespace through the link in the description below more on them in a bit at the moment of his death it's likely that william mckinley assumed his name would live forever as the 25th president of the united states mckinley had helped steer his nation out of its worst economic slump prior to the great depression he'd overseen a victorious war against a european power shepherded through the annexation of hawaii the purchase of the philippines and supervised the creation of an american empire at home too it was popular the first president to win consecutive second term in a quarter of a century so when he was gunned down by a terrorist in 1901 it must have seemed as if future generations would revere him alongside abraham lincoln but of course that's not what happened today william mckinley is largely forgotten by the general public known merely for being the guy whose death propelled vp teddy roosevelt to the white house if he's robert at all so how did this happen how did a man whose presidency seem to usher in a new epoch slide so gently into oblivion today biographics is telling the story of william mckinley the forgotten architect of the american century given how anonymous he is today it's fitting that william mckinley's early life was so marvelously obscure born on january 29 1843 in the small town of gnars ohio young william grew up the seventh of eight children doing all the things that boys did for fun in the mid 19th century swimming hunting and learning to ride a horse his parents too were utterly ordinary his mother had about christian while his father ran a small foundry it wasn't enough to make them rich but it was enough to make them live without worry average as they were though there were two things that marked out the boy's parents as unusual one was a ferocious belief in the valley of education although they were happy in gnarls mr and mrs mckinley hated the idea of their kids growing up semi-educated ignoramuses when william was just 10 they moved to the town of poland just so that he could attend private school but it was the second notable thing about his family that would have the biggest impact both mum and pop were ardent abolitionists this was a time when many in the north campaigned against slavery's expansion but stopped short of wanting to outlaw it in the south the mckinleys by contrast drilled into their children that slavery was evil that it was worth putting your life on the line to help eradicate it and those beliefs would soon have a profound effect on young william's future in 1860 a combination of illness and financial troubles forced 16 year old mckinley to leave his college and return home taking up work as a postal clerk to make ends meet barely had he settled into this role when news reached ohio that a south carolina militia had bombarded fort sumter kickstarting the civil war within weeks mckinley had signed up joining the ohio 23rd regiment determined to do his duty a duty that he'd carry out with jaw dropping zeal as a private mckinley was almost suicidally brave gaining a reputation for riding through dense cannon fire to deliver urgent messages he served at antietam still regarded as the bloodiest single day in u.s history where he charged through heavy enemy fire to deliver supplies to union troops it was antics like these that brought him to the attention of his commander rutherford b hayes 20 years older than mckinley hayes regarded all his men as family treating them with a respect that was legendary but he seemed to have a special affection for the young man from gnarls after antietam he placed mckinley on his general staff by the time the war was over he seemed to consider the lad an honorary son for his part mckinley returned home with the rank of brevant major for the rest of his life those closest to him would refer to him affectionately as the major yet while he might have returned to civilian life mckinley wouldn't go back to his pre-war job back in ohio the young man opened a law practice in canton becoming locally successful but the real change would come courtesy of his new mentor in 1867 rutherford hayes came to mckinley and basically said young man i've decided to run for governor fancy doing my dirty work something for hayes that year was mckinley's first brush with politics and evidently he liked what he saw after hayes won the younger man threw himself into republican politics in 1869 he was elected prosecuting attorney at stark county and while that might seem like a minor post to start with it really was just the start now had gotten a taste of it mckinley wouldn't be content to just sit around with his thumb up his bottom in stark county oh no instead he was going to take that butt and that soiled thumb all the way to washington soon snow actually asked him we can't say for certain but it seems likely that mckinley would have regarded 1869 as the greatest year of his life that's because 1869 wasn't just the year he moved into politics but also the year he met ida saxton highly educated and extremely progressive on rights for women and african-americans idaho was everything mckinley dreamed of in a partner the pair met at a picnic that summer by january 8071 they married just 11 months later on christmas day their daughter catherine was born not long after in 1873 their second