Steady Leadership, Transitional Times

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Steady Leadership, Transitional Times

Everything about America was changing throughout the Gilded Age (approximately 1878–99). The Gilded Age was the period in history following the American Civil War (1861–65) and Reconstruction (roughly the final twenty-three years of the nineteenth century), characterized by a ruthless pursuit of profit, an exterior of showiness and grandeur, and immeasurable political corruption. The landscape, the workplace, the population, cultural values, and societal behavior and expectations were shifting. The men who led the nation throughout much of that era faced many challenges and intense corruption in both politics and business. Being president of the United States in the last quarter of the nineteenth century required strong leadership and a willingness to make decisions and then act upon them. Some of these presidents are remembered for their abilities. Others are remembered more for their lack of them.

The Gilded Age took its name from a book of fiction of the same name, written by Mark Twain (1835–1910; real name, Samuel Clemens) and Charles Dudley Warner (1829–1900) in 1873. The authors wrote about a politically corrupt and materialistic America after the Civil War. That image fit the real America as well. On the outside, the United States seemed to be gilded (covered with gold) in its endless moneymaking opportunities. People came from across the globe to begin a new life in America. But the image of a golden land covered up the uglier aspects of society—greed and excess. Many of those who dreamed of wealth and success actually lived in poverty. The country was divided into those citizens who lived lives of luxury and those who were barely surviving.

Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland (1837–1908; served 1885–89 and 1893–97) was the first president ever to serve two nonconsecutive terms (terms not back-to-back) in the White House. In the 1884 election, he ran against Republican James G. Blaine (1830–1893), a former member of U.S. Congress from Maine. Blaine was one of the most powerful politicians of the late nineteenth century. In addition to serving in the U.S. Senate for five years (1876–81), he served in the U.S. House of Representatives for thirteen (1863–76), during which time he was elected Speaker of the House (the most influential political position after the president and vice president). He was named secretary of state twice in his career as well, serving three presidents. Blaine is also remembered as one of the founders of the Republican Party (one of the oldest political parties in the United States, associated with conservative fiscal and social policies).

WORDS TO KNOW

civil service:: The system in which civilians work for various government agencies and departments. Before civil service reform, people were appointed to positions depending on whom they knew in politics and business. After reform, people had to apply for a job and pass examinations in order to qualify.
Democratic Party:: One of the oldest political parties in the United States. Originally linked with the South and slavery, it transformed into one associated with urban voters and liberal policies.
electoral votes:: The votes a presidential candidate receives for having won a majority of a state's popular vote (citizens' votes). The candidate who receives the most popular votes in a particular state wins all of that state's electoral votes. Each state receives two electoral votes for its two U.S. senators and a figure for the number of U.S. representatives it has (which is determined by a state's population). A candidate must win a majority of electoral votes (over 50 percent) in order to win the presidency.
Gilded Age:: The period in history following the Civil War and Reconstruction (roughly the final twenty-three years of the nineteenth century), characterized by a ruthless pursuit of profit, an exterior of showiness and grandeur, and immeasurable political corruption.
patronage system:: Also known as the spoils system. In patronage, someone donates large sums of money to help ensure the election of a candidate. That candidate repays the favor by making job appointments or by passing and proposing legislation that safeguards the interests of the business or person who donated the money.
Republican Party:: One of the oldest political parties in the United States. Founded as an antislavery party in the mid-1800s, it transformed into one associated with conservative fiscal and social policies.
tariffs:: Taxes imposed on goods imported from other countries.
trust:: The concept of several companies banding together to form an organization that limits the competition by controlling the production and distribution of a product or service.

Of the two presidential candidates in 1884, Blaine had the most political experience in Washington. Cleveland had little in comparison. He had been elected mayor of Buffalo, New York, in 1881 and quickly moved into position as governor of the state of New York the following year. He clearly had the support of New York, which was an important state in any election because it had a high population, which meant it carried a high number of electoral votes (thirty-six). A presidential candidate receives electoral votes for having won a majority of a state's popular vote (citizens' votes). The candidate who receives the most popular votes in a particular state wins all of that state's electoral votes. Each state receives two electoral votes for its two U.S. senators and a figure for the number of U.S. representatives it has (which is determined by a state's population). A candidate must win a majority of electoral votes (over 50 percent) in order to win the presidency. A political candidate can win more popular votes nationwide but still lose the election due to receiving less than 50 percent of the electoral votes.

New York's support of Cleveland was the main reason the Democrats chose him for their presidential candidate. He appealed to middle-class voters of both parties for several reasons. He was a huge man, so large that his nieces and nephews called him "Uncle Jumbo." Although he dressed appropriately for a politician, in suit and tie, his size prevented him from ever coming across as too perfect or better than anyone else. He was a candidate the average man could relate to. His politics served the middle class as well. Cleveland was against big business corruption and greed. He had built a reputation as an honest and hardworking political leader in New York and used his power to fight Tammany Hall (see Chapter 1), the most corrupt political machine of the era. (A political machine is a well-organized group of men who control a political party with their vote; in return for their support, the political party rewards them with favors such as money and jobs.) Cleveland fought Tammany Hall even though it had supported him in his election for governor.

