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The Legacy of President William McKinley, Born January 29, 1843

In his inaugural address on the 20th of this month, President Trump vowed to return the name of “Mount McKinley” to the highest elevation in North America. Under President Obama, the mountain’s Presidential name was revoked back to its native Alaskan name, Denali—something requested by a group of the native population in the state since the 1970s.


Located in Alaska, Denali—officially Mount McKinley—is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet above sea level, and is also the tallest mountain in the world from base-to-peak on land, measuring 18,000 ft, with a topographic prominence of 20,194 feet.

So who was President McKinley, our 25th President? What legacy did he leave that would earn him such a singular memorial, and what special interest might our current President have in singling him out for commendation?


William McKinley (1843-1901), 25th President of the United States

America’s “Gilded Age”, as it has been dubbed, was overseen by multiple Presidents, but under McKinley it escalated to an ambitious and controversial degree. Under his extremely popular administration our country was returned to the Gold Standard and rescued from a severe economic slump, the Philippines were purchased, Puerto Rico and Guam were gained by treaty, and the annexation of Hawaii as a state was begun. The United States entered into the Spanish-American war under his Presidency, a war declared by Congress in response to Spain’s own declaration of war on the U.S., in turn a response to our ultimatum. The resulting war was an outcome greatly desired by the popular newspapers of the day and his cabinet members, far more than by McKinley himself. The battleground was the little island of Cuba, then a Spanish dominion, and for a third time in our nation’s history we defeated a heavyweight European power and distinguished our military might as that of a global superpower. The validity of the war’s instigation and pretenses have been strongly debated, but the conflict would result in our near constant and often contentious involvement with Cuba ever since, including our bases on their soil at Guantanamo Bay.


Annexation of Hawaii announced in the Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 14, 1898


Aerial view of the US fleet at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 1927

As one of America’s most successful businessmen before his bid for the Oval Office, McKinley’s Presidency was marked by a keen interest in trade. This was manifest in his use of tariffs, a measure producing significant economic growth. By his second term—cut short by assassination—William McKinley had achieved an incredible success by overhauling national finances and even establishing certain committees to sort and oversee tariff profits, so great was the new influx.


Chief Justice Melville Fuller (left) swears in William McKinley (center) for his first term as President; outgoing President Grover Cleveland stands at right


1900 reelection poster with the theme that McKinley has returned prosperity to America

As the last American President to have been a veteran of the War Between the States (he served under another future president, Rutherford B. Hayes), McKinley pursued the erasure of all vestiges of Reconstruction in the nation, with a personal vision of and support for the “reconciliation monument” in Arlington Cemetery, its carvings beautifully depicting scenes of the past strife and the unity since gained by goodwill and mutual respect on both sides. Under President Biden, those DEI committees who oversaw the forcible removal of our historic landmarks under the pretense of their causing offense had this symbolic monument to national harmony torn down by bulldozer, and the grave of its sculptor—Jewish veteran of the Civil War, Moses Ezekiel—desecrated in the process.


McKinley in 1865


Confederate Monument, Arlington National Cemetery


Moses Jacob Ezekiel (1844-1917), Confederate veteran and sculptor

William McKinley won a second term in the year 1900, with Americans’ good faith in his past conduct placing him securely at the helm of government as a new century dawned. His Vice President was the energetic and controversial Theodore Roosevelt, a reforming visionary of such ambition that his own Republican Party bosses tucked him into the Vice Presidency as recourse for keeping him out of any more functional public office. Under McKinley, Roosevelt’s passion for American Expansion would be moderated and restrained, it was assumed, and the Vice Presidency was considered an extremely safe bet. That is, until September 6, 1901, when President McKinley chose to visit the Pan-American Exhibition in Buffalo, New York, an event celebrating innovation and progress in American industry.


Reelection campaign poster for the 1900 US Presidential election, picturing incumbent President William McKinley and Vice Presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt

As a grounded man, one keen never to lose his connection with his fellow citizens who elected him, McKinley was generous with his time and person during such events, and on this day he took time to make his way down a waiting line, shaking the hands of those waiting to greet him. Among them was a man with a bandaged arm, one Leon Czolgosz, who turned out to be concealing a revolver under the wrapping, and upon being greeted by McKinley, fired two shots point blank into the President’s abdomen. Czolgosz was tackled to the ground, beaten and restrained by the crowd while secret service men rushed to evacuate the President. McKinley was said to have remained calm despite the dire turn of events, his concerns turning from his own condition to that of his wife Ida: “Be careful how you tell my wife!” he charged the men, as she had a history of fragile health and was prone to seizures.


Mugshots of Leon Czolgosz after his arrest for shooting President McKinley


McKinley entering the Temple of Music on September 6, 1901, shortly before the shots were fired


President McKinley greeting well-wishers at a reception in the Temple of Music minutes before he was shot

McKinley would languish in and out of consciousness for eight days, one bullet lodged deep and irretrievable, and the unmistakable symptoms of infection taking over. He was heard to sometimes recite the words of his favorite hymn, “Nearer My God to Thee” as he lay dying.


An artist’s portrayal of McKinley’s assassination by Leon Czolgosz

He passed on September, 14, 1901, becoming the third US President at the time to be killed by assassination, and mourned en masse by the whole nation. His murderer was tried swiftly: he proudly confessed to the act, citing his anarchist convictions as motivation. Whether operating on his own initiative or spurred on by those who disliked McKinley’s policies, the assassin would prove an archetype for many such perpetrators going into the 20th century, a similar act sparking the horrors of World War One a mere fourteen years later.


Theodore Roosevelt pays his respects at the casket of President McKinley


William McKinley (left) and Theodore Roosevelt (right) together, circa 1899, during McKinley’s first term as President, and before Roosevelt was his VP

Theodore Roosevelt took over the reigns of power and served out McKinely’s term, ultimately overshadowing his more moderate predecessor in nearly every way. Under Roosevelt’s leadership, America was thrust headlong into a stalwart new age, one that adhered to much of McKinley’s good intentions while aggrandizing his policies to such a degree that the Roosevelt administration could be understandably accused of American Imperialism—an accusation that has caused ongoing debate amongst Constitutionalists regarding what it means to adapt in a world where American territories are now spread to the other side of the globe.


Theodore Roosevelt being introduced as President by the New-York Tribune, September 22, 1901, after assuming office following McKinley’s assassination

Fellow-Citizens:
In obedience to the will of the people, and in their presence, by the authority vested in me by this oath, I assume the arduous and responsible duties of President of the United States, relying upon the support of my countrymen and invoking the guidance of Almighty God. Our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers, who has so singularly favored the American people in every national trial, and who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps.

—Opening line of President McKinley’s first inaugural address, given March 4, 1897


William McKinley as memorialized on the $500 bill


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