daughter followed but if 1869 was the highlight of mckinley's life 1873 would represent the blackest depths just four months after being born their youngest daughter died around the same time his mother passed away and the combined tragedy seems to have broken her for the rest of her life ida would be crippled with depression depression that only got worse when their daughter catherine likewise died in 1875. combined with a sudden onset of epilepsy the mental breakdown helped turn her into an invalid someone in need of long-term care and care for her william mckinley would throughout the rest of his story even as his star rises even as he becomes president mckinley's number one concern will always be ida for some members of the public this was scandalous for others admirable but it's unlikely the future president gave a damn either way for four short years he and ida enjoyed a perfect life in return he would now stand by her until the bitter end not that his extra duties as cara would get in the way of mckinley's rise the same year his mentor rutherford hayes decided to run for the white house mckinley ran for his own seat in congress so loyal was he to the old man though that he took time off from his own campaign to stump for him evidently he didn't do any harm that november mckinley won a seat in the house of representatives a seat he would hold bar a brief period following the 1882 election for 14 years in a whimsical little twist mckinley celebrated his win by sticking a scarlet carnation in his lapel a fashion choice that he kept up for the rest of his career it would be thanks to this that ohio adopted the carnation as its state flower in 1904 but while mckinley had definitely won his congressional run the same can be said for hayes the 1876 election was the tightest in history with just a handful of contested electoral votes separating hayes from his democratic opponent after a bitter political fight the democrats agreed to drop their claim to those all-important votes in return for president hayes ending reconstruction for a supporter of african-american rights this was likely a nasty blow to mckinley not that he was brave enough to show it though throughout his time in washington mckinley would remain on hayes good side and in return the president would help propel his career ever higher by 1889 that included reaching the heights of chair of the house ways and means committee from where mckinley was able to pursue his pet project tariffs in this era the republican party was broadly against free trade preferring instead a form of protectionism to help boost american manufacturers mckinley was all in on this believing aggressive trade policies would help improve the lives of ordinary people so much so that in 1890 he used his position to push through something known as the mckinley tariff slapping import taxes on over 1 500 goods mckinley confidently expected the act to raise prosperity for manufacturers which it absolutely did unfortunately it also sent consumer prices skyrocketing the hike on goods was so eye-watering that it effectively dynamited the congressional republican party by the 1890 midterms voters were so angry that the gop lost 93 seats and control of the house among those swept out of office was william mckinley stung hurt mckinley slunk back to ohio to run for governor although he won it was hardly a resounding success mckinley's margin of victory was barely a polling error but politics is a winner takes all game and whether voters were enthusiastic for him or not mckinley was now the governor of the buckeye state it would be in this new role that he'd soon meet the man who'd make him president so we'll get back to today's video in just a minute but first here's a word from today's video sponsor squarespace you know what's great about the summer bit of time off time you know to relax but also while you're relaxing you're probably going to be daydreaming maybe that'll be about the next project you want to start i just got back from vacation certainly the case for me fortunately squarespace gives you every possible tool you might want to fashion your next web project whether it's a small business a sports blog a creative portfolio or just a page full of dank memes it doesn't matter if you can dream it you can build it with squarespace are you looking to get in and out quick without thinking too much about what 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back to today's video mark hannah occupies a strange shifting place in mckinley's story in the early 20th century the wealthier iron was often cast in the role of puppet master the guy who made mckinley president to push his own pet policies today though a more common view has it that mckinley used hannah more than hannah used him leveraging his patrons wealth to pursue independent goals whatever the truth there's no doubt their meeting while mckinley was governor set both men on the path back to washington but only after fate gave a little bit of a helping hand in 1893 the same year that rutherford hayes went off to the great ohio in the sky democrat grover cleveland began his second non-consecutive term in the white house unfortunately for his party no sooner had he started than america was walloped by one of the worst depressions in history the panic of 1893 