Cleveland's scandal

The 1884 campaign turned nasty as both candidates focused on their opponent's failings. For Blaine, this meant his questionable ethics during his time as Speaker of the House. Cleveland's campaigners painted Blaine as an immoral politician who used his power to get favors from the railroads. Blaine was soon considered a puppet of the big business world, controlled by money and the interest of influential business owners. He had enemies in both parties because of his ethics.

Cleveland was not without his shortcomings. For someone who preached the value of honesty, he had some explaining to do when a story broke that he hadfathered a son with a thirty-six-year-old woman named Maria Halpin in 1874. Although there was no way to prove Cleveland was the father of the boy, he accepted responsibility and helped pay the expenses of raising a child. He publicly admitted to the affair, which helped retain the loyalty of his supporters. The child was named Oscar Folsom Cleveland, after Cleveland and his law partner, Oscar Folsom (1837–1873), who also could have been the real father. Halpin eventually suffered a mental breakdown and was admitted to an insane asylum. Young Oscar was adopted by a couple and Cleveland never saw him again.

Cleveland instructed his friends and supporters to refrain from making excuses and to publicly acknowledge that he had given in to temptation, but only in that one instance. According to www.americanpresident.org, one supporter made this argument: "We are told that Mr. Blaine has been delinquent in office but blameless in public life, while Mr. Cleveland has been a model of official integrity but culpable [guilty] in personal relations. We should therefore elect Mr. Cleveland to the public office for which he is so well qualified to fill, and remand [return] Mr. Blaine to the private station which he is admirably fitted to adorn."

That is exactly what happened. Cleveland won the election with 219 electoral votes to Blaine's 182. The new president did not, however, win the state of New York by many votes, as was predicted. Cleveland got just twelve hundred more New York votes than did his opponent; had Blaine won New York, he would have won the election.

First term in the White
House

Cleveland was the first Democrat elected to the presidency since James Buchanan (1791–1868; served 1857–1861) served just before the Civil War. Cleveland spent the majority of his first term just trying to keep Congress from granting special favors and privileges to big businesses. The patronage system was a major part of the political corruption throughout the Gilded Age. In patronage, someone donates large sums of money to help ensure the election of a candidate. That candidate repays the favor by making job appointments or by passing and proposing legislation that safeguards the interests of the business or person who donated the money.

Cleveland did not consider himself an activist president with a plan or agenda to push. He did not introduce much legislation; instead, he spent his efforts on appointing qualified and capable officials to head departments within the federal government. His style was to name the most suitable official, give him the necessary authority to do his job effectively, and then use him for advice. In Cleveland's opinion, the less involved federal government was in citizens' everyday lives, the better.

Much to the dismay of thousands of Democrats, Cleveland refused their petitions and requests for jobs and continued to reform the civil service (the system by which civilians are appointed to positions in various government agencies and departments.) Where once men were given federal government positions based solely on their political beliefs or on their relationship with those in power, now they were being selected on the basis of their abilities and qualifications alone. This approach angered many of Cleveland's supporters who had withstood twenty-four years of Republican rule and were hoping for a chance to make some money. Congress repealed the Tenure of Office Act in 1887, which prohibited the president from removing any officials from office without the approval of the Senate. Cleveland used his newfound freedom to remove corrupt officials from office before their terms expired and enact reforms throughout government agencies.

The power of the veto

One of the powers of the president is the veto, which is the ability to vote against any given bill or legislation. President Cleveland used his veto power more than any other president in American history: 584 times.

One of the most controversial vetoes of Cleveland's first term occurred in 1887. The president refused to pass a bill that would give disabled Civil War Union (Northern) veterans a regular pension (an income or regular payment received based on prior service). Most veterans who became disabled because of military service applied for their pensions through the federal Pension Bureau. The bureau investigated each case to confirm that the disability was war-related and to determine how much money the veteran should receive. Some veterans' pension applications, however, were made in a private bill. These cases were not usually investigated, so there were many chances for corruption. During the years 1885 to 1887, 40 percent of all bills passed by the House of Representatives and more than half of all those approved by the Senate were private pension bills. In the first four years of his presidency, Cleveland received 2,099 private pension bills and vetoed 288 of them. The president's refusal to pass such bills angered the veterans, who made up a large portion of the voting public. But Cleveland believed that passing the 1887 proposal would serve only to create an expensive, endless, and corrupt form of charity.

Legislative impact

Only two new major policies were enacted during Cleveland's first term in the White House: the Interstate Commerce Act and the Dawes Severalty Act. Both laws were passed in February 1887, and both began in Congress rather than in the White House.

The Interstate Commerce Act was passed on February 4. The act was the result of nationwide frustration over the lack of railroad regulations. Railroads were notorious for their mismanagement and corruption. They were among the first businesses to practice price fixing. Rather than compete among themselves, owners of different railroads met and developed a pricing structure. This agreement allowed them all to profit without seriously underpricing each other, a practice known as pooling. Railroads also charged higher freight rates to shippers sending goods a short distance than they did to those sending goods long distances. Their reasoning for pooling was that it cost less per mile to send freight a long distance, though that simply was not true. Whether traveling short or long distance, the cost to the railroad was the same. Rebates were given in the form of refunds, but only to shippers who did a great deal of business with a particular railroad or to large companies, such as Standard Oil, that agreed to send the majority of their shipping business to one particular railroad company.

