Patriarch of american imperialism
Consider the way McKinley to the presidential chair. After graduating from Albany Law School in New York and becoming a lawyer in 1877, he became a congressman from the 17 district of his home state of Ohio and stayed in that capacity until 1891. After moving to Washington, DC McKinley spoke representative of an industrial group interested in high protectionist tariffs. Thanks to his position on this issue and the support of the candidacy of James Sherman for the presidency in 1888, McKinley was given a seat in the budget committee of the House of Representatives, and also became close with influential Ohai entrepreneur Marcus Hannah. In 1889, Mr. McKinley was elected chairman of the committee and became the main author of the 1890 Law of the Year bearing it (McKinley Tariff Bill), which set high import tariffs. The law slightly reduced duties on certain types of goods and significantly (up to 18%) increased them to others. At the same time, he gave the president wide powers to raise and lower tariff rates for Latin American countries for political reasons or in the form of reprisals. The influence of this law was great not only in all of America, but also in Europe, where many industries, especially the textile industry in Germany, mother-of-pearl in Austria-Hungary, the whole industry in Great Britain and Ireland, were severely affected. In the US, he significantly reduced the import of goods from Europe and not only did not raise, as expected, but also lowered wages in many industries.
With the support of Hannah in 1891 and again in 1893, Mr. McKinley was elected governor of Ohio. Also with the active assistance of Hannah McKinley, he won the 1896 presidential election of the year, which became one of the most critical stories USA. McKinley received an 271 electoral vote against 176 and more than 7,62 million votes from some 13,6 million voters. At the same time, he became the winner in the 23 states of 45, beating his rival William Bryan from Nebraska. Interestingly, in the 1900 presidential election of the year, McKinley beat the same opponent with roughly the same results.
As president, McKinley continued to defend the interests of big business, and above all the owners of heavy industry enterprises, that is, manufacturers weapons.
It must be said that the “first bell” of American imperialism rang back in 1823, when President James Monroe, in a message to Congress, proclaimed the principles of US foreign policy, called in 1850, the “Monroe Doctrine”. Chief among these was the principle of dividing the world into “American” and “European” systems and proclaiming the idea of non-intervention of the United States in the internal affairs of Europe and the latter’s non-interference in the internal affairs of America (the principle America for Americans). At the same time, there was a justification for the growth of the power of the United States depending on the accession of new territories and the formation of new states, which indicated the expansionist aspirations of the United States. In general, the Monroe Doctrine, developed by Secretary of State Richard Olney (“The Doctrine of Olney”) in 1895, became the basis for the US claims for leadership in the Western Hemisphere. The implementation of these claims with claims in the Eastern Hemisphere and started McKinley.
When we call McKinley a warrior president, we don’t mean his participation in the Second American Revolution, that is, the civil war of 1861 – 1865. We are talking about the wars unleashed during his presidency (1897 – 1901), namely about the US-Spanish war (1898) and the US-Philippine war (1899 – 1902). In the McKinley presidency, the United States annexed the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands (1898). As a result of these events, the Philippines became dependent on the United States and remained so until 1946. The islands of Guam (1898) and Puerto Rico (1898) were also captured, which are still owned by the United States. Despite the fact that Cuba in 1902 was proclaimed an independent state, the island until 1959 remained, in fact, a protectorate of the United States. Hawaii in 1959 became the 50 state of the USA. In addition to all of the above, East Samoa was annexed in 1899. Thus, the United States at the end of the XIX century. became a state capable of transcontinental aggression with territorial seizures.
Obviously, while preparing for new acts of aggression, McKinley was engaged in the reorganization of the military and naval departments. The desire to spread US influence is also evident from his speech delivered on 5 in September by 1901 at the opening of the Pan-American exhibition in Buffalo, New York. This is due to the significant growth of the influence of the United States on the world market due to the success of their industry and the need to not only defend their industry domestically, but to pave the way for it abroad.
But other presidents managed to implement foreign policy plans, since McKinley died on September 14 1901 at the age of 58 years as a result of the assassination attempt on 6, an unemployed Polish-born anarchist of Polish origin, September 28.
Subsequent US presidents adopted the foreign policy style of McKinley, including Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama 1906, 1919, 2002 and 2009, respectively, Nobel Peace Prize laureates. Thus, the “big stick” ideology, formulated in 1904 by the next president, Theodore Roosevelt, became a direct continuation of McKinley’s policy. By the way, this Roosevelt in 1901 was the vice-president at McKinley. The essence of the “big stick” policy was the possibility of US open intervention in the internal affairs of Latin American states, both in the form of armed intervention and the occupation of their territories, and in establishing economic and political control over them through the conclusion of relevant agreements.
Successes in the American-Spanish war stimulated the US intention to build the Panama Canal to assert its supremacy in the Western Hemisphere. As early as November 1901, the United States concluded the “Hay-Paunssfoot” Agreement with the United Kingdom, according to which the USA received the exclusive right to build the Panama Canal (under the Clayton-Bulver Agreement concluded in 1850, the named parties refused to acquire the exclusive rights on the future channel and pledged to guarantee its neutrality).
Despite the proclamation by President Franklin Roosevelt in his inaugural speech in 1933, the policy of the “good neighbor” towards Latin American states, the United States did not abandon its previous conquests. For the sake of justice, I must say that the occupation of Nicaragua, which began in 1933, ended in 1912, and the occupation of Haiti, which took place with 1934, in 1915, beginning with the next president, namely Harry Truman, elected in 1945 G., the leaders of the United States, with rare exceptions, defined their foreign policy by doctrines, the essence of which was reduced to one thing: the desire to dominate the United States in a particular region of the world.
By the way, McKinley, by religion, belonged to the Methodist Church, which at one time had a significant influence on the Baptist dogma held by Presidents Truman and Clinton (the bombings of Japan in 1945 and Yugoslavia in 1999, respectively).
It remains to express the hope that President Donald Trump will build his foreign policy on completely different principles than his predecessors.
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