collapsed the economy unemployment jumped to 19 scores of banks and railroads failed savings were wiped out investors lost everything among those nearly destroyed was mckinley who'd foolishly co-signed a 100 000 bank loan for a friend when the friend went bust mckinley was left on the hook for the money luckily the uber work the mark hannah stepped in to bail him out and that left mckinley perfectly poised to reap the depression's bitter rewards with the economy in free fall the electorate gave the democrats a shellacking the 1894 midterms remain the worst defeat of any party in an off-presidential election year what the republicans had suffered in 1890 the democrats were now suffering 10 times over and that 1996 was now looking like an assured gop victory all mckinley had to do was make sure that his name was on the ticket by now mckinley was a known quantity having chaired the republican national convention and governed ohio for years but rather than take his chances he was determined to make sure he was the delegate's only choice backed by hannah's money and spin operation mckinley ran perhaps the first recognizably modern nomination campaign in history one marked by some interesting firsts perhaps the biggest was his decision to speak to two all black audiences while campaigning the first white candidate to ever do so yet it would be in the presidential campaign itself that mckinley really redefined what american politics could be given the nomination that summer with garrett hobart as his vp pick mckinley launched what was then the largest election campaign the nation had ever seen backed by a war chest of four million dollars the republican party flooded swing states with political leaflets mailings pins badges you name it anything to keep their candidate's name in people's minds mckinley himself meanwhile took the old-fashioned front porch campaign to a whole new level in the months leading up to november he invited a total of 750 000 people to hear him speak and not just in any old order across 350 speeches mckinley tailored his pitch to different groups to the traditional republican wasps but also to jews to catholics to black people to emigrate from portugal bohemia germany you name it after decades in which the two parties had come to rely on their bases mckinley was trying to build a big tent coalition one that included as many traditional democratic voters as possible for their part the democrats put up the populist fire brand william jennings bran but while he had energy brown was playing an old game preaching to the choir even as mckinley was luring them away to his exciting new chancel that november the results were unambiguous mckinley beat bryan by a margin of six hundred thousand at the popular vote and nearly a hundred in the electoral college for those of us alive today used to reading about ronald reagan's 1980 landslide or fdr crushing it in 1932 mckinley's victory might seem unspectacular but make no mistake in 1896 it was a political earthquake for the first time since ulysses s grant was re-elected a quarter century earlier a candidate had won over 50 to the popular vote the era of extremely narrow victories was over mckinley had just won the most convincing mandate in a generation and he would use that to completely upend politics in one specific way the election of william mckinley sparked the end of an era upon his inauguration the 25th president became the fifth and last civil war veteran to reach the highest office perhaps fittingly his time in the white house would be dominated by conflict but this time the fighting wouldn't be taking place on american soil but in the last reading outposts of the spanish empire back in 1895 when mckinley was still just governor of ohio the people of cuba had risen in revolt against madrid to which madrid had responded by herding 300 000 cubans into concentration camps an insane overreaction that had done for spain's reputation what the news night interview did for prince andrews by the time mckinley became commander-in-chief the american public and press were demanding some form of intervention at first the new president kept things diplomatic by gently applying pressure to madrid mckinley got the spaniards to grudgingly release the camp prisoners and grant cuba limited authority this even led washington sending the battleship maine to havana as a sure friendship but then the 15th of february 1898 rolled around and everything went to hell that day a mysterious explosion destroyed the main in harbor killing 226 crewmen in the aftermath the tsunami of anger washed over america before an investigation could be concluded the press was whipping up further for war with madrid not so long ago historians believe that mckinley allowed this fervor to carry him along dragging him into the war before he knew all of the facts the iraq war of the late 19th century but newer scholarship disputes this version in modern tellings mckinley did all he humanly could to avoid war until it became necessary desperately keeping diplomatic channels open until spain angrily cuddle contact whichever version is true the outcome was absolutely the same on the 23rd of april madrid declared war two days later washington did the same the first time america had declared war on a european power since 1812. yet while