All these practices were forms of rate discrimination. They made it very difficult for smaller companies and farmers to compete in a market where big business got all the discounts and benefits. Although the first rate-discrimination laws were passed in 1842, they were not very effective because there was no federal enforcement of the laws, and state governments had limited power. By the late 1870s, merchants were calling for regulations. By the 1880s, even some railroads were joining in because rate competition had become so fierce.

The Senate passed the Interstate Commerce Act, 50–20. Former railroad company presidents cast five of the votes against the regulation. As a direct result of the Interstate Commerce Act, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was formed. Each of its five members was to serve six-year terms, and no more than three of them could be from the same political party. The law forbid pooling and rebates and eliminated some of the rate differences for long and short hauls. It also demanded that rates be "reasonable and just." The ICC was powerless to set rates or punish companies that violated the law. When all aspects of the new policy were in place, neither railroads nor some farm groups were happy. The railroads believed the federal government was too involved, and the farmers believed the government was not involved enough.

The Dawes Severalty Act was passed four days later, on February 8. Also known as the Indian Emancipation Act, the law took away all tribal lands and divided them up for individual ownership. In doing so, the government took away the legal standing and rights of tribes. Native American individuals gave up their tribal status in exchange for American citizenship as well as a specific amount of land. Heads of families received 160 acres; single adults got 80 acres. But ownership was still restricted: Native Americans could not completely own the land they were "given" until twenty-five years had passed.

The purpose of the Dawes Act was to force Native Americans to assimilate (fit into and adapt similar ways of life) into American society. Reformers saw the tribes' nomadic (frequent moving around) lifestyle as an obstacle to be overcome in order to become Americanized. The Act seriously undermined the Native American way of life, but it did little to help anyone assimilate. After all land had been divided and given out, there were millions of acres of "leftover" land that was then sold to non–Native Americans. Before the Act, Native Americans owned about 138 million acres of land. After the law's passage, their holdings dwindled to about 78 million acres. It was not until 1934 that the policy was reversed and surplus lands returned to the Native Americans.

International diplomacy

President Cleveland was against building relationships with other countries, and he did not support territorial expansion (gaining more land for the United States). He felt both efforts would only entangle the nation in more political issues. America was contending with enough conflict on the home front with the railroads and Native Americans. As a result, he withdrew the Frelinghuysen-Zavala Treaty, which would have given the United States the right to build a canal in Nicaragua that would be jointly owned by the two countries. The treaty had been proposed during the Chester A. Arthur (1829–1886; served 1881–85) presidency but had never been approved by Congress because it violated a treaty with Great Britain that was already in existence.

The president also got involved in the issue of U.S. fishing rights in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coasts of Canada and Newfoundland. At the time, Newfoundland was not a Canadian territory, but belonged to the British. Fishing rights in this area of the ocean had been a source of conflict in American-British relations for more than one hundred years. By the time Cleveland was in office, American fishermen had been allowed to fish in the waters if Canadian fishermen could export fish to the United States duty-free (without taxation). Congress revoked those rights because it believed in taxing imports. As a result of the abridged agreement, Canadian fishermen began seizing U.S. fishing boats, claiming they were violating the agreement.

In March 1887, Cleveland signed a bill that allowed him to forbid all Canadian imports of any kind if the harassment of American fishermen continued. This law was known as the Retaliation Act, and though he signed it, Cleveland chose not to enforce it. He felt relations with Britain were more important than fishing rights, so he used the Act as leverage in negotiations with Britain. In February 1888, the Bayard-Chamberlain Treaty was signed. The provisions of the treaty allowed American fishermen to fish in the waters off Canada. They could dock their ships there to purchase supplies and ship their catch back home after buying a fishing license. In the event Congress ever decided to lift the duty on Canadian fish, the licenses would be free of charge, and American fishermen would receive other privileges.

The Bayard-Chamberlain Treaty satisfied both sides for the time being, and America's relations with Britain improved. Cleveland never had to enforce the Retaliation Act, and at the same time, he showed Britain that America was not going to be pushed around. Cleveland also tactfully negotiated with British Columbia in the boundary dispute between that Canadian province and the U.S. territory of Alaska.

On race, immigration, and women

Cleveland believed African Americans were inferior to whites, and he sided with white Southerners who refused to treat African Americans as social or political equals. Cleveland made it a point to let whites in the South know they had an ally in him, and he voted against the integration (mixing of all races) of schools. The president considered civil rights a social issue and believed the federal government should not interfere, and so he not only did not actively try to improve conditions for African Americans, but personally and publicly opposed efforts to protect them.

