President McKinley

by Robert W. Merry

  scrambling over fences: Morgan, William McKinley and His America, p. 12.

  “Six miles would be a long walk”: quoted in ibid.

  $25 a month: Ibid.

  “They’ve fired on her!”: quoted in ibid., p. 13.

  Sparrow House tavern: Olcott, p. 1:22.

  “we can’t stay out of this war”: quoted in Morgan, William McKinley and His America, p. 13.

  “Well, boys”: quoted in ibid., p. 14.

  “into the hands of the good Lord”: quoted in Olcott, p. 1:24.

  “I came to a deliberative conclusion”: quoted in Perry, p. 12.

  2. THE FORGE OF WAR

  “paltry pittance of pay”: WMcK, “The American Volunteer Soldier,” address at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, May 30, 1889, reprinted in McKinley, Speeches and Addresses of William McKinley: From His Election to Congress to the Present Time, p. 358.

  sworn into the army: Volunteer Descriptive List and Account of Pay and Clothing, Army official document, Gilded Age Collections, GA-29.

  five feet, seven inches: Ibid.

  listed as “student”: Ibid.

  “a great man to me”: quoted in Perry, p. 131.

  “Depend on it”: quoted in ibid., p. 132.

  “From that very moment”: WMcK, “Rutherford B. Hayes,” address before the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, June 20, 1893, in McKinley, Speeches and Addresses of William McKinley: From His Election to the Present Time, p. 639.

  3,000 troops sleeping: Morgan, William McKinley and His America, p. 15.

  “a good effect”: quoted in ibid., p. 16.

  “It seems to be the determination”: quoted in ibid.

  poems by Lord Byron: WMcK diary, July 3, 1861, Ohio History Connection Selections, http://cdm267401.cdmhost.com/cdm/ref/collection/p267401coll32/id/5569. All diary references were obtained from this online source.

  “I enjoyed sleeping”: Ibid., June 20, 1861.

  “our Revolutionary fathers”: quoted in Morgan, William McKinley and His America, p. 16.

  “to hand down to posterity”: quoted in ibid.

  “hills, high”: WMcK diary, August 16, 1861.

  “Tomorrow morning’s sun”: Ibid., June 12, 1861.

  “venomous smell”: WMcK to W. K. Miller, reprinted in Olcott, p. 1:29.

  “With no blankets for a covering”: WMcK diary, September 10, 1861.

  “It gave us confidence”: quoted in Olcott, p. 1:33.

  “We soon found”: quoted in Porter, p. 61.

  “a lovely September day”: WMcK, “Rutherford B. Hayes.”

  “made one more appeal”: quoted in Perry, p. 174.

  “God bless the lad”: quoted in ibid.

  “Our young friend”: quoted in Morgan, William McKinley and His America, p. 22.

  “proudest and happiest moment”: WMcK to RBH, July 2, 1888, Hayes Papers.

  “how would you like to go home”: quoted in Perry, p. 175.

  “bubbling over with enthusiasm”: quoted in Olcott, p. 1:38.

  had a photograph made: “M’Kinley as First Lieutenant,” taken at Gallipolis, Ohio, December 1862, photograph, reprinted in Porter between pp. 58 and 59.

  “Our new second lieutenant”: quoted in Olcott, p. 1:38.

  “generals of the next war”: quoted in Perry, p. 175.

  the “carnage” he witnessed: WMcK, “The American Volunteer Soldier.”

  “William, I shall never see you again”: quoted in Morgan, William McKinley and His America, p. 14.

  “a formative period of my life”: quoted in Depew and Halstead, Life and Distinguished Services of Hon. William McKinley and the Great Issues of 1896, p. 42.

  so thin and scraggly: Morgan, William McKinley and His America, p. 23.

  “There is nothing new in camp”: quoted in ibid.

  “We penetrated a country”: quoted in Olcott, p. 1:40.

  “Out of grub”: quoted in Perry, p. 188.

  “Stopped and ate”: quoted in Olcott, p. 1:42.

  “None of us expected to see him”: quoted in Porter, p. 96. This and the following quotations about the incident come from a long exposition from Russell Hastings, given to Porter.

  “Don’t worry, my dear madam”: quoted in ibid., p. 98.

  “Well, McKinley”: quoted in ibid., p. 101.

  “cried like a baby”: Ibid.

  “We whipped them”: quoted in Perry, p. 198.

  “Away went McKinley”: quoted in ibid., p. 204.

  “By what route”: quoted in Porter, p. 105. Further quotations from this incident come from the same source.

  “brown October”: quoted in Perry, p. 206.

  “This valley will feed”: quoted in ibid.

  “Then it was suggested”: Ibid., p. 209.

  “gallant and meritorious service”: quoted in ibid., p. 211.

  “colder than any huckleberry pudding”: quoted in ibid.

