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Editor's note: This is part of a weekly series marking the 120th anniversary of Niles native William McKinley's U.S. presidency.
In my last McKinley column I described the issues in China leading up to the Boxer Rebellion of 1900.
By June 1900 almost 50,000 Boxers, as well as Imperial Troops recently sent to Tientsin by Dowager Empress assembled as 60,000 shells from Chinese artillery crews rained down on the compounds for almost two months.
This is where the 1963 film "55 Days at Peking" starring Ava Gardner, Charlton Heston and David Niven told the historical epic story about the nearly two-month siege in June and July 1900.
Again, according to Scott Miller's book, "The President and the Assassin," the Boxer rebellion was a horrifying turn of events for McKinley. It was only a matter of time until American rivals, especially Russia, sent troops to the rescue.
In July 1900, the president's Secretary of State, John Hay, sent a circular to the other powers, warning against using the Boxer Rebellion as a pretext to declare war on China, itself. It was the United States policy, he said, to "preserve Chinese territorial and administrative entity." Fortunately the other world powers agreed in principal and replied in kind.
The Europeans may have made all the right noises about dealing with China after the Boxers were put down, but Hay and McKinley feared otherwise. Should one country even take a few extra acres of Chinese territory, then all would dive in. Ultimately, there was only one way for the United States to save China and its markets, and that was secure a seat at the conference table when the Boxer Rebellion was over.
A detachment of U.S. Marines, some 104 officers and men was dispatched to China from the Philippines, the first of what was expected to be 2,000 American troops. They landed off the Pei Ho River and marched 27 miles inland to Tientsin to liberate the foreign compound from thousands of Chinese. Thanks to the joining of 2,000 Germans, British, Japanese, Russians and Italians, the Marines were able to waltz into the compound.
Future U.S. President Herbert Hoover, who was working in China at the time, wrote that he went up to the top of his company warehouse to get a glimpse of the band of foreign army coming over the plain all dressed in different colors. Hoover rated the rescue as one of the happiest moments of his life. Tientsin, however, was really a warm up for the main performance weeks later in Peking as the liberating troops -- some 20,000, including 2,000 American Marines -- marched toward the city.
Scaling the 30-foot stone walls that surrounded Peking, Americans were among the first to enter the capital, even beating the Russians, who waited for the gates to be opened. Still to reach the foreign compound the troops faced a bloody house to house battle. Behind every cart, window, or atop every roof, a Boxer waited with a well-aimed shot, until the Marines wheeled in powerful cannons that easily reduced the flimsy structures. By the afternoon, the troops had secured the foreign compound and the end of the almost two-month siege was finally over with a victory for the allied powers of the world.
This marked the end of the Qing dynasty in China and provided foreign countries access to important trade opportunities there.
Mike Wilson is the director of SCOPE Senior Services of Trumbull County and has traveled around the nation performing as William McKinley for nearly 30 years.