On the other hand, during his first term, Cleveland spoke out against the prejudice toward the Chinese on the West Coast. He soon decided that the attitudes of Americans in that region were so deep, and the Chinese culture so foreign to Americans, that there would never be a place for Chinese immigrants in the United States. Cleveland worked to limit Chinese immigration. He explained that the difference between the Chinese and European immigrants was that the Europeans were willing to assimilate into American society. (See Chapter 5 for more on immigration.)

Cleveland considered himself an Indian reformer but looked at Native Americans as children in need of a caretaker. He made efforts to convince Native Americans to give up their tribal ways and traditions so that they could assimilate into white society. Cleveland supported the disastrous Dawes Severalty Act in 1887.

Women during Cleveland's reign did not have the right to vote, and the president had little to say on that topic. Cleveland never spoke out in support of or against the idea. He basically took a neutral position, making sure to neither offend nor encourage women. He recognized the importance of women's clubs and organizations because women had influence on the votes of their husbands and fathers.

The campaign of 1888

Cleveland was renominated as the Democratic candidate in the 1888 presidential election. His opponent was former Civil War general and former U.S. senator Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901) of Indiana. Although Harrison won one hundred thousand fewer popular votes than Cleveland, Harrison won more electoral votes and became the twenty-third president of the United States.

The Harrison administration

Benjamin Harrison was born in 1833 in North Bend, Ohio. The grandson of the ninth U.S. president, William Henry Harrison (1773–1841; served 1841), became a lawyer and moved to Indiana, where he volunteered in campaigns for the Republican Party. Harrison fought in the Civil War as a colonel. When he returned home, he built a reputation as an excellent lawyer.

Harrison served in the U.S. Senate throughout most of the 1880s, where he supported Native Americans and Civil War veterans. In the 1888 presidential campaign, he defended high tariffs (taxes imposed on goods imported from other countries; this was the main issue of the race), conservation of wilderness lands, and limited civil service reform. He broke from traditional Republican viewpoint in his opposition to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which ended Chinese immigration to the United States.

Harrison was the first candidate to participate in what became known as "front porch speeches." People would visit him at his home in Indiana and listen to him speak from his front porch. This campaign style encouraged citizens to think of Harrison as one of them, a regular man with a regular home and family. These speeches were not as informal as they appeared; Harrison's campaign managers carefully selected which newspaper reporters and community members would attend. By comparison, Cleveland gave just one speech in the 1888 campaign.

Although he received fewer popular votes, Harrison won the electoral college, 233 to 168, primarily because of the votes he received from New York and Indiana. A Republican president was back in the White House, and Republicans increased the number of seats in the House of Representatives by fourteen. They controlled the Senate by a narrow margin. For the first time in years, the Republican Party dominated the executive and legislative branches of the federal government.

Historians generally do not rate Harrison as a gifted or unique leader, but his administration was efficient and productive. Some of the legislation that passed during his presidency had a major impact on American business. Harrison supported the McKinley Tariff of 1890, a law that raised tariff rates an average of 49.5 percent. The bill was proposed by U.S. representative William McKinley (1843–1901) of Ohio. In addition to raising tariff levels, the bill gave the president expanded powers in the area of foreign trade.

The American public hated giant corporations and big businesses that took over the economy and forced consumers into paying high fees and prices. Republicans and Democrats alike rallied together in the call for reform of dishonest business practices such as monopolies. (Monopolies are businesses that have total control over a certain sector of the economy, including prices; in a monopoly, there is no competition.) As a result of this public outcry, the Harrison administration supported and passed the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. It was the first federal law to regulate big business. The Sherman Antitrust Act made it a federal crime for businesses to form trusts (the concept of several companies banding together to form an organization that limits competition by controlling the production and distribution of a product or service). Although the law had flaws, it was an important first step. (See Chapter 3 for more on the Sherman Antitrust Act.)

Another important piece of legislation passed during Harrison's term was the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890. (See Chapter 6 for more.) This bill, sponsored by U.S. senator John Sherman (1823–1900) of Ohio (the same man who sponsored the Sherman Antitrust Act), had the U.S. Treasury purchase 4.5 million ounces of silver at market price each month. The silver was bought with Treasury notes that could be redeemed in either gold or silver. Holders of these notes were so eager to turn them in for gold (because they got more money per note that way) that they nearly emptied the Treasury's supply. The act increased the production of silver, which sent silver prices down rather than up, which was the intent. The act was repealed in 1893, the year of the worst economic decline America had ever experienced. Historians point to several factors that contributed to the panic of 1893, including the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. In addition to the depletion of the nation's gold reserves and the decrease in silver prices, railroads went bankrupt and banks across the country began to fail. The result was high unemployment and a severe shortage of money circulating in the economy.

In keeping with his desire to protect wilderness lands, Harrison gave his full support to the Land Revision Act of 1891, which created national forests. The president authorized the first forest reserve in Yellowstone, Wyoming.

Harrison's foreign policy

Benjamin Harrison was one of the most active presidents in the area of foreign diplomacy. Where American interests were concerned, he would stop at nearly nothing to protect them. He took America to the brink of war with Chile over an incident involving American sailors who were harmed in the port city of Valparaiso. After discussion between the countries' leaders, Chile apologized and paid the United States $75,000 for the incident.

