Cleveland felt so strongly about imperialism that he joined the Anti-Imperialist League, which opposed the annexation of the Philippines in 1898, after he left office.
Retiring to Princeton
By 1896, Cleveland had managed to alienate not only his own party, but also much of the public. The Democratic Party opted to nominate William Jennings Bryan for president instead of Cleveland. Cleveland didn’t even campaign for Bryan.
Cleveland retired to his home in Princeton, New Jersey, and became a trustee at Princeton University. He became close friends with the university’s president, a professor of government named Woodrow Wilson, who would become president of the United States in 1912.
When Cleveland died in 1908, his last words were, “I have tried so hard to do right.”
The Spoiled Republican: Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison, shown in Figure 12-4, has the distinction of being the only grandson of a former president to be elected president. Harrison was a devout Republican — so much so, that many considered him a puppet of the Republican Party. However, Harrison proved to be an honest, capable president who initiated major legislation during his term. He was actually one of the better presidents of the late 19th century.
Figure 12-4: Benjamin Harrison, 23rd president of the United States.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress
Harrison’s early political career
After moving to Indianapolis in 1854, Harrison opened a prosperous law firm and became active in the Republican Party. In 1857, he became the city attorney of Indianapolis. In 1860, he was elected Supreme Court reporter for the state of Indiana.
Growing up prominent
Benjamin Harrison came from one of the best-known families in U.S. history. His great-grandfather was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and his grandfather, William Henry Harrison, was the ninth president of the United States.
Born in 1833, Benjamin Harrison grew up on his grandfather’s estate in Ohio. After attending Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he studied languages and religion, Benjamin studied law. In 1854, he was admitted to the Ohio bar.
Harrison married his college sweetheart, Caroline Scott, in 1853. The couple then moved to Indiana, where Harrison’s grandfather had been the first governor of the territory.
At first, Harrison sat out the Civil War. But in 1862, the governor of Indiana asked him to set up the 70th Indiana Volunteer Regiment. He accepted and saw action in Kentucky and in the bloody battle of Atlanta. He proved to be an exceptional leader in the Union army, retiring with the rank of brigadier general.
Benefiting from the spoils system
After serving in the Civil War, Harrison returned to his law practice in Indiana. He stayed active in Republican politics. He tried for the Republican nomination for governor in 1872, but he was unsuccessful. He tried again four years later. This time he received the nomination. He lost the race by 5,000 votes, but he received more votes than any other Republican in Indiana history. Over the next 10 years — thanks to the spoils system (see “The spoils system” sidebar in Chapter 11) — Harrison held a slew of political offices, including:
Member of the Mississippi Commission: The commission oversaw the economic development of the river.
Chairman of the Indiana delegation to the 1880 Republican convention: Harrison delivered the delegation’s votes for James Garfield, helping him win the nomination.
U.S. senator: Harrison championed Union war veterans. The veterans became some of his staunchest supporters in the 1888 election. In addition, Harrison stood for high tariffs, which pleased business, and supported Native American rights.
Getting nominated in 1888
In 1888, the Republican field for the presidential nomination was wide open after the frontrunner, Senator Blaine, refused to stand for the nomination. He endorsed Harrison instead.
Harrison was the ideal candidate for the Republicans. He had great name recognition, thanks to his grandfather, former president William Henry Harrison. War veterans loved him and despised the Democratic incumbent, Grover Cleveland. Harrison had a good war record, while Cleveland had none. In addition, Harrison was able to deliver Ohio, where he was born, and Indiana, where he resided. After receiving the Republican presidential nomination, Harrison, despite losing the popular vote to Cleveland by 100,000 votes, defeated the incumbent president in the electoral vote, 233 to 168.
The 1888 campaign turned fairly nasty. The Republican Party not only attacked Cleveland’s war record, but also engaged in open deception. A Republican from California sent a letter, pretending to be a former British citizen, Charles Murchison, who was now living in the United States, to the British ambassador to the United States. In the letter, he asked the ambassador whom Great Britain favored in the upcoming election. The ambassador naively answered the letter, stating that the British favored Cleveland. The Republican Party publicized the letter as the “Murchison Letter.” Because of the letter, many Irish immigrants who despised Great Britain looked upon Cleveland as the candidate of Great Britain and voted for Harrison.
Benjamin Harrison was an excellent speaker, but he had a cold personality. His handlers made sure that he didn’t have any contact with the voters after campaign appearances. His nickname became the “Human Iceberg.”
President Benjamin Harrison (1889–1893)
Harrison entered office under a dark cloud. He lost the popular vote by 100,000 votes, and many looked upon him as a Republican Party stooge. To his credit, he disappointed the Republican Party by nominating people to his cabinet based on their qualifications. His cabinet included people like Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, both future presidents.
