Can't get enough of William McKinley? Here are some related videos:
Here's a song Mr. Beat made about William McKinley
⁠The American Presidential Election of 1896
The American Presidential Election of 1900⁠
⁠U.S. President Tier List⁠
Updated U.S. President Tier List

Mr. Beat here and ha! You clicked on this educational video! Now I’m going to teach you about William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States!

Wait, don’t go. Learning is cool. Uh…here’s a clip of the current president talking about him.
Oh Mount McKinley? I’ve seen it in person. That’s the tallest mountain in North America. Most folks call it “Denali,” but for some reason Donald Trump reallyyy wanted Denali renamed back to what it was back in the day, Mount McKinley. Probably because he’s a fan of McKinley. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGLpK7TXmmA&t=2111s 

Well I think he’s OVERRATED, but he does have a fascinating story. From a humble Ohio boy to the White House. From the trenches of one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War to the dawn of the American global empire. William McKinley may not have the instant-name recognition of Washington, Lincoln, FDR, or even JFK, but historians often view him as one of the better presidents. In fact, they ranked him the 14th best president in the most recent C-SPAN Presidential Historians Survey. But again…I’m not that much of a fan. In fact, in past videos I have ranked him among the WORST presidents in American history. I mean, if you know anything about me, you know that I hate tariffs, and McKinley was known as someone who was VERY pro-tariffs. He was an imperialist who got the country into a war built on lies, oversaw a horrible war in which American soldiers rounded up civilians into concentration camps and committed all kinds of horrible atrocities, and just generally set up a precedent of sending American forces into countries where they were not welcome (Boxer Rebellion). And he used his religion to justify doing these horrible things…even though, I must say, it often seemed he was just doing what powerful people around him WANTED him to do, not what God wanted him to do. And he gave in to public pressure too much dad gomit.

Yeah, you know what? They can’t name the highest mountain in North America Mount McKinley. Shame on them! How DARE they?!?

(after calming down) Ok, but I recently revisited ol’ McKinley, and…maybe he’s not as bad as I originally thought he was.

Upon more research of the fellow, I found he was more pragmatic and decisive than I had previously thought. Plus, he was just a really nice guy. He treated even his most ruthless critics with respect. One time, when he was still in Congress, he helped a reporter dry off in his carriage during a downpour…a reporter who had often harshly criticized McKinley. 
I even went to Canton, Ohio, McKinley’s home town, to learn more about him with THIS dude…many of you probably recognize him…Chris from Vlogging Through History. He certainly got me thinking about McKinley differently as well. Perhaps McKinley maybe wasn’t as bad as I had previously thought.

Oh no, you’re getting bored. Wait, don’t go! Here’s $500! Well, it’s actually a fake $500 bill. But see, it has William McKinley on it. The United States no longer issues $500 bills, but the most recent ones in circulation feature McKinley on it. Oh, uh…but if you have one, don’t SELL it for $500. They’re usually worth at least twice that these days.

Ok, so now that I gave you $500, here’s the story of William McKinley. 

-He Was Born in Small Town- (sing like John Mellencamp)
William McKinley, Jr. was born on January 29, 1843 in Niles, Ohio, a town of just around 300 people. Junior I say? Yes, his dad was also William McKinley. McKinley Sr. ran an iron foundry. Junior’s mom, Nancy, instilled in young William a strong sense of faith and duty. The seventh of eight children, he had an active childhood fishing, hunting, horseback riding, and even ice skating. William grew up in a strict Methodist household, and grew up actually wanting to be a Methodist minister. 

When William was nine years old, his family moved to nearby Poland, a town which offered the boy more educational opportunities. He attended the Poland Academy, a seminary, or school that trained students to be a leader of a church. William loved school and was a good student, enjoying reading, public speaking, and debating, even becoming the school’s debate club president. After graduating from the Poland Academy at 17 years old, he began attending Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. However, his time there got cut short after he got sick. He returned home to Poland, but after he recovered he could no longer afford the tuition at Allegheny, so he dropped out and worked at the local post office and became a teacher. 
Teacher, eh? Ok, William. Or should I call you Mr. McKinley? Uh, but anyway, then fate intervened…

-Look at McKinley Fighting- (sing like Axl Rose)
Shortly after he became a teacher, the American Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in American history, had begun. McKinley and his cousin, William McKinley…Osborne…voluntarily enlisted, joining the recently formed Poland Guards in June 1861. At the time, William was just 18 years old.  Soon their unit joined the larger 23rd Ohio Infantry Regiment, one of the most famous Union Army groups of the entire war. (enlisted man quote from Chris) McKinley would eventually serve under Major Rutherford Hayes, another future American president. McKinley grew to deeply admire Hayes and the two would later become close friends. Ohio’s 23rd first met Confederate forces in present-day West Virginia.