In 1889, President Harrison called the first modern Pan-American Conference in Washington, D.C. Leaders from North, Central, and South America attended the conference in an effort to develop military, economic, social, political, and commercial cooperation among the regions. At the conference, treaties on how to resolve international conflicts were developed, and tariff levels were revised. In addition, an organization that would eventually be known as the Pan-American Union was established. The union offered technical and informational services to the Americas, and provided a safe place for official documents. By forming various councils, the union took on the responsibility for furthering cooperative relations throughout the Americas. Its founding is celebrated on Pan-American Day each year in April.

As successful as he was in other foreign endeavors, Harrison did not achieve his goal where Hawaii was concerned. Harrison was in favor of annexing (adding to America's territory) Hawaii, but he was unable to convince the Senate of the usefulness of such an addition. Still, because of his efforts and because Hawaii did eventually become part of the United States, modern historians credit the Harrison administration as the one that put America on its path to becoming an empire.

Harrison's popularity wanes

Harrison's popularity among the public took a severe blow on three national issues. The first was his support of the McKinley Tariff. Millions of citizens lost trust in a president who seemed to be siding more with big-business interests than with the average working man. The second issue involved the dissatisfaction of farmers in the South and West. Harrison had done virtually nothing to improve the farmers' situation, so their support shifted to the newly formed Populist Party (see Chapter 6). Finally, a series of violent labor strikes (when workers refuse to work until negotiations are made) linked Harrison to monopoly industrialists and bankers. Voters did not feel represented in the White House.

Add to these feelings of betrayal the fact that Harrison passed a great deal of Republican legislation in his first year in office. Congress in the Harrison presidency soon became known as the "Billion Dollar" Congress, and its rampant Republican activism was a major cause in the reversal of voter support for the president.

Harrison could not undo the damage his image had suffered. He had never been known as an overly friendly man publicly, yet he put his family at the center of his life. On most days during his term, he left the office by noon to spend time with his family. He also enjoyed hunting in his free time and took secret hunting trips whenever possible to get away from Washington. His tendency to be a private man, coupled with the unpopular events throughout his term, led him directly out of the White House. America reelected Grover Cleveland in the 1892 election. Cleveland took 277 electoral votes (compared with Harrison's 145) and 46.1 percent of the popular vote (compared with 43 percent for Harrison). Upon learning of his defeat, Harrison told his family he felt like he had been freed from prison.

Cleveland returns

Cleveland's presence in the presidential campaign of 1892 marked only the second time a former president had run for that office again. (Former president Millard Fillmore [1800–1874; served 1850–53] ran as the American Party's presidential candidate in 1856 but lost easily.) Cleveland's reelection was also a first: Never before had a previously defeated president been elected to the presidency for a second term. (And never since: With only one other former president running again—Theodore Roosevelt [1858–1919; served 1901–9], unsuccessfully, in 1912—Cleveland's feat has held up.) The Democratic Party regained power of the White House as well as both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

America was entering a severe economic depression (a long-term economic state in which unemployment rates are high, prices and business activity are low, and people are fearful of the future). By 1894, almost 18 percent of the country's workers were unemployed. People were hungry and many were homeless because they could not pay their bills. Railroad construction dropped off by 50 percent. Nearly two hundred railroad companies went into bankruptcy (legal declaration of a company's inability to repay debt, so the business closes), as did one in every ten banks and dozens of steel companies.

Cleveland held onto his belief that the government should not support charity with its dollars. With citizens starving, some reformers suggested setting up a system of work projects funded by the federal government. These projects would include building highways, dams, bridges, and other public works. Such a system would give hundreds of thousands of men and women badly needed jobs, and the nation would enjoy the benefits of their labor. But Cleveland dismissed the notion as a bad idea, and nothing anyone did or said could change his mind.

Instead, the president blamed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act for the depression. He called for a cancellation of the act and got it. But in doing so, he lost the support of Democrats in the South and West, who from that point on, considered him more Republican than most Republicans. Now the Democratic Party was split from within, which weakened its strength.

When the act was repealed, thousands of holders of government bonds and old silver certificates (once used by the government to purchase silver) began cashing them in for gold. This frenzy nearly depleted the nation's gold reserve, and Cleveland had to authorize four new government bonds between 1894 and 1896 to keep the government from failing to pay its international debts. In order to do this, he turned to well-known investment banker J. P. Morgan (1837–1913) to financially support the bonds. Morgan backed the bonds with sixty-two million dollars in gold, which helped to restore the national treasury. Morgan was not respected among the working population. He was deeply involved with, and in many ways, largely responsible for, the industrial monopolies and trusts. He almost single-handedly controlled America's industry. When Cleveland turned to Morgan for help, he was accused of siding with big-business interests and betraying the average working-class citizen.

Cleveland's failure to deal effectively with the depression had a direct impact on the congressional election of 1894. The Democrats lost in every region except the South. No longer were the Democrats in power, and Cleveland felt betrayed by his own party. He left the presidency in 1897 with resentment and bitterness.