  “I did literally”: quoted in Porter, p. 62.

  “Now, William”: quoted in Morgan, William McKinley and His America, p. 20.

  “Call me Major”: quoted in Armstrong, p. 103.

  3. LIFE AND WORK

  “How are my old fellows”: WMcK to Russell Hastings, August 28, 1865, McKinley Letters 1864–1901.

  Walker, loaned him money: Mott, p. 48.

  a “jolly” companion: Olcott, p. 1:57.

  “A man in any of our western towns”: RBH to WMcK, November 6, 1866, Hayes Papers, GA-29.

  hit 5,000 by war’s end: Olcott, p. 1:58.

  “Do you know a young man”: George W. Belden to Joseph Frease, Letters about McKinley.

  “If you don’t try this case”: quoted in Olcott, p. 1:59.

  “I can’t take so much”: quoted in ibid., p. 60.

  “the same power of epigrammatic expression”: Ibid., p. 61.

  the look of a statesman: Ibid., p. 63.

  civic and fraternal activities: Leech, In the Days of McKinley, p. 11.

  “a good lawyer”: quoted in Morgan, William McKinley and His America, p. 34.

  went after illicit liquor sales: Leech, In the Days of McKinley, p. 13.

  just 143 votes: Olcott, p. 1:76.

  nearly $10,000 a year: Leech, In the Days of McKinley, p. 17.

  equal to his annual income: Ibid., p. 21.

  “I am pleased to hear”: quoted in Morgan, William McKinley and His America, p. 32.

  “I was a simple country boy”: quoted in Leech, In the Days of McKinley, p. 10.

  “Mother McKinley”: Ibid., p. 14.

  transported a printing press: Anthony, p. 1.

  Joseph Medill: Ibid., p. 2.

  three live-in servants: Ibid., p. 4.

  “more practical than ornamental”: quoted in ibid., p. 5.

  “mischievous” directions: quoted in ibid., p. 7.

  “left the stamp of her personality”: quoted in ibid.

  “Through all the flutter”: quoted in ibid., p. 8.

  Anna McKinley approached: Ibid., p. 10.

  arriving at Geneva: Belden, p. 313.

  “Ida looked pale”: quoted in ibid.

  “How different things [will] look,”: quoted in ibid., p. 325.

  “You are the only man”: quoted in Anthony, p. 21.

  “It is now settled”: WMcK to RBH, December 12, 1870, McKinley Letters 1864–1901.

  Nearly 1,000 guests: “Marriage of Major Wm. McKinley and Miss Ida Saxton,” Canton Repository and Republic, January 27, 1871.

  ring of California gold: Anthony, p. 21.

  Ida became convinced: Ibid., p. 22.

  for $7,800: Ibid., p. 23.

  “nervous system was nearly wrecked”: Olcott, p. 1:71. (These are Olcott’s words based on interviews with Mary [“Pina”] Barber, Ida McKinley’s sister.)

  “sickly” from birth: quoted in Anthony, p. 25.

  “paroxysms” or “convulsions”: Ibid., p. 26.

  “never entirely recovered”: quoted in ibid., p. 28.

  real estate ve
ntures: described in ibid.

  “She would sit for hours”: quoted in ibid., p. 29.

  “the black pall of grief”: quoted in ibid., p. 30.

  “Ida would have died”: quoted in ibid.

  “interest in existence”: quoted in ibid., p. 31.

  “If you would suffer”: quoted in ibid., p. 32.

  “spotless record”: “The Congressional Contest,” Alliance Mirror, reprinted in Canton Repository and Republic, August 11, 1876.

  Coal miners in the Tuscarawas Valley: Olcott, p. 1:78.

  3,300 votes: Olcott, political map, between pp. 1:82 and 83.

  51 percent of the popular vote: Merry, Where They Stand, p. 82.

  184 to 165: Ibid., p. 83.

  under the care of a leading neurologist: Anthony, p. 35.

  three letters a day: Halstead, “Mrs. McKinley,” pp. 6–7.

  “one of the best political stumpers”: “Maj. McKinley,” Warren Chronicle, reprinted in Canton Repository and Republic, November 10, 1876.

  just 1,234 votes: Olcott, vol. 1, political map.

  “The Victory in the District”: WMcK to RBH, October 10, 1878, Hayes Papers, GA-29.

  outnumbered Republicans by 19,000 votes: Olcott, p. 1:84.

  gained seventy House seats: Moore, Preimesberger, and Tarr, p. 2:1569.

  “The trouble with McKinley”: quoted in “Mahoning Co. Man Not in Either Camp,” New York Times, January 9, 1882.

  “I was disposed”: WMcK to Abner McKinley, March 8, 1882, McKinley Family Letters and Saxton.

  advantage of some 900 votes: Olcott, political map following p. 1:82.