As a young private, McKinley quickly proved his bravery on the battlefield and moved up the ranks. By the time Ohio’s 23rd got to modern-day Maryland, he had been promoted to commissary sergeant. McKinley was present at the Battle of Antietam. Yes, THAT Battle of Antietam. September 17, 1862…the bloodiest single day of the Civil War and all of American history. He courageously delivered hot food and coffee to Union troops under fire. Working his way over rough ground and through what probably seemed like a flood of bullets, Sergeant McKInley led two mule teams of wagons right through the battle. His bravery that day earned him tremendous respect from his fellow soldiers.^1

As McKinley moved up the ranks, he continued to see combat. After a relatively calmer period back in Ohio, he got caught up defending the state during Morgan’s Raid. By 1864, Union forces were on offense in Virginia, and McKinley remained all up in the fight, participating in the Battle of Cloyd’s Mountain, the Battle of Lynchburg, the Battle of Winchester, and the Battle of Cedar Creek.^2 By the time the war was over, McKinley was a major, a title he referred to himself for the rest of his life.

-He Studied Law, Politician- (sing like the Clash “I Fight the Law”)
Following the war, McKinley decided he wanted to become a…take a guess….go ahead, I’ll wait. No, not a mortician. What the heck is wrong with you? He wanted to become a lawyer. I gave you a layup and you bricked it.

He studied at Albany Law School in Albany, New York. I guess he didn’t need no education because he was there for less than one year, moving back to Ohio and passing the bar exam. He got a job working for a judge in Canton, Ohio. That’s also where two of his sisters taught, and McKinley soon grew quite fond of the town, calling it home for most of the rest of his life. Soon he had opened his own law office and began to get active with the Republican Party. After his friend Rutherford Hayes got nominated to be governor of Ohio, McKinley went out and gave speeches on behalf of him. A couple years later, he decided to give politics a try himself. He ran for district attorney of Stark County, an office that had historically been held by Democrats, and unexpectedly won the election!

Meanwhile, he had met a woman. I’ve heard of those. Ida Saxton. William met her at a picnic hanging out with his sister, Anna. At the time, Saxton was actually engaged to marry a Confederate veteran named John Wright. But after John’s sudden death, Ida pursued a relationship with William. The two would fall in love and Ida even became a Methodist. They got married on January 25, 1871. Now, Ida’s family was quite a big deal in Canton, and their wedding was attended by at least 1,000 people.^3

But then, a series of unfortunate events. First, Ida’s mother died of cancer. At her funeral, Ida fell and severely struck her head, which probably caused her to develop epilepsy and phlebitis. Second, Ida and William’s two daughters both tragically died very young. Ida McKinley II died when she was just 4 months old, and just two years later their daughter Katie died when she was just three. This caused Ida to become depressed and even suicidal. Her health severely worsened after this, and she’d never be able to have children again. William took pretty darn good care of her. In public, she would always be right by his side. Heck, she was by his side even when he went on long business trips. She regularly had seizures. William carried around a big handkerchief and would cover up her face with it whenever she suddenly had a seizure in public. Onlookers were consistently impressed with his dedication to his beloved wife.

Meanwhile, McKinley’s political career was taking off. In 1876, he took on a high-profile case defending a bunch of coal miners who had gone on strike and got arrested for rioting after a clash with people trying to break the strike up…aka strikebreakers. McKinley took on the case for free, and got all but one of the miners acquitted of the charges. One of the mine owners, Mark Hanna, despite being against McKinley in the case, became incredibly impressed with how he defended those coal miners. It also impressed the local Republican Party. It nominated him to run for the U.S. House of Representatives. By that time, his buddy Hayes was now running for president. McKinley campaigned for Hayes as he also campaigned running for Congress. Both won their elections. Well, Hayes barely won. Like, (pointing) REALLY barely won. 