Foreign policy

President Cleveland was against territorial expansion and gave up trying to resolve the conflict in Hawaii. Hawaii's queen had been overthrown in 1893, and the island was now controlled by a revolutionary government. Cleveland tried to convince the government to return power to the queen, but his efforts failed. When he approached the queen with the suggestion of forgiving the revolutionary leaders, she also refused and demanded they have their heads cut off. Frustrated, Cleveland refused to put any more effort into the situation and turned over the problem to Congress. The matter was not resolved until 1900, when President William McKinley negotiated to make Hawaii an American territory.

Although reluctant to expand the American empire, Cleveland did not hesitate to protect the nation's interest overseas when necessary. His most controversial foreign policy decision involved a boundary dispute between Venezuela and Britain. Britain laid claim to the Orinoco River, a profitable trade route that ran through Venezuela. Venezuela wanted control of its own region, but Britain refused, so Venezuela called on the United States to get involved and help solve the dispute.

Britain did not want America involved in the issue. Cleveland made it clear that the United States was involved whether Britain liked it or not. To prove his commitment, he sent U.S. Navy ships to confront British warships near Venezuela, a move that caused alarm in the States. There was no need for fear of war, however, because Britain agreed to negotiate.

Another foreign policy issue involved Cuba. Cuba was a country under Spanish rule in 1895. Reports were coming to the United States of Spanish troops treating the Cubans cruelly. Although President Cleveland supported Cuba's independence, he wanted to remain neutral, so he refused to support Cuba in its desire to rebel against Spanish rule. Instead, he urged Spain to adopt reforms that would allow Cuba to gain its independence gradually. Cleveland's stance on this issue was the opposite of that of the Senate, which supported more aggressive involvement and passed pro-Cuban legislation whenever possible. When Cleveland refused to change his mind, Congress threatened to recognize Cuba as an independent nation. The president was unmoved and informed his cabinet that any such decision would be considered an act of defiance against his authority. The issue remained unresolved at the end of Cleveland's second term (it was later handled by President McKinley).

On the homefront

In addition to the depression that began in 1893, Cleveland had to deal with serious labor unrest throughout his second term. In June 1894, a railroad strike in Pullman, Chicago (see Chapter 3), created problems throughout the entire state of Illinois. Railroads stopped running, which put a halt to any business that relied on the railways for shipping. This work stoppage included mail delivery service and passenger transportation. State authorities realized the strike was beyond their control and called on the federal government for assistance. Cleveland's response made history when, for the first time, federal military troops became involved in a labor strike.

On July 4, President Cleveland sent in twenty-five hundred federal troops in an attempt to end the strike. Rioting occurred from July 7 through 9, when strikers attacked the military troops. These forces responded with gunfire at point-blank range. About thirty strikers were killed and many more wounded. The number of troops soon escalated to fourteen thousand as state and other federal troops joined in the confrontation. The strikers were defeated within the week, and after several weeks of negotiating, the Pullman Palace Car Company reopened its doors on August 2.

Cleveland's response to the strike reinforced the trust of American citizens in their president. However, it was not enough to erase the feelings of betrayal brought about by his lack of response during the depression. His party did not even nominate him as the Democratic candidate in the 1896 presidential election (see Chapter 6 for more on the election) but chose instead former U.S. representative William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925) of Nebraska. Bryan lost the election, however, to Ohio governor William McKinley; this ended what most historians consider the final phase of the Gilded Age.

McKinley leads the nation

For a while, it looked as if Bryan would win the election because he not only had the Democratic vote but had become the Populist Party's choice when members realized they could not win the election. The Populist Party was a third political party that grew out of discontent among farmers and laborers throughout the nation. These men felt that neither the Democrats nor Republicans had their best interests in mind, so they formed their own party. It became clear early in the 1896 campaign that the Populists would not get enough votes, so they merged with the Democrats.

The Republican Party, however, raised $4 million in campaign funds, primarily from big-business donations. Funding at that level made it possible for McKinley to print and distribute two hundred million pamphlets, a strategy that kept his name uppermost in voters' minds. He also delivered 350 speeches from his front porch to 750,000 delegates (many representing big business corporations).

Bryan traveled 18,000 miles in just three months to give speeches and condemn his opponent as a puppet of (someone easily controlled by) big business. McKinley supported a protective tariff and the use of gold coinage only (as opposed to silver and gold), but Bryan promoted bimetallism, or the use of silver and gold coinage (see Chapter 6). Halfway through his campaign, Bryan began losing support. Some Democrats favored the gold standard, and city-dwelling progressives (people who favored more modern ideas) found the candidate's moral tone offensive. McKinley beat Bryan in both the popular (52.2 percent vs. 47.8 percent) and electoral vote (271 to 176).

Issues at home

By the time McKinley took office, the depression was all but over. People's fear was subsiding, and so was the uproar over bimetallism versus the gold standard. Although McKinley had supported the gold standard, he spent most of 1897 pursuing an international agreement to bimetallism with Italy, Russia, England, and France. When negotiations failed late in the year, McKinley endorsed a gold-based currency and signed the Gold Standard Act in 1900. With that legislation, all currency was backed by gold at a fixed price of $20.67 per ounce.