  “I believe we can carry it”: WMcK to Allan Carnes, February 18, 1844, McKinley Letters 1864–1901.

  “There will be nothing”: WMcK to John Pollock, March 24, 1884, McKinley Letters 1864–1901.

  2,000 votes: Olcott, political map following p. 1:82.

  “Ida is growing stronger”: WMcK to Abner McKinley, January 13, 1882, McKinley Letters 1864–1901.

  “My own precious darling”: WMcK to ISM, August 23, March 22, March 17, 1880, McKinley Family Letters and Saxton.

  4. THE OHIO REPUBLICANS

  “I am neither ‘an active friend’ ”: WMcK to Robert P. Kennedy, McKinley Letters 1864–1901.

  thirty-two eastern and southern counties: “Ohio Mines,” Mining Artifacts and History, http://www.miningartifacts.org/Ohio-Mines.html.

  five million tons of coal: Ibid.

  Ohio ranked second: “History of Ohio,” Wikipedia.

  “Buggy Capital of the World”: Ibid.

  3,672,329: Table 1. United States Resident Population by State: 1790–1850, State of New Jersey, Department of Labor and Workforce Development, http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/lpa/census/1990/poptrd1.htm.

  half of all foreign-born: Cayton, Ohio, p. 143.

  “Lemonade Lucy”: quoted in ibid., p. 198.

  “inconceivable that any self-respecting”: quoted in ibid., p. 197.

  Born in 1823: Burton, p. 1.

  six years in the House: Treese, p. 1815.

  “the Ohio icicle”: Grant, p. 233.

  “bad grace”: Tarbell, p. 111.

  born three years after McKinley: Walters, p. 6.

  “aptitude for declamation”: quoted in ibid., p. 7.

  “a voice like a fire-alarm”: “Capitol Chat,” Washington Post, May 26, 1896.

  “The Republicans are demoralized”: quoted in Walters, p. 23.

  “No candidate for Governor”: WMcK to JBF, October 12, 1883, McKinley Letters 1864–1901.

  farmer and grocer in 1814: Croly, p. 8.

  “The table was abundant”: Ibid., p. 18.

  “a pleasant, wholesome fellow”: quoted in ibid., p. 22.

  invested $200,000 in a canal: Horner, p. 31.

  “It’s all over now, Mark”: quoted in Mrs. Marcus A. Hanna, dictated statement to J. B. Morrow, May 18, 1905, HMcCP, Box 4.

  “Your money is gone now”: quoted in ibid.

  “absolute accuracy”: Andrew Squire, dictated statement to J. B. Morrow, May 23, 1905, HMcCP, Box 4.

  “Mr. Hanna wanted company”: Elmer Dover, dictated statement to J. B. Morrow, September 1905, HMcCP, Box 4.

  “A place on [Ways and Means]”: WMcK to Allan Carnes, December 14, 1881, McKinley Letters 1864–1901.

  “an advantage”: Tarbell, p. 186.

  “The difference between”: quoted in Porter, p. 134.

  deft parliamentary maneuver: Ibid., p. 138.

  “Among the few pleasures”: MAH to JBF, June 11, 1884, HMcCP, Box 2.

  “I assure you, my dear fellow”: MAH to JBF, June 19, 1884, HMcCP, Box 2.

  “The Major is never behind”: MAH to JBF, November 28, 1885, HMcCP, Box2.

  “I tell you my dear friend”: MAH to JBF, January 14, 1886, HMcCP, Box 2.

  “I am keeping out of the fight”: JBF to MAH, July 20, 1887, HMcCP, Box 2.

  a “strain” upon their friendship: quoted in Walters, p. 55.

  “very mad”: quoted in ibid., p. 56.

  “No one will make any headway”: JBF to MAH, January 19, 1888, HMcCP, Box 2.

  “How glad I am”: MAH to JBF, January 17, 1888, HMcCP, Box 2.

  “I am wholly ignorant”: JBF to MAH, May 10, 1888, HMcCP, Box 2.

  “seems to be developing”: quoted in Walters, p. 65.

  “With these letters before me”: JBF to MAH, May 25, 1888, HMcCP, Box 2.

  “They will be left”: MAH to JBF, undated but referenced as May 29, 1888, HMcCP, Box 2.

  Foraker then said no: JBF to MAH, June 4, 1888, HMcCP, Box 2.

  Hanna patiently replied: MAH to JBF, June 10, 1888, HMcCP, Box 2.

  would garner 300 delegates: Croly, p. 134.

  “The Sherman men”: “At Chicago: ‘Blaine and Protection’ Is the Cry,” Evening Repository (Canton, Ohio), June 16, 1888.

  “Sherman won’t do”: quoted in Grant, p. 235.

  “more of a Foraker boom”: “Mixed: Sherman Loses, after the Second Ballot,” Evening Repository (Canton, Ohio), June 22, 1888.