Around the time McKinley got elected, they moved into THIS house. Chris and I got to check this place out. It’s a big deal since it’s the only place in Canton with direct historical ties to McKinley still standing. Ida’s family had lived here previously, and her and William would live here together the entire time he was in Congress. Hey, fun fact about this place. It’s the only residence in American history where three American presidents all spent the night at the same time. McKinley, James Garfield, and Rutherford Hayes all spent the night here at one time.^4 Today the house is part of the National First Ladies Museum.

Anyway, McKinley entered Congress taking a HUGE pay cut- he basically was making half as much money as he was as a private lawyer. Now in DC, the McKinleys would regularly visit the Hayes’ in the White House. But being friends with the literal president of the United States didn’t get McKinley any important committee assignments or anything. That is, until another fellow Ohioan got elected president in 1880. That’d be James Garfield, who I just released a video about in recent history. Garfield becoming president left a vacancy on the House Ways and Means Committee, a very important committee, for real. And guess who took Garfield’s place in it? Hey (snapping finger) pay attention! Who took Garfield’s place on the House Ways and Means Committee. Yes, William McKinley. You’re lucky there’s no test over all this, ya know. Anyway, on that committee, McKinley became a much bigger deal in the House of Representatives. By that time, he had become known as the Republican who wouldn’t shut up about tariffs. Tariffs this, tariffs that. McKinley generally thought tariffs were pretty good. 

McKinley would serve seven terms in the House between 1877 and 1891. (turning) Well, except for a 9-month period between 1884 and 1885. There was a disputed election then, and the House ruled that McKinley’s opponent, a dude named Jonathan Wallace, actually got the most votes, so HE took over for the rest of McKinley’s term. But McKinley easily got the office back in the 1884 election. I should say that McKinley’s opponents in Ohio consistently gerrymandered districts in order to get him out of office, but, more often than not, they failed. McKinley was a popular dude, mostly because he developed a reputation of being such a nice guy. Also due to this popularity, McKinley became a leader in the Republican Party itself. He held tremendous influence at both the 1888 and 1892 Republican National Conventions. Heck, in 1889 he almost got elected Speaker of the House.

In 1890, McKinley solidified his reputation as the “Tariff King” as he crafted a law that raised the average tariff on imports to nearly 50%. In fact, he was so influential crafting it that they named it after him. (McKinley Tariff) That same year, Democrats in Ohio gerrymandered McKinley yet another time, optimistic they could defeat him this time since many Ohioans were frustrated with the inflation caused by his tariff law. Democrats even hired people to pretend to be tinware salesmen who went door to door offering 25-cent pots and pans for 50 cents, explaining the rise in price was due to the McKinley Tariff.^5

Welp, this time it worked. McKinley lost re-election in the newly-drawn district. (turning) He lost by just 300 votes.
But it’s all good, he ran for governor of Ohio, and won! McKinley spent the next four years in Columbus with a surprisingly progressive agenda: he called for laws to protect railroad workers, said children should probably not be working, and hoped to develop a system to settle labor disagreements. However, he wasn’t COMPLETELY sympathetic to workers. For example, as governor, he ordered the National Guard to break up a United Mine Workers strike. In 1892, McKinley chaired the Republican National Convention. Even though Benjamin Harrison was up for re-election, the aforementioned Mark Hanna had tried to convince Republicans to ditch Harrison and nominate McKinley for president instead. Well, Harrison got renominated, but over the next four years Hanna would work tirelessly to get McKinley to be their next presidential nominee.

And then, the Panic of 1893. Caused by the tariffs, crop failures, and bank failures, the Panic of 1893 was the most devastating economic depression the United States had seen up to that point, and uh…yeah…McKinley got screwed over quite a bit during it. He had lent money to a man named Robert Walker and promised to pay back other money Walker owed if he couldn’t pay it back. Well, during the depression Walker couldn’t pay anything back, and so McKinley was left with the bill. A more than $100,000 bill, as a matter of fact, the equivalent of more than $3.5 million in today’s money. At first, McKinley was going to resign as governor to become a private lawyer again to pay off the bill. Instead, Hanna and a bunch of other rich dudes helped him pay the money back. It was a real-life It’s A Wonderful Life situation. The financial struggle that McKinley went through made him very relatable to Ohioans also struggling from the depression. He easily won re-election. 

