William McKinley Then and Now

William McKinley the twenty fifth President of the United States was assassinated early in the second term of his presidency by the anarchist Leon Czolgos. ¹ This event ended a life steeped in service to his country. McKinley’s service began as an army private in the civil war where he served under Rutherford B Hayes. He quickly rose through the ranks to become a Major. After the war, he became a lawyer and in 1877 was elected to congress where he advanced protectionist polices by promoting the McKinley Tariff, which allowed for reciprocal trade agreements which in turn enhanced our exports.

In 1891 he became the Governor of Ohio and in 1896 he secured the presidency. As President McKinley:

• Continued his protectionist polices with a revision to the McKinley Tariff, the Dingley Tariff.
• Presided over the Spanish American War.
• Established an American protectorate in Cuba.
• Negotiated the Hay-Pauncefote treaties with England which culminated in the building and control of the Panama Canal. ^{2 3}
• Disseminated the Open Door notes which opposed Chinas dismemberment. ⁴

What of McKinley’s work today?

• NAFTA and the WTO govern our trade policies.
• The United States no longer owns or controls the Panama Canal.
• Cuba is a communist dictatorship.
• China is poised to take ownership of the United States.

What a difference a hundred years makes. What the good President McKinley did for the world still survives in the Panama Canal, but his legacy for the nation appears to be slowly being dismantled. With the removal of his protectionist policies and the failure to his successors to make Cuba a free nation the United States is a poorer and less secure nation.

Joseph L. Conigliaro

Further reading:

1. The United States, International Policing and the War against Anarchist Terrorism, 1900–1914

2. Hay-Pauncefote Treaty

3. First Isthmian Canal Commission - 1899-1901

4. Secretary of State John Hay and the Open Door in China, 1899-1900

http://www.pippoproducts.com