  229 votes: “More Mix: A Splendid Speech,” Evening Repository (Canton, Ohio), June 23, 1888. Subsequent vote counts in this paragraph are taken from this source.

  “Everything is arranged”: quoted in “Seen by a Kansan: J. Ware Butterfield Tells of the Attempt to Nominate McKinley in 1888,” Topeka Daily Capitol, September 26, 1901.

  “Mr. President and Gentlemen”: WMcK, “Not a Candidate: Speech at the Republican National Convention at Chicago, Illinois, June 23, 1888,” reprinted in McKinley, Speeches and Addresses of William McKinley: From His Election to Congress to the Present Time, p. 236.

  224 on the fifth ballot: “More Mix: A Splendid Speech.”

  “Many of your best friends”: quoted in Horner, p. 73.

  “The Blaine move”: Ibid., p. 74.

  “To accept a nomination”: quoted in Porter, p. 147.

  “faithful and true”: quoted in Walters, p. 73.

  “The Ohio delegation”: Ibid., p. 74.

  “Let my name stand”: quoted in ibid.

  Harrison crept up to 231: Ibid., p. 76.

  “Guided by a fine sense”: Murat Halstead, commentary reprinted in Evening Repository (Canton, Ohio), June 25, 1888.

  “Mr. Hanna despised treachery”: James H. Dempsey, dictated statement to J. B. Morrow, May 22, 1905, HMcCP, Box 4.

  “I stand by my friends”: quoted in Charles F. Leach, dictated statement to J. B. Morrow, May 16, 1905, HMcCP, Box 4.

  never again had a political ally: Croly, p. 138.

  “You gained gloriously”: RBH to WMcK, June 27, 1888, Hayes Papers.

  5. STEADFAST PROTECTIONIST

  “To achieve success”: quoted in “M’Kinleys of Antrim,” Washington Post, December 21, 1896.

  “without a superior”: WMcK, speech in the House of Representatives, April 6, 1882, reprinted in McKinley, Speeches and Addresses of William McKinley: From His Election to Congress to the Present Time, p. 105.<
br />
  1,524 separate tariffs: Tarbell, p. 87.

  two trips to California: Leech, In the Days of McKinley, p. 22.

  allowed to travel alone: Anthony, p. 48.

  “I hope you will not worry”: WMcK to ISM, April 4, 1888, McKinley Letters and Saxton.

  “I am quite solicitous”: WMcK to ISM, March 17, 1888, McKinley Letters and Saxton.

  arrival time of telegrams: Washington Post article cited in Anthony, p. 48.

  “He can say he loves me”: quoted in ibid.

  retreat to her tent: Leech, In the Days of McKinley, p. 22.

  a fit of jealousy so intense: Ibid.

  “the most beautiful girl”: quoted in ibid., p. 30.

  “Ida, it is I”: quoted in Olcott, p. 2:362.

  leave of absence: Anthony, p. 50.

  glued to the Ebbitt House: Ibid., p. 51.

  “his entire consecration”: quoted in ibid.

  annual salary of $25,000: Leech, In the Days of McKinley, p. 22.

  “serving the country a little”: quoted in ibid.

  “I am doing no soliciting”: WMcK to RBH, December 31, 1888, Hayes Papers.

  discerned his seriousness in Hanna’s Washington presence: Horner, p. 82.

  “No one except those”: Theodore Burton, dictated statement to J. B. Morrow, April 16, 1906, HMcCP, Box 4.

  “read heavily and happily in French”: Grant, p. 214.

  “for practice”: quoted in Tuchman, p. 123.

  “Having embedded that fly”: quoted in Morgan, William McKinley and His America, p. 97.

  “Everybody enjoys Reed’s”: quoted in Leech, In the Days of McKinley, p. 43.

  “a man of little scope”: quoted in Grant, p. 251.

  about 8.5 percent: Tarbell, p. 1.

  Hamilton argued: Ibid.

  between 16 and 26 percent: Daniel Kerr of Iowa, table on tariff rates presented to House of Representatives, May 9, 1890, Congressional Record, p. 4408.

  Polk proposed legislation: Merry, A Country of Vast Designs, p. 99.

  between 20 and 28 percent: Kerr table on tariff rates.

  “a booby of a bill”: quoted in Tarbell, p. 10.

  well over 40 percent: Kerr table on tariff rates.

  “The people have spoken”: WMcK, speech before the House of Representatives, May 7, 1890, Congressional Record, p. 4246.

  about $10 million: Tarbell, p. 190.

  “you diminish importations”: WMcK, House speech, May 7, 1890, Congressional Record, p. 4408.

  “bounty” of two cents: Hilary Abner Herbert, House of Representatives speech, May 20, 1890, Congressional Record, p. 5039.