#25 William McKinley

1. #25 William McKinley • Spanish American War • Annexation of Hawaii • Open Door Policy

2. Spanish American War • Spanish-American War, 1898, brief conflict between Spain and the United States arising out of Spanish policies in Cuba. It was, to a large degree, brought about by the efforts of U.S. expansionists. • William McKinley entered the White House just as the nation was nearing a crisis with Cuba. Just ninety miles south of Florida, Cuba was still under Spanish control despite past American efforts to wrest it away.

3. In the 1890s, falling sugar prices led Cuban farmers to rebel against their Spanish overlords in a bloody revolution. Spanish forces tried to crack down on the insurrection by herding all suspected revolutionaries, including children, into internment camps.

4. Americans became aware of the situation in Cuba via “yellow journalists” such as the famous newspapermen William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, who printed sensationalized stories about the events. In competition for readership, each man tried to outdo the other. Hearst, for example, sent painter Frederick Remington to Cuba with the order, “You furnish the pictures, and I’ll furnish the war!” hoping to boost sales with exclusive coverage of the conflict.

6. A satire drawing of Hearst and Pulitzer pushing the Spanish-American war

7. The USS Maine Already agitated by the articles of yellow journalists, Americans were outraged by the Dupuy de Lômeletter, which was intercepted and published in newspapers in 1898. In the letter, Spanish ambassador Enrique Dupuy de Lômederided McKinley as a dimwitted politician. Inciting even greater public outrage, though, was the mysterious explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor a week later, which killed more than 250 U.S. servicemen.

8. American investigators concluded erroneously that a mine had destroyed the ship, despite Spain’s insistence that there had been an accident in the ship’s boiler room. Although history proved Spain correct, Americans rallied under the cry “Remember the Maine!” and clamored for war.

10. Although McKinley did not want to go to war with Spain, he feared that if he failed to respond to strong public opinion for the war, William Jennings Bryan and his “free silver” platform would win the election of 1900. McKinley thus requested a declaration of war from Congress in April 1898; Congress consented on the grounds that the Cuban people needed to be liberated. To justify this cause, Congress passed the Teller Amendment, which promised Cuba independence once the Spaniards had been driven out.

11. The start of the Spanish-American War, 25 April 1898

12. The Philippines The resulting Spanish-American War was quick and decisive and crumbled the Spanish Empire. Acting against direct orders, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, an ardent expansionist, ordered Commodore George Dewey to seize the Spanish-controlled Philippines in Asia. Dewey defeated the Spanish fleet in a surprise attack on Manila Bay without losing a single man.

13. Congress then annexed Hawaii on the pretext that the navy needed a refueling station between San Francisco and Asia. While Dewey fought the Spanish at sea, Filipino insurgent Emilio Aguinaldo led a revolt on land. Although Britain did not participate in the fighting, it did help prevent other European powers from defending Spain.

14. Tableau representing Confederate and Union reconciliation to free Cuba - Spanish American War (photographer unknown)

15. The Rough Riders The U.S. Army, meanwhile, prepared for an invasion of Cuba with over 20,000 regular and volunteer troops. The most famous of the volunteers were the Rough Riders, under the command of Lt. Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, who had left his civilian job to fight the “splendid little war.” As the Rough Riders’ name implied, they were an assortment of ex-convicts and cowboys mixed with some of Roosevelt’s aristocratic acquaintances. Roosevelt and the Rough Riders helped lead the charge and take the famous San Juan Hill outside the city of Santiago. Cuba eventually fell, prompting Spain to retreat.

29. The Treaty of Paris In the Treaty of Paris that formally ended the war, Spain granted the United States Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and McKinley graciously agreed to buy the Philippines for $20 million. The United States did eventually honor the Teller Amendment and withdrew from Cuba in 1902, but not before including the Platt Amendment in the Cuban constitution, establishing a permanent U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay.

30. Open Door Policy • Open Door Policy, term that refers to the principle of equal trading rights in China at the end of the 19th century. It is also used to describe policies of equal trading rights in other countries. • In the late 1800s, the major European powers had obtained control of important areas of China, and it appeared that the country would soon be divided into spheres of influence into which other trading nations would have no access.

31. The United States was unwilling to compete for territory, but desired access to China for trading purposes. Accordingly, in 1899 and 1900 U.S. Secretary of State John Milton Hay negotiated an agreement with Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, and Japan that guaranteed “equal and impartial trade with all parts of the Chinese Empire” and preservation of “Chinese territorial and administrative” integrity. The open door agreement remained the basis of U.S. policy toward China until the establishment of the Communist regime there in 1949; Japan's violations of it caused friction between that country and the United States before World War II.