McKinley was known as an honest man, and throughout his campaign, he had promised to raise tariffs. In 1896, taxes on certain products used in the United States brought in fairly large amounts of money. Alcohol taxes brought in $114.5 million, tobacco another $30.7 million. McKinley wanted to increase tariff levels so that internal taxes could be reduced (allowing taxpayers to spend less on those items they used more often). A raise in tariff rates would also encourage the expansion of American industry and increase the number of jobs because people would not want to buy from abroad when doing so would cost more.

In 1897, U.S. congressman Nelson R. Dingley (1832–1899) of Maine sponsored the Dingley Tariff Act, which raised rates to an average of 49 percent. The bill also gave the president authority to negotiate reductions of up to 20 percent. He also could move items to what was called a "free list," which meant those items would not be subject to the tariff. Other items could be dropped completely if all those in positions of authority agreed upon it. McKinley remained a committed supporter of high tariffs until the end of his life. Just one day before he died, he announced his shift in attitude and gave his support to reciprocal trade treaties (in which both countries involved in the transaction get something beneficial out of the deal).

On the issue of trusts, McKinley categorized them as either good or bad. He believed trusts were useful in terms of international competition but not so desirable within the American market. He limited his support of legal suits against trusts to those that hurt interstate (within the nation) commerce only.

McKinley was a supporter of the labor movement, and his time in the White House increased his popularity among workers throughout the nation. He endorsed the Erdman Act of 1898, which developed a means for negotiating wage disputes involving international railroad companies. McKinley also favored the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited Chinese immigrants from settling in America. He had strong professional relationships with a number of leaders in the labor movement as well. Despite his support of America's workers, McKinley sent in federal troops to keep order at a mining strike in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in 1899. The incident ended in the arrest of about five hundred miners, who were kept in a bullpen from the time of their arrest in April until September. In his four-and-a-half years as president, the detaining of miners for five months was the one incident in which McKinley angered the organized-labor voting population.

McKinley undid much of the reform work Cleveland had done within the civil service. Because Cleveland had depended on the merit system (which based appointment to positions on qualification rather than favors or political party affiliation only) to fill civil service positions, Republicans were unhappy that not enough of the most influential positions within the civil service included Republicans. McKinley bowed to Republican pressure and removed about four thousand positions from the list, a move that satisfied Republican congressmen but led many of his citizen supporters to change their minds about him. It now looked as though the president was being controlled by, rather than in charge of, the Republican Party.

President McKinley did almost nothing to improve race relations while in office. Although he spoke against lynching (illegal hanging) in his first presidential address in 1897, he did not condemn the practice formally with legislation or any other efforts. Nor did he take measures to limit the racial violence in the South. For the most part, McKinley's reaction to the race issue was to appear as if he was doing something about it. For example, he appointed thirty African Americans to official positions in diplomatic and records offices. This seemed to whites to be enough, but it fell far short of what African American voters had expected. McKinley also allowed African American soldiers to fight in the Spanish-American War (1898), which went against the wishes of the majority of the military. Still, these measures did little to help African Americans.

Bigger, but better?

As the twentieth century drew closer, many Americans believed that to increase the greatness of the nation, the nation ought to increase its size and power. Others believed just as strongly that expansionism would cost too much money and bring too many nonwhite people into the country. Their stance was called "anti-imperialism," and some of its better-known supporters were former president Benjamin Harrison, presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919), and writer Mark Twain.

McKinley managed to do what Cleveland and Harrison did not. In 1897, he negotiated a treaty with Hawaii that would make it a U.S. territory. McKinley not only recognized the island's value as a military strategic point, but realized other world powers would want to lay claim to the land if the United States did not. Anti-imperialists and Democrats were against the annexation and delayed it until 1900. At that point, Congress successfully petitioned McKinley to pass the resolution for annexation with a simple majority (more than 50 percent) vote, rather than the usual two-thirds majority vote. (In 1959, Hawaii became the fiftieth state admitted to the Union.)

The Spanish-American War

During this period of imperialism versus anti-imperialism, President McKinley had to deal with a problem he had inherited from the Cleveland administration: Cuba. Spanish rule in Cuba was based on repression (domination), and Cubans revolted in 1895. Spain's response was to round up three hundred thousand Cubans and put them in camps where they could not help the rebels. Spain's behavior angered many Americans, who believed Cuba should be independent of Spain's rule.

Throughout 1897, McKinley tried to convince Spain to give Cuba its independence. In November of that year, Spain gave Cuba limited independence (regarding political matters within Cuba, it could govern itself; international matters would still be governed by Spain) and closed the camps. The peace was short-lived, when in January 1898, pro-Spanish demonstrators rioted in the streets of Havana, Cuba. McKinley sent the U.S. battleship Maine to the Havana harbor to protect American citizens who had arrived to help Cuba as well as to let Spain know that America still valued its relationship with Cuba.

