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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.
"McKinley was elected for a second term with a unanimity that has no parallel save in that of President Grant,'" wrote Murat Halstead in 1901 from the "Illustrious Life of William McKinley." He goes on in his book's chapter, "President McKinley as an Orator" to define the president as he campaigned from home during his second election to renew his administration as we began the new century in 1900.
The president adhered throughout to his original purpose not to make speeches during the campaign. His deeds spoke for him, and he stayed home during the campaign in a dignified manner. He would accept visitors at his home in Canton and of course would be willing to talk with each individual who made the journey to northeastern Ohio to offer praises and best wishes to the president. He loved to return home as the most restful spot in the land to pass the time during which occurred the popular agitations and contentions preceding the momentous verdict to send him back to Washington City for a second term to lead the nation.
Since Andrew Jackson, but two presidents had been elected for two consecutive terms, Lincoln and Grant.
McKinley was by force overruled in his preference for retirement at the close of his first term. In a degree most unusual in the life of a public man, the policy with which he had been identified had completely triumphed, and as it has prevailed the country has prospered; and the war, and the glory of his victories is so clear there was an effort by his opponents to cloud them with the word "imperialism." The president was a forward thinker with his positions on freedom for Cuba and the Philippines as well as support of the new territories of the Pacific, including Hawaii and in the Caribbean gained through the victory of the Spanish American War. These island nations would serve the United States for both commerce and military purposes in the future.
The great political contest of 1900 in the United States was conducted with extraordinary energy and was regarded with unusual interest in all civilized countries across the globe. It would impress the world at large with McKinley's victory to sustain the features of his policy. The glory of our country was increased, its power augmented, its character elevated, and the march of human progress broadened and hastened.
McKinley's spokespeople who traveled the country on the president's behalf during the successful campaign made the case of his leadership both at home and abroad. Campaign posters would depict the president astride a large gold coin with men holding him up in apparent victory along with the slogan: PROSPERITY AT HOME, AND PRESTIGE ABROAD.
You can visit the McKinley Birthplace Home in Niles to see this poster on display in the final room of the tour.
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.