By 1895, McKinley was already the favorite to be the Republican Party’s nominee for the next presidential election. And yep, thanks in part to the influence of his number one supporter, Mark Hanna, McKinley got the nomination on the first ballot at the 1896 Republican National Convention in St. Louis. The party nominated Garret Hobart, a businessman and former New Jersey legislator, as his running mate.Their platform called for a more aggressive foreign policy, a continued protectionist economic policy that relied on the gold standard, and the expansion of rights for women.

By that time, the McKinleys lived HERE, at the Stark County District Library? Huh? Oh, no. This was where their house USED to be. It got torn down back in the 1930s. There’s a picture of it. It’s pretty dang significant, because it’s where McKinley’s legendary “Front Porch Campaign” took place. McKinley just hung out at home and let people come see him give short campaign speeches…quite literally on his front porch. More than 700,000 people traveled from all over the country to come see him. McKinley went out to his porch to speak every day except Sunday, of course. (clips with Chris)

Dang, the more I think about it, I can’t believe they tore it down. Canton, what were you thinking?!? Anyway, McKinley’s main opponent, William Jennings Brian, did quite the opposite. He traveled 18,000 miles in three months campaigning, giving more than 600 speeches. But McKinley had Mark Hanna, who did the traveling for him. Hanna literally invented a new form of campaign financing that has been the norm ever since. He went straight to businesses to get donations, making propositions. The McKinley campaign was also successful at making many businesses fear a Bryan presidency, and due to that McKinley raised a BUNCH more money than Bryan.

It quite literally paid off. McKinley won the presidential election of 1896. He got 271 electoral votes and 51% of the popular vote. McKinley’s victory marked a major political realignment…the beginning of the Fourth Party System, a system dominated by Republicans until the 1930s.

-Ooh wee ooh he looks just like the president- (sing like Rivers Cuomo)
McKinely got sworn in as the 25th president on March 4, 1897, Ida and his mother by his side. His father had passed away a few years prior. In his inaugural address, McKinley interestingly warned against foreign military interventions, saying “We want no wars of conquest. We must avoid the temptation of territorial aggression." Some foreshadowing there. Most of McKinley’s Cabinet picks were more than qualified to hold their positions, but one of his picks was a bit controversial. He had John Sherman, the former U.S. Senator from Ohio and someone who McKinley previously had supported to be president, as his Secretary of State. Look, Sherman was a popular and experienced dude, but he quickly proved to be ineffective since he was getting old and perhaps senile. McKinley stayed loyal to Sherman, downplaying these concerns.

McKinley’s first order of business? Raising tariffs. Wait, raising tariffs again?

Indeed, tariffs went higher than they had ever been before up to that point in American history. But foreign policy, not domestic policy, would soon demand most of McKinley’s attention for the remainder of his presidency. 

Down on the island of Cuba, not that far south of the United States, revolutionaries had led a political uprising against harsh Spanish colonial rule. The Spanish government had sent hundreds of thousands of soldiers to put down the uprising, and in the process committed several atrocities against civilians, including forcing them to live in concentration camps and destroying their crops. American newspapers reported about all this, often exaggerating how bad it really was.^6 Indeed, many newspaper publishers knew they could make a whole lot more money through sensationalist reporting of what was going on in Cuba, and often they just made up stuff in order to sell more papers. Regardless, Cuba’s struggle for independence understandably resonated with many Americans. After all, just 120 years prior, the United States had gone through a similar struggle. 

McKinley sent a Navy ship called the USS Maine to Havana, Cuba to protect “American interests” down there but hey also to show the United States still wanted to be Spain’s friend? It got there on January 25, 1898. It had 355 men on board. On the night of February 15, the ship mysteriously exploded, killing most of the sleeping crew on board. Many years later, researchers found that coal dust fire likely caused the explosion. However, at the time, no one knew what caused it. That didn’t stop newspaper publishers like William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer from seizing the moment. They instantly blamed Spain. After this, "Remember the Maine!" became a rallying cry to get the United States to declare war on Spain.