Spanish minister to the United States Enrique Dupuy de Lôme (1851–1904) wrote a private letter to a friend back in Spain that was intercepted by the Cubans. The Cubans, in turn, leaked the letter to the U.S. media. The letter described McKinley as weak and indicated that the Spanish were not negotiating in good faith with the United States. The letter, published in the New York Journal, infuriated Americans, who saw it as an attack on the honor of both their president and their nation.

The situation worsened when the Maine exploded and sank on February 15, 1898. The explosion killed 266 crew members. A Navy investigation concluded that the explosion had been caused by an outside source, presumably a Spanish mine. (More recent scholarship has shown, however, that the explosion more likely occurred due to internal problems with the ship itself.) Though McKinley did not want to go to war, he saw no alternative at this point. He ordered U.S. ships to block Cuba's ports; America and its president wanted an end to the Cuban crisis. On April 23, 1898, Spain declared war on the United States. Two days later, America declared war on Spain. The war lasted just over three months, and fewer than four hundred American soldiers died in battle. Many more died from disease.

The Spanish-American War ended with the signing of the Paris Peace Treaty on December 10, 1898. The treaty gave Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States and allowed America to buy the Philippine Islands for $20 million. Spain gave up its hold on Cuba, which would be a protectorate (under the protection and partial control) of the United States until 1934. The United States, under McKinley's leadership, had become one of the world's great colonial powers.

More action overseas

The war with Spain was barely over when a civil war broke out in the Philippines. McKinley sent in thousands of military troops, a move that ended in 1902 in massive bloodshed. The conflict cost more than five thousand American lives and two hundred thousand Filipino lives.

China soon became a concern to McKinley as well. He knew that other world powers, such as Japan, Germany, and France, were also trying to establish influence throughout the world. In an effort to guarantee that Chinese ports would remain open to U.S. business, the president authorized an "Open Door" policy to China. This policy put China on an equal status with America in terms of trade and business. There would be no restrictions or tariffs, and the United States would support an independent China. The policy became useless at the end of World War II (1939–45), when China was recognized as a sovereign (self-governing) nation. As such, no country had the right to influence or attempt to exclude it from trade. Despite its demise, the Open Door policy remains one of the most important ever issued by the federal government.

In June 1900, a group of Chinese rebels known as Boxers killed a number of western missionaries and Chinese converts to Christianity. The Boxers did not want foreign influences intruding on their country or national identity. The group also invaded foreign populations in the city of Peking. McKinley sent over twenty-five hundred troops and several gunboats to China without first getting congressional approval. In addition to U.S. military support, China was assisted by Russia, Britain, Germany, and Japan. The allied (combined) troops put down the Boxer Rebellion by August. China was forced to pay reparations (costs of war) of more than $300 million, $25 million of which went to America.

A life cut short

In 1900, the Republicans once again spent several million dollars on the presidential campaign. They printed 125 million campaign documents, including millions of inserts that were sent to more than 5,000 newspapers every week. They hired six hundred speakers and poll watchers. The president himself stayed home and gave more front porch speeches. His running mate was Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), who had recently returned home from the Spanish-American War a hero. (McKinley's vice president during his first term, Garret A. Hobart [1844–1899], had died in office.)

McKinley's opponent was, once again, William Jennings Bryan. Again, McKinley won both the popular and the electoral vote. He won by an even greater margin this time, receiving 114,000 more votes than in the 1896 election. In addition, the Republicans also held the power in Congress (197 House seats compared with the Democrats' 151, and 55 Senate seats compared with 31).

On September 5, 1901, McKinley delivered a speech at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. At its conclusion, he attended a reception where he got to meet and greet the public. Just after four o'clock, McKinley was shot by a twenty-eight-year-old Polish immigrant named Leon Czolgosz (1873–1901). The bullet hit McKinley in the chest and knocked the president to the ground. While lying in his blood, he told his bodyguards not to hurt his assailant. McKinley was rushed to a hospital, where doctors expected him to recover. Gangrene (decay of skin tissue due to blood loss) set in around his wounds, however, and the president died on September 14, 1901, just six months after his second term had begun. His assassin was put to death in the electric chair on October 29, 1901.

Well into the twentieth century, historians considered McKinley a weak president who caved in to pressure and was controlled by his own administration. More recent scholarship has revised its opinion and views the president as a man who did the best he could to avoid war but who also stood firm in his decision once it was made. During his time in office, America won a war, expanded its overseas territories, and extended trade regulations with China. Never before had the United States been so powerful in so many ways. Critics condemn McKinley's motives for his involvement in Cuba, claiming it was not morality that influenced his decision but a desire to make America an imperialistic power.

McKinley did not change the description of the presidential position so much as he enhanced it, paving the way for more modern presidents who would follow. He was the first president to make use of printed propaganda (information that is spread for the purpose of promoting a cause) and used the press to his full advantage by inviting them to briefings and meetings. McKinley recognized the value of good publicity and used the media to manage war and political campaigns. No president before him had traveled as much as he did, and he used his travels to make speeches and meet face to face with the public.

William McKinley may not have done anything great, but he did most things well enough and with enough individuality and success to set the stage for the twentieth-century leaders who would steer America through the following years, known as the Progressive Era.