In his inaugural oration on 20 January, US President Donald Trump hailed William McKinley, who was President from 1897 to 1901, as his model. Trump praised the 25th US President, McKinley, for raising tariffs “to make America rich.”
Trump also admired McKinley for his expansionist policy. During McKinley’s tenure, the US acquired overseas territories, fought and won a war with a European power, Spain, and attempted to set international norms regarding trade with China.
In short, under McKinley, the United States emerged on the world stage in new and unprecedented ways, giving a foretaste of what was to come after World War II—namely, America’s rise as a superpower supplanting Britain.
The US victory in the war with Spain over Cuba saw Spain cede to the US sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. It paved the way for the US to annex Hawaii, an independent country at that time.
In 2025, President Trump expressed admiration for McKinley, describing him as “a great but highly underrated” President. Under McKinley, the US was “very rich through tariffs and through talent,” Trump said in his inaugural address. Trump then pledged to change the name of North America’s tallest peak, Denali, in Alaska, to Mount McKinley. In 2015, it had been named Mount Denali by President Barack Obama to honour the indigenous people of Alaska.
McKinley Wasn’t Like Trump
Was McKinley like Trump? Historians have differed in their assessment of McKinley. Yes, he did take aggressive actions, but mainly under public pressure, they say. And he later regretted these actions, as they were not an unmixed blessing. This, Trump has failed to take note of.
From 1901 to the 1960s, historians believed that McKinley was a “weak” President, pressured into a war with Spain by popular passions and a nationalistic press. McKinley’s weakness extended to the domestic political arena as well, they said. He was dubbed a “managed President,” controlled by his cronies, especially businessman-politician Mark Hanna (full name Marcus Alonzo Hanna), a Republican politician who was a Senator from Ohio as well as chairman of the Republican National Committee.
In the liberal left-wing era of the 1960s, historians portrayed McKinley as a “cunning and manipulative” leader bent on expanding American influence in the world. But now, 40 years later, in the Trump era, his “gung-ho” spirit is appreciated—at least by President Trump.
Reluctant Strongman
But the fact was that McKinley was a reluctant strongman. He was hesitant to go to war against Spain over Cuba in 1898. The war was fought partly due to the sinking of the US naval ship, USS Maine, in Havana Harbour by Spain. But to McKinley’s credit, it must be said that he tried all diplomatic avenues before going to war.
Some historians argue that McKinley was driven to waging wars by economic considerations. Others contend that he believed in the “White man’s burden” to civilise Cubans and Filipinos. According to some, he launched the US on an imperialist path to which it has stuck doggedly to this day. Still, other historians assert that he had a desire to establish a macho image of America.
McKinley is said to have established some practices now common in US presidencies. He was the first to value public communications. He used the telephone, the press, and regular press conferences to communicate his ideas. He conducted public meetings and travelled the length and breadth of the US to connect with communities. He expanded the presidential staff. In this respect, he was like Trump.
But unlike Trump, McKinley was not a flamboyant leader. He was not dramatic in his gestures and expressions. He was an astute but low-key