At first, McKinley did NOT want to go to war with Spain. He ordered an investigation into the explosion and sent diplomats to Spain, but more and more Americans wouldn’t shut up about going to war. McKinley eventually gave into the pressure. On April 11, 1898, he asked Congress if he had the authority to send troops to Cuba. Well Congress was like, “uh yeah.” It declared war on Spain on April 23, thus marking the beginning of what we now call the Spanish American War. It was a quick war. That’s because Spain, by this time, had a comparatively weak presence in Cuba.(turning) But it was a quick war that changed everything. The United States had early success blockading Spanish ships, and the first American Marines landed in Cuba in June. After a couple small battles, notably the Battle of San Juan Hill, in which Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders got a lot of glory, the United States had captured the island by the end of July and next captured the neighboring island of Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, way out in the western Pacific Ocean…the Philippines to be exact…Commodore George Dewey had sailed into Manila Bay and sank basically all the Spanish ships there. Spain declared a cease-fire on August 12, the day before Dewey’s forces completed their campaign by taking control of the Philippines. Only 369 American soldiers died in action in the war. It really couldn’t have gone much better for the United States, which is why John Hay, who had soon replaced John Sherman as Secretary of State, famously called it a “splendid little war.”^7 During the war, McKinley became the first president to operate a war room straight out of the White House. He kept in constant contact with his generals.

Under the Treaty of Paris…no, not THAT Treaty of Paris….no, not THAT Treaty of Paris…yes that one, the war ended and the United States got Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands. Even though Cuba was supposed to be an independent country, the United States continued to occupy it. Also around that time? The United States annexed Hawaii after American businessmen had already overthrown the Hawaiian government. Big oof. But then, a whole NEW war broke out between the United States and Filipino guerilla fighters seeking independence called the Philippine-American War. (looking over) Oh yeah, I made a whole video about it. Yes, it’s a war your American history teachers probably didn’t teach you about. Probably. Maybe they showed you my video. If they did, they’re awesome. The Philippine-American War ended up being a disaster for everyone involved. It was a war in which American soldiers committed all kinds of atrocities, including pillage, torture, rape, the enforcement of civilians into concentration camps, and the straight up massacre of civilians. A war of imperialism, in which the United States wanted to control the Philippines to exploit its resources and use it to expand trade throughout Asia. 

And it’s a war that William McKinley 100% supported and sent more and more troops to fight in order to put down the rebellion. “There must be no joint occupation with the [Filipinos]...The [Filipinos] and all others must recognize the military occupation and authority of the United States.” That’s from a telegram McKinley sent out, in case you didn’t believe me. McKinley justified this occupation by saying God told him it was right. The Philippine-American War would drag on for the rest of his presidency, and the more Americans found out how horrible it was, the less popular McKinley became. Still, McKinley was pretty popular. (turning) Ya gotta remember that a lot of Americans didn’t mind atrocities in order to build an empire. (turning) And McKinley didn’t just send troops to the Philippines. During the Boxer Rebellion, when a secret Chinese society known as the Boxers sought to drive out all foreigners, McKinley sent around 5,000 troops…without seeking Congressional approval… to help Germany, Japan, and Russia take the rebels down. 

In 1900, McKinley sought to be the first president elected to consecutive terms since Ulysses Grant. However, he needed a new running mate. Oh it’s not that he didn’t like his Vice President, Garret Hobart. Mark Hanna once said, "nothing but death or an earthquake can stop the re-nomination of Vice President Hobart."^8 Uh, death DID stop his renomination. McKinley made the somewhat surprising choice- Theodore Roosevelt…the Governor of New York, McKinley’s former Assistant Secretary of the Navy and somewhat reckless hero in the Spanish American War. And what a consequential choice THAT would be.

