It’s true he didn’t have the charisma or excitable speaking style of his immediate successor Theodore Roosevelt, who became President when McKinley was assassinated in September 1901.
And while he can’t be credited for the coincidental timing of leading the nation out of the 19th century into the 20th century any more than John Adams can be for doing the same thing a century before or Bill Clinton doing likewise a century later, he did break some precedents and make some important change.
Most importantly, McKinley’s reluctant declaration of war against Spain in 1898, leading the United States to Cuba and the Philippines and his controversial decision to make the latter nation an American colony thrust the U.S. onto the world stage as an important leader.
It was the new empire on the globe, with the Spanish Empire faded and the British Empire on its way out. He also brought order to the way the executive branch operated – just in time for the first West Wing, which Roosevelt built.
He was also probably the first presidential candidate to offer supporters the most prolific range of campaign songs to sing while they waited for him to come out and speak to them on his front-porch at his rented home in Canton, Ohio (he bought the same house and used it again for his 1900 re-election campaign there). There were gloomy ballads, operatic pieces that seemed impossible to harmonize for large groups, and others with catchy tunes and witty lyrics. One of the more high-stepping ones, Hooray For Bill McKinley, is the one accompanying the brief video below – but the film itself, though not wildly exciting, may be of more importance. It’s the first one to capture a President or would-be President in motion.
It really might be called the first campaign commercial. Here it is:
Shown walking across his front lawn , McKinley was rather reluctant, even a bit bewildered by the whole process.
He was coaxed into doing it by his brother Abner McKinley, one of those classic get-rich-quick fellows always with a new scheme for making money and a propensity for getting free railroad passes. Abner was an investor in one of the very first “moving picture” companies and he felt sure that getting his brother as one of the subjects would boost interest in the new technology.
The premise of the short film was to show McKinley casually accept a note from the companion he’s seen walking with. It’s the message that he’s been nominated by Republicans for the presidency. He tips his top hat over his forehead, affixes his pince-nez, casually reads the note and then goes on his way out of the frame.
Not very scintillating but historical none the less.
And it certainly didn’t hurt. He won the election.
- McKinley & Roosevelt: Teddy’s Crack Behind Mack’s Back, Egotism & Death (carlanthonyonline.com)
- President McKinley’s Dream (hitchhikeamerica.wordpress.com)
- SCOTT HORTON – Boss Rove’s Justice (harpers.org)
- When Bryan Set the Gold Standard for Convention Speeches – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)