In this interpretation of the McKinley presidency Lewis L. Gould
contends that William McKinley was the first modern president.
Making use of extensive original research in manuscript collections
in the United States, Great Britain, and France, Gould argues that
during McKinley's four and a half years in the White House the
executive office began to resemble the institution as the twentieth
century would know it. He rejects the erroneous stereotypes that
have long obscured McKinley's historical significance: McKinley as
the compliant agent of Mark Hanna or as an irresolute executive in
the Cuban crisis that led to war with Spain. He contends that
McKinley is an important figure in the history of the United States
because of the large contributions he made to the strengthening and
broadening of the power of the chief executive.
While this volume touches on many aspects of McKinley's
leadership, the core of it relates to the coming of the
Spanish-American War, the president's conduct of the war itself,
and the emergence of an American empire from 1898 to 1900.
According to Gould, the Spanish-American War was not the result
presidential weakness or of cowardice before public hysteria.
McKinley sought to persuade Spain to relinquish Cuba peacefully,
turning to war only when it became apparent that Madrid would never
acquiesce.
During the war, McKinley effectively directed the American
military effort and the diplomacy that brought territorial
acquisitions and peace. The process of making peace with
Spain--involving, as it did, American annexation of the
Philippines--and of securing the ratification of the resulting
treaty in the Senate underscored McKinley's expansive view of
presidential power. He functioned as chief diplomat, from the
sending of senators on the peace commission to the personal
supervision of the terms of the negotiation. At home he made tours
of the West and South in 1898 to lead popular opinion to his
position as no president had done before him. For the Senate he
evidenced a readiness to dispense patronage, woo votes with
personal persuasion, and marshal the resources of the political
system behind his treaty.
Later episodes in McKinley's administration support Gould's
thesis. In administering Puerto Rico and Cuba and in suppressing an
insurrection in the Philippines, McKinley relied further on the war
power and continued to shape affairs from the White House. He sent
troops to china during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 without
congressional authorization, governed the new possessions through
presidential commissions, and allowed Capitol Hill only a
subsidiary role in the process. By 1901 the nation had an empire
and a president whose manner and bearing anticipated the imperial
executives of six decades later.
Gould does not argue that McKinley was a great president. He
maintains, instead, that what McKinley contributed to the office,
the examples he offered and the precedents he set make him an
important figure in the emergence of the modern presidency in this
century.
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