The presidential election of 1900 was a rematch of McKinley and William Jennings Bryan. Well, this time McKinley won by an even bigger margin than in 1896, mostly since the economy was doing so well now. Bryan had run against McKinely criticizing him for being too supportive of Big Business. Interestingly, by the time McKinley got sworn in for his second term, he was much more progressive when it came to business regulation. Yep, now McKinley seemed to be all about fighting monopolies. He also had changed his tune on tariffs. Now, he thought lower tariffs and reciprocal trade agreements were the way forward. Heck yeah, that’s what I’m talking about!
After his second inauguration, William and Ida took a six-week train tour across the country. 

Everything was going so well. Well, until…
September 6, 1901. McKinley, who loved going out and speaking with and shaking hands with random people, arrived at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York, to do just that. This was during the Pan-American Exposition, a world’s fair that drew lots of tourists. Despite his secretary, George Cortelyou, warning him he needed more protection due to a rise in assassination attempts, McKinley ignored this advice, even advertising in advance that he’d be there. Ah yes, there’s a haunting photograph of McKinley entering the Temple of Music on that day. Shortly after this photo was taken, Leon Czolgosz, a man who regarded the president as a symbol of oppression…also a man who has one of the most mispronounced names in American history walked right up to McKinley acting like he was just going to shake his hand. And he did shake his hand. But in his other hand he had a gun. Czolgosz shot McKinley twice. The first bullet grazed the president. The second entered his stomach. Many people were around, and some of them started beating the crap out of Czolgosz. McKinley, though weak and bleeding heavily, shouted at the crowd to stop beating him up.^9 Police arrested Czolgosz shortly after this. Doctors attempted to remove the bullet from McKinley but couldn’t find it. At first, it looked like he might survive. But after a few days, his condition got worse as infection set in. McKinley died eight days later, on September 14, 1901. He was 58. McKinley was the third American president to be assassinated in office. McKinley’s sudden death opened the door for Theodore Roosevelt to step in, who as most of us already know transformed the job even more dramatically. Roosevelt would dedicate THIS beautiful monument in Canton, the McKinley National Memorial, on September 30, 1907. Yes, Chris and I spent some time here. It’s a pretty special place. (clip) His presidential museum is right next to it, actually.

Czolgosz, after swiftly going through the justice system, died by electric chair a few weeks later. After this, the Secret Service permanently began protecting the President 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Took long enough.

-Please Don’t Let Him Be Misunderstood- (sing like the Animals)
I still think William McKinley is one of the worst American presidents, for three main reasons. First, the whole imperialist thing. (turning) Yeah, I’m biased to think imperialism is bad. His presidency marked the moment the United States stopped being a continental power and started acting like a global empire. Mckinley defended foreign intervention. He defended the United States taking over foreign islands around the world…foreign islands with residents who clearly did NOT want to be part of the United States. This set a major precedent of the United States intervening around the world ever since, often contradicting democratic ideals in the process. McKinley oversaw the brutal treatment of Filipinos and justified taking over their islands by saying the United States had a moral duty to “uplift, civilize, and Christianize” the Filipinos. ugh. Second, McKinley let both the press and public pressure influence his foreign policy too much. He was too cautious when he made decisions. Third, he may have personally been a progressive-leaning guy who supported more regulation of giant corporations, but he ultimately remained DEEPLY tied to industrialists…to the OWNERS, not the renters. This closer connection with industrialists caused him to remain a bit out of touch with the growing social problems related to rapid industrialization. Ya know, stuff like dire urban poverty, unsafe working conditions, and people being able to easily sell you stuff that could easily KILL you.

That all said, I now better understand that he was president during an extraordinary period that would be difficult for ANY human being to be president during. I really can’t blame him for not having the foresight when he truly was president during unprecedented times. He had to deal with crap that no prior president had to deal with, and while I disagree with how he dealt with such crap, he certainly did the best he could and what he truly believed was right. I mean, maybe he HAD to expand American influence around the world in order to keep up with the major powers of the time. If everybody else is doing it, why can’t we?
For better or worse, McKinley strengthened and even modernized the presidency. He helped unify a divided country. And most importantly, he was just a nice dude….one of the nicest dudes to ever be president. We saw this with how he took care of his beloved wife. We saw this with his courtesy toward political opponents. He was always polite, always calm. Heck, when his assassin shot him, his first reaction was to tell his guards NOT to hurt the shooter. And in the Gilded Age, a period known for robber barons and corruption, McKinley stood out for being just a genuinely good human being.

