William McKinley / William McKinley - Key Events

William McKinley is inaugurated as the twenty-fifth President of the United States. McKinley asserts: “The country is suffering from industrial disturbances from which speedy relief must be had. Our financial system needs some revision; our money is all good now, but its value must not further be threatened.”

President McKinley calls Congress into a special session for the purpose of revising the tariff laws.

John J. McDermott wins the first Boston Marathon. The 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Copley Square will become one of the world's most prestigious marathons.

Congress appropriates $50,000 for the relief of Americans in Cuba.

The first shipment of gold discovered in Alaska, totaling $750,000, arrives in San Francisco.

President McKinley signs the Dingley Tariff Law, which raises custom duties by an average of 57 percent. Although American industries no longer needed such heavy protection against foreign goods, the tariff was raised nonetheless; imported woolen products, for example, faced a 91 percent rate. Republicans associate the high tariff with national prosperity while Democrats and progressives will blame the tariff for causing subsequent price increases.

More than twenty workers are killed in Lattimer, Pennsylvania, after deputy sheriffs open fire on striking coal miners. In sympathy, coal miners in the Ohio, West Virginia, and the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania walk off their jobs. The strike is settled soon thereafter, with Pennsylvania workers being awarded an eight-hour day.

President McKinley's first annual message to Congress is read aloud. The President states that while the government of Spain should be given time to reform its behavior in Cuba, America would continue to devote significant diplomatic attention to the island. McKinley also reminds Americans to refrain from factionalism: “Questions of foreign policy, of revenue, the soundness of the currency, the inviolability of national obligations, the improvement of the public service, appeal to the individual conscience of every earnest citizen to whatever party he belongs or in whatever section of the country he may reside.”

In Havana, Cuba, pro-Spanish groups riot in opposition to Cuban autonomy.

The U.S. Battleship Maine arrives in Havana on a nominally “friendly visit.” Its true mission is to protect American life and property.

A letter containing insults directed at President McKinley, written by Spanish minister to the United States Señor Don Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, is published in William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal.

The battleship Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor, killing 266 Americans. Subsequent press coverage of the event points to Spanish sabotage as the cause of the disaster, despite dubious evidence. The sinking of the Maine fans popular opinion, already sympathetic to the cause of Cuban independence, in support of American intervention.

Battleship Maine Sinks

On the night of February 15, 1898, a fire in a coal bunker of the battleship Maine ignited a reserve gunpowder magazine, blowing the ship in half and killing 266 crew members. “Remember the Maine!” became a rallying cry for Americans who wanted to go to war against Spain over the island of Cuba. President William McKinley tried to find a diplomatic solution to resolve the conflict but ultimately Spain declared war against the United States, beginning the Spanish-American War.

Spain had long controlled the Caribbean island of Cuba but throughout the 19th century, the Cuban people had struggled to gain independence. In 1895, Cuban rebels led a revolt against Spanish rule. When Spain tried to quash the rebellion, the American press publicized conditions in Cuba and atrocities committed by the Spanish. Public opinion in the United States began to clamor for U.S. government involvement.

In January 1898, the United States dispatched the battleship Maine to Cuba both to protect American citizens and property and to demonstrate that the United States still valued Spain's friendship. The Maine arrived in the Havana harbor on January 25, 1898. Over the next few weeks, its officers enjoyed friendly relations with Spanish officials ashore.

After the explosion and destruction of the battleship, pro-interventionists, including Theodore Roosevelt and the “yellow press,” attributed the disaster to Spanish sabotage and beat the drums for war. President McKinley called for calm, urging Americans to wait for the results of a naval investigation of the explosion. Spain immediately sent its entire diplomatic delegation to express the nation's sympathy to McKinley and conducted its own investigation of the disaster. However, public furor over the incident grew.

On March 28, the naval court of inquiry presented its findings to Congress, concluding incorrectly that an external explosion, such as an underwater mine, had destroyed the Maine. (A later naval study concluded that an internal explosion had destroyed the Maine.) The court failed to name the responsible party in their erroneous verdict, but the American public instantly assumed Spanish culpability.

Wary of starting a war, President McKinley urged the Spanish to agree to an armistice with Cuban rebels and demanded an end to civil rights abuses against the Cuban people. When the Spanish government wavered on an armistice behind the pressures of its own public opinion, McKinley asked Congress for the power to take military action against Spain in Cuba on April 11, 1898, thereby hoping to stabilize the region for American interests and quell the humanitarian disaster that war had brought to Cuba. Congress passed a series of four resolutions on April 19 recognizing Cuban independence and gave McKinley the power to eject Spain from the island. McKinley used these powers to declare a blockade of Cuba on April 21, leading the Spanish Empire to declare war on the United States on April 23, 1898. Two days later, the United States declared war against Spain. The Spanish-American War had begun.