In the area of domestic policies, Harrison had several major accomplishments. These achievements included
The Dependent Pension Act: This bill, passed in 1890, guaranteed pensions to all disabled Union war veterans. It further provided assistance to children and dependent parents of Union war veterans.
The Sherman Antitrust Act: This act made it illegal to establish a monopoly, or a business that dominates a whole sector of the economy. It gave the federal government the power to break up these monopolies.
The McKinley Tariff Act: This bill enacted the highest tariffs in U.S. history, about 48 percent, on foreign goods.
Harrison was also successful with his foreign policy. He increased the size of the U.S. navy and negotiated a treaty annexing Hawaii. Later, President Cleveland, opposed to imperialism, voided the treaty upon his return to the White House. Harrison set the foundation to acquire American Samoa and settled a dispute with Great Britain over fishing rights in the Bering Sea.
In 1891, electricity was installed in the White House. The Harrison’s were afraid of the new technology and refused to touch the light switches.
Losing in 1892
President Harrison ran for reelection in 1892. He faced off against former President Cleveland one more time. The main campaign issue was tariffs. Harrison wanted to increase tariffs, while Cleveland advocated a reduction.
Harrison didn’t have his mind on the campaign, because his wife was dying. He suspended his campaign in October, and Cleveland followed suit out of respect for the first lady. Caroline Harrison died two weeks before the 1892 election. Her husband never got over her death. Harrison lost the election in a landslide, receiving only 145 electoral votes to Cleveland’s 277.
Returning to his legal career
Harrison returned to Indianapolis in 1893 and practiced law one more time. He also became an author. He wrote two books, one on the presidency and one on the state of the country.
His greatest legal accomplishment occurred between 1897 and 1899, when he represented Venezuela against Great Britain in a border dispute. Harrison filed an 800-page brief and spoke for 25 hours at the 5-day tribunal. Before he was done, the British counselor informed his government that its case was lost, though the ultimate resolution of the conflict favored Great Br
itain. Two years later, on March 13, 1901, Benjamin Harrison died of pneumonia.
Chapter 13
Influencing the World: McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and Taft
In This Chapter
Supporting big business and expanding the country: McKinley
Fighting for the little guy and getting involved in world affairs: Roosevelt
Disliking the presidency but loving the Supreme Court: Taft
T his chapter covers three Republican presidents: One good, one great, and one failure. William McKinley was a good, capable president. He was the candidate of business, and this showed in his policies. He believed in territorial expansion, adding Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Samoan islands to the United States.
Theodore Roosevelt was one of the great presidents in U.S. history. He worked for the average person, protecting citizens against business excesses. He involved the country in world affairs and received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Finally, there’s William Howard Taft. He loved the law and never wanted to be president. His presidency wasn’t very successful. But later in life, he restored his reputation on the Supreme Court and went down in history as one of the great Supreme Court justices in U.S. history.
Discarding Isolationism: William McKinley
William McKinley, shown in Figure 13-1, was one of America’s more successful presidents. During his administration, he guided the country through recovery from the depression of the early 1890s. More importantly, he brought about a major change in U.S. foreign policy: The isolationism that had been in place since George Washington’s presidency finally ended. For the first time, the United States pursued an active, expansionist foreign policy. McKinley turned the country into a world power and helped it take its place among the great powers in the world.
Figure 13-1: William McKinley, 25th president of the United States.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress
Being a loyal Republican
William McKinley’s political career was characterized by party loyalty and the influence of big business. As a Republican in Congress, McKinley consistently supported high tariffs to protect U.S. businesses from foreign competition. He also relied upon the support of wealthy friends to fund his political career and pay off personal debt. As president, he showed some independence but caved in to public pressure. He started the Spanish-American War in 1898, which turned out well for him, getting him reelected.
Serving in Congress
In 1876, the year Rutherford Hayes became president, McKinley was elected a member of the House of Representatives.
He served in Congress for 12 years. He distinguished himself by supporting taxes on imports to protect U.S. industry from foreign competition. In 1890, Congress passed McKinley’s greatest accomplishment, the McKinley Tariff. The tariff gave the United States the highest taxes on imports — up to 48 percent — in its history.
Governing Ohio
In 1890, McKinley lost his bid for reelection to the House of Representatives. His tariff bill alienated many farmers and middle-class workers; these groups banded together to form the coalition that defeated him.
Big business, however, didn’t forget its friend. Mark Hanna, a Cleveland, Ohio, millionaire industrialist, became McKinley’s sponsor and campaign advisor. In 1891, McKinley was elected governor of Ohio. He did a good job, building up Ohio’s infrastructure — especially its roads — and providing unemployed workers with free food during the depression of 1893. The people of Ohio reelected McKinley in 1893.