In my opinion, William McKinley is the most misunderstood American president. He didn’t write much down. He was incredibly private in his decision-making process and preferred face-to-face meetings over written correspondence. And despite McKinley being president at such an important time in American history, I found less than 30 books ever written about him. To put that in perspective, there have been at least 15,000 books published about Abraham Lincoln, and heck…even more than 11,000 books published about Ronald Reagan, for crying out loud.

They named the tallest mountain in North America after him, so you’d think they would write more about him. (turning to walk but walk into the wall) That’s a green screen.

Misunderstood or not, McKinley reminds us that not all presidents during dramatic times are dramatic themselves- some are quiet architects quietly building the foundation. And it’s the next generation that inherits the skyline. (show Teddy picture)

That was a lovely time checking out the McKinley sites in Canton. Here are a couple good books I used for researching this one: William McKinley by Kevin Philips and President McKinley by Robert Merry. 

Thanks again to Chris from Vlogging Through History for collaborating with me for this video. Ohio? Oh, I’d go again. And a shout out to Waffles from History with Waffles for the beautiful footage of Antietam that I used for this video. Subscribe to both of them!
(turning to the left above) I might be looking at a playlist right now featuring other American president videos I made. So uh hey…yeah…which president should I make a video about next? Let me know down below and thanks for staying curious. (turning to look back up) Wait, is nothing up there?
___________________________________________________________
^1. Armstrong, William H. (2000). Major McKinley: William McKinley and the Civil War. Kent, Ohio: The Kent State University Press. ISBN 978-0-87338-657-9.
^2. https://www.thenmusa.org/biographies/william-mckinley/
^3. Watson, Robert P. (2015). American First Ladies. Ipswich, Massachusetts: Salem Press. ISBN 978-1-61925-942-3.
^4.  http://archive.firstladies.org/documents/art_monday.pdf
^5. Jensen, Richard (1971). The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888–1896. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-39825-9.
^6. W. Joseph Campbell (Summer 2000). "Not likely sent: The Remington–Hearst "telegrams"". Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly.
^7. https://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/spanish-american-war-a-splendid-little-war.htm
^8.  Connolly, Michael J. (2010). "'I Make Politics My Recreation': Vice President Garret A. Hobart and Nineteenth Century Republican Business Politics". New Jersey History. 125 (1). Newark, N.J.: New Jersey Historical Society: 20–39.
^9.  Miller, Scott (2011). The President and the Assassin. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6752-7.

Sources/further reading:
William McKinley by Kevin Phillips
Purchase here: https://amzn.to/48TDh2L 
President McKinley: Architect of the American Century by Robert W. Merry
Purchase here: https://amzn.to/47qnfLq
In The Days of McKinley by Margaret Leech
Purchase here: https://amzn.to/4hziDqP 
William McKinley and His America by H. Wayne Morgan,  (Kent State University Press, 2003)
Purchase here: https://amzn.to/4p8J3ma 
https://www.anb.org/display/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-0500507 
https://millercenter.org/president/mckinley
https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/william-mckinley/ 
https://www.whitehousehistory.org/bios/william-mckinley
https://www.mcklib.org/president 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McKinley
https://www.thenmusa.org/biographies/william-mckinley/ 
https://www.mcklib.org/node/1218/
https://www.cantonrep.com/story/news/local/canton/2019/02/16/mckinley-house-returns-to-market/5960421007/ 

Creative commons credits:
UpstateNYer 
Sanfranman59
Edsel Little 
Bvpr 
Ɱ

Can't get enough of James Garfield? Here are some related videos:
Here's a song Mr. Beat made about James Garfield⁠
⁠The American Presidential Election of 1880⁠
⁠U.S. President Tier List⁠
⁠Top 10 Greatest American Presidents

​Can't get enough of Woodrow Wilson? Here are some related videos:
The American Presidential Election of 1912⁠
⁠The American Presidential Election of 1916⁠
⁠The Wold War One Song⁠
⁠10 Worst American Presidents⁠
⁠The Most Terrifying President in American History⁠
⁠U.S. Presidents Tier List