the war of 1812 would result in a messy draw the spanish-american war would have a much clearer outcome by that we mean the united states absolutely crushed madrid within days spain specifically had been destroyed in the philippines not long after the atlantic fleet was sunk near jamaica and american troops were marching on puerto rico cuba itself former assistant secretary of the navy teddy roosevelt victoriously led his rough riders up san juan hill with santiago falling not long after by the 12th of august spain had been defeated and the war was over a war in which mckinley had played a vital role using newly installed telephones to talk to his generals in real time and it wasn't the war itself that so shaped mckinley's presidency but what came after from the ashes of spain's defeat the 25th president helped build a true american empire at the height of the fighting in july mckinley had already signed an order officially annexing hawaii now with madrid defeated he oversaw a peace treaty that expanded washington's holdings further still under the terms thrashed out puerto rico and guam became american possessions and cuba was nominally granted independence but in reality was likewise drawn into washington's orbit but the biggest change was the purchase of the philippines for 20 million dollars madrid signed over its great pacific outpost with that purchase the us became a true colonial power mckinley personally pushed hard for this convincing the senate to ratify the treaty with a two-thirds majority convincing the house to appropriate millions for empire building it was a hugely divisive decision one which saw guys like mark twain eviscerate the president for wanting to emulate the corrupt empires of europe but twain was in the minority enthusiastically backed by teddy roosevelt mckinley embraced america's new role in the world a role that would make it one of the world's great powers a role that would also involve some very murky moral compromises just as it's hard to make an omelet without breaking a few eggs so too is it hard to build an empire without breaking a whole lot of humans in the case of the american empire most of that breaking came during the philippine-american war having been freed from spanish rule a lot of filipinos believed not unreasonably that their islands should belong to them so when uncle sam instead rolled up and started draping everything in star-spangled banners they tried their best to fight back the result kinley sent in an american occupation force one that met the rebels with brutal violence by the time the war ended in 1902 it's estimated some 200 000 filipinos had died many of the tactics that had so outraged americans when used by spain on cuba were now turned on the philippines with predictably awful results yet the philippines wasn't mckinley's only post-war foreign adventure in 1900 he committed troops without congressional approval to the eight nation alliance sent to put down china's boxer rebellion it was a move that won the u.s a 25 million payout from china's post-invasion indemnity while also confirming it as a nation newly willing to flex its muscle on the world stage this is one of the reasons some call mckinley the architect of the american century not just because he helped guide the country out of the 1890s depression and into prosperity but because he set the blueprint for washington's foreign interventionist policy this was a policy that would echo through world war one world war ii vietnam iraq and beyond still we don't want to paint his presidency as one entirely predicated on foreign policy even with the conflagration that was engulfing the philippines mckinley was likewise changing things back home perhaps his most notable achievement was to concentrate power back in the hands of the president following the civil war the u.s had gone through an era when real power seemed to lie with congress now mckinley embarked on a great centralizing drive making the white house once again the first among coequal branches paving the way for the extremely active presidencies of teddy roosevelt and woodrow wilson that would follow speaking of teddy roosevelt it's arguable that mckinley's most impactful domestic decision didn't involve once again raising tariffs or his laudable hiring of african-americans into diplomatic positions but simply giving roosevelt a job back in 1896 the younger man had campaigned heartily for mckinley so much so that advisers wondered if the new president shouldn't reward him personally mckinley didn't like the idea at all he thought roosevelt was too pugnacious too unwilling to compromise but he also recognized that he had a sharp mind and was genuinely talented so he decided to take a gamble on him making him assistant secretary of the navy that allowed roosevelt have a high profile position to resign from when war broke out allowed him to become a famous hero at the head of the rough riders and return to republican politics as one of the hottest properties yet this would still have been for naught and mckinley not taken a second chance on the 21st of november 1899 mckinley's original vp garrett hobart died in office with no 25th amendment the position remained open until the 1900 republican convention by which time teddy was the favorite to join mckinley's ticket behind the scenes though mckidney's old patron mark hannah was unhappy like the president he despised teddy's macho star in meetings he impressed upon mckinley the need to find someone else anyone else but mckinley knew talent when he saw it putting his personal feelings aside he threw his weight behind the war hero for his vp pick and with that one decision the 25th president changed the course of american history the 1900 election played out like a disney live-action remake of 1896 that absolutely nobody needed to see once again the democrats put up william jennings braun once again mckinley trounced him becoming the first president to be elected for a second consecutive term since ulysses s grant this time however the epilogue would be completely different recently the administration had noticed mckinley receiving an alarming number of death threats in this era there was no dedicated secret service detail to provide security just personal bodyguards who tried to urge the president to be more careful around the public unfortunately this was also an era in which presidents were expected to be approachable regularly seeing chatting to citizens in the street when mckinley's bodyguards asked him to be less conspicuous he was basically like absurd what america would ever want to harm their presidents to which the answer would soon turn out to be leon cholgosh an unemployed detroit millworker with anarchist leanings cholgosh had gotten it into his head that mckinley was oppressing the working man and needed to be stopped and since this was the great era of anarchist assassinations cholgosh didn't plan to stop mckinley via the ballot box that september 1901 child gosh traveled to buffalo where mckinley was speaking at the pan american exposition on september the 6th the president stood outside the temple of music to shake hands with passers-by despite his bodyguards trying to get him to cut things short mckinley insisted on continuing his greetings in 1607 the 25th president turned and held out his hand to the next man jogwash took it and with his free hand he fired two bullets into mckinley's stomach the pandemonium that followed was bizarre in that unlike jfk or lincoln mckinley remained conscious as it all unfolded from his wounded position he begged the angry crowd not to lynch joelgos before turning to his private secretary a guy called cortalu saying my wife be careful what are you how you tell her oh be careful in oddway it's touching to see how he remained so concerned about ida to the very end although everyone realized this was really the end rushed hospital mckinley was declared badly wounded but likely to survive transferred to the nearby home of the exhibition's organizer he began to recuperate for several days it looked like it pulled through and then the great horror of the pre-antibiotics world reared its head gangrene the infection that took hold around the wound did what child rushes bullets had failed to do on the 14th of september 1901 william mckinley died in buffalo the third president to be assassinated he was 58. the reaction to mckinley's death varied wildly by person on vacation teddy roosevelt found himself forced to hightail it to new york to take the oath of office mark hannah meanwhile was seemingly more concerned about roosevelt's election snarling i told william mckinley it was a mistake to nominate this man in philadelphia i asked him if he realized what would happen if he should die now look that damn cowboy is president of the united states for his part leon chulgosh never showed any remorse he was executed on october 29th of that year his infamy assured mostly though the death of mckinley was marked by an outpouring of grief once so vast it's comparable to the aftermath of jfk's assassination one that made it seem like his name would live on forever instead it was destined to slip into oblivion today william mckinley sits alongside guys like william taft and calvin coolidge in the special category of significant presidents most people have somehow forgotten about despite overseeing a successful war and dying tragically there are main few monuments to him even mount mckinley in alaska was officially renamed gnarly by the obama administration in 2016 and so mckinley's great slide into anonymity continues in many ways it's a pity although he wasn't perfect mckinley oversaw a profound transformation in american history a moment when the u.s went from being a regional power to a great power it was sitting atop a global empire without his lead the expansionist presidency of teddy roosevelt would have been unthinkable take teddy out of the equation and you also have no presidents taft or wilson and suddenly american history starts to look really rather different yet mckinley was more than just a prelude to tdr in his unshowy way he changed what the presidency could be changed what america was how americans thought about themselves and their place in the world he may still be obscure today but we are all still very much living in a future that mckinley helped create

Channel: Biographics

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Keywords: biographics, biography, biographies, people, famous people, simon whistler

Id: iFaH7y7H_hA

Length: 25min 7sec (1507 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 30 2022