A solid middle-class upbringing
William McKinley was born in 1843 in Niles, Ohio. His father owned a small foundry. The foundry produced enough income to allow McKinley to have a fine education. He attended a private high school.
When the Civil War broke out, McKinley volunteered and joined the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry at the age of 18. He served under Major Rutherford Hayes, the future Republican president. McKinley saw action in Virginia and at Antietam. He proved to be a brave, capable soldier. He retired in 1865 with the rank of major.
McKinley studied law after retiring from the military. In 1867, he opened his own law practice in Canton, Ohio. In Canton, he became active in Republican politics and met his future wife, Ida Sexton. They married in 1871.
William McKinley’s marriage was a tragic one. McKinley and his wife had two daughters. One daughter died in infancy, and the other died of typhoid fever at the age of four. Mrs. McKinley suffered a breakdown and began having epileptic seizures. Soon she became semi-invalid. McKinley proved to be a loving husband, taking care of Ida until the day he died.
President William McKinley (1897–1901)
In 1896, Hanna thought McKinley had a shot at the Republican presidential nomination. Hanna and his friends paid for a 10,000-mile trip in 1896, where McKinley delivered 370 speeches throughout the nation campaigning for Republican candidates running for Congress. McKinley became a household name.
McKinley had the Republican nomination sewn up. Hanna and his business friends raised $3.5 million for his campaign, basically buying the presidency. In contrast, the Democratic nominee, William Jennings Bryan, spent a measly $50,000. The Republicans flooded the country with pamphlets and speakers on behalf of McKinley. Major industrialists told their workers that if they voted for Bryan, a recession would follow, and they would lose their jobs.
The money and scare tactics worked — McKinley won big. He carried all the major industrial states and received 271 electoral votes to Bryan’s 176.
President McKinley was the first U.S. president to use the telephone in a presidential campaign. From his home in Ohio, McKinley stayed in constant contact with his 38 campaign managers.
Restoring prosperity
By 1897, prosperity had returned to the United States, for which McKinley received full credit. He pushed for international trade, taking the United States out of economic isolation.
Within a few years, he came to the realization that high tariffs hurt trade. By 1900, he reversed his previous position and became an advocate of free trade. At the same time, he stayed on the right side of his business friends by ignoring congressional acts designed to regulate U.S. businesses.
Branching out into international affairs
McKinley, in one of the great accomplishments of his presidency, brought the United States into the international arena. For the first time, the United States flexed its muscles and showed the rest of the world that it was ready to join the ranks of the many world powers of the 1890s. Like many U.S. citizens, McKinley believed in the concept of Manifest Destiny, or the God-given right to expand (see Chapter 8 for more on this concept).
McKinley made major strides in the area of foreign policy. He started the process of U.S. imperialism, or the annexation and domination of weaker countries. He considered imperialism good, referring to it as “benevolent assimilation.” His accomplishments in the area of imperialism included
The Spanish-American War in 1898, which led to the annexation of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines (all parts of the Spanish colonial empire), as well as the political domination of Cuba.
The annexation of Hawaii in 1898 after the Queen of Hawaii was overthrown in 1893 by U.S. business and U.S. troops, and the annexation of parts of the Samoan islands in 1900.
The introduction of an open door policy in China. This policy opened up trade with China for every country. It also resulted in the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, where 5,000 U.S. troops were part of a multinational force that fought off Chinese nationalists, who called themselves the Boxers and objected to foreign domination of their country.
Fighting the Spanish-American War
In 1895, a revolution against Spanish rule broke out in Cuba. The Spanish government responded brutally, sending 100,000 soldiers to suppress the uprising. Thousands of Cubans were put into reconcentration camps, where many died of starvation and disease.
The Cubans were put in “reconcentrados” or reconcentration camps. Conce
ntration camps hold those the government believes are dangerous or a threat, whereas reconcentration camps hold people loyal and friendly to the government. The Spanish put friendlies in camps, and therefore, anyone not in camps were rebels, an enemy who had to be destroyed.
McKinley wanted to resolve the situation peacefully, but many in the United States felt that war was the way to go. The press published horrific stories about Spanish brutality, many of them false. Nevertheless, public and Congressional reaction to these sensational reports forced McKinley to act — U.S. citizens wanted to save the Cubans from the evil Spanish empire.
McKinley sent the U.S. battleship Maine to Havana, Cuba, as a show of U.S. resolve. The ship blew up in the harbor, killing 260 of the U.S. soldiers aboard. The press and the public blamed Spain, and the war was on. On April 11, 1898, McKinley asked Congress for special wartime powers. Two weeks later, Congress declared war on Spain.
In 1976, the Navy published a study that determined that the Spanish weren’t responsible for the explosion of the Maine. It is now believed that a spontaneous combustion on the ship was responsible for the disaster.
US Presidents For Dummies Page 22
