William McKinley

Unlike some election years - 1788, the very first election, 1824, the election that ended the post-War of 1812 Era of Good Feelings, 1860, the election which sparked southern secession due to Lincoln's victory, and 1864, the election to decide the future of how the north would handle the civil war, and others - 1896 did not seem like a very significant election when it actually took place. However, it would prove to be the election that decided what person - and what party, what ideology - would be in control of America during one of the most important periods in its history. That year, the Republican governor of Ohio, William McKinley, won. He then replaced Grover Cleveland on March 4, 1897, beginning one of the most influential presidencies in all of American history.

Around the time McKinley entered office, the Cuban independence movement was being heavily and brutally repressed by the Spanish government and military. Soon, the American people learned of this oppression and were appalled, creating tensions between Spain and the US. A little under a year after McKinley entered office, on February 15, 1898, the USS Maine, an American ship, blew up. In the midst of the tensions over Cuban independence and its suppression by the Spanish state, the American press blamed the explosion on the Spanish military. These allegations then brought the tensions between America and Spain to a boiling point.

McKinley, under immense public pressure, sent an ultimatum to Spain in the early spring of 1898: Give Cuba its independence or face war with the US. The Spanish government rejected this ultimatum. In response, on April 25, 1898, the American government declared war on Spain, beginning the Spanish-American War.

On May 1, 1898, the Spanish navy suffered a devastating defeat on the coast of Manila Bay in the Philippines, one of Spain's colonies at the time. On July 3, 1898, Spain suffered a similar defeat at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. Because of these failures, the Spanish government, on August 13, 1898, surrendered. From here, peace negotiations began in Paris, France.

What came of these negotiations was the Treaty of Paris. Under the Treaty of Paris, the Spanish government was forced to give independence to Cuba. From there, the agreement had the Spanish government cede Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the US. It received $20,000,000 in compensation for the Philippines. On December 10, 1898, the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Spanish-American War.

I greatly appreciate McKinley's pursuit of Cuban independence, especially given its success. However, the rest of the Treaty of Paris is one of many reasons I don't rank McKinley higher. As I've explained in other articles, I am opposed to territorial expansion. Even peaceful territorial expansion is problematic in my eyes. However, the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico were all taken by force at the end of the Spanish-American War. McKinley should have used the Spanish-American War as an opportunity to liberate the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam from imperialism. Instead, he used it as an opportunity to expand US imperialism across the globe. McKinley's imperialism also saw the annexation of Hawaii. McKinley's imperialist policies alone plunge him into the bottom 10. However, he was bad outside of that as well.

Domestically, McKinley did literally nothing to address the wave of anti-black violence that took place during his presidency. And his reasoning made his lack of action far, far worse: McKinley's neglect toward his black citizens was rooted in a cynical effort to merely grab votes. His cowardly fear that addressing anti-black violence would cause him to lose votes amongst America's racists. So, he left black Americans to the wolves, all so he could receive some extra votes.

Furthermore, McKinley dismissed literally thousands of perfectly-qualified government officials all because he was a Republican and these officials were Democrats.

Now, in all fairness, as a protectionist, I support McKinley's drastic increase in tariffs. That, coupled with his ability to secure Cuban independence, are what keep him from being lower. However, outside of that, McKinley's economic policies were atrocious and, in one instance, illegal. Specifically, as president, McKinley violated the Sherman Antitrust Act - the law signed by Benjamin Harrison in 1890 that outlawed all monopolies - by trying to institute a policy of only prosecuting monopolies that existed in more than one state. 

On March 14, 1900, McKinley also signed the Gold Standard Act, which, as the name implies, restored the gold standard. In other words, this law required mints to only produce as much money as they could back up with gold. McKinley even tried - though unsuccessfully - to convince several other nations to start following the gold standard. To many people, the gold standard is a good way of controlling inflation. After all, if the government can only print as much money as they can pair with gold, then the amount of money it can produce is heavily restricted. This keeps the money supply relatively low, and so maintains the value of a singular dollar. This is technically true, but it only tells one side of the story.

Sometimes, the gold standard can actively hurt the economy. For example, during the presidency of Richard Nixon, the gold standard was suspended during a period of economic distress. This was because the use of the gold standard allowed countries that used the US dollar to exchange that money for American gold. This reduced the amount of gold in the country, which is bad during an economic crisis because gold is a very valuable resource. In fact, it was this suspension of the gold standard by Nixon that ultimately killed the policy, as the restriction has never been reinstated. Also, producing additional money can help with certain economic crises. And the gold standard actively inhibits the government's ability to do that. So while yes, there should be ways to mitigate the amount of money created by the state and its mints, a gold standard is not the way to do that.

In short, McKinley was an imperialist who dismissed officials over petty disagreements, didn't help black Americans when they were ambushed by a wave of racist violence, and implemented horrid economic policies. He was a vile president and, given his selfish rationale for his neutrality in the attacks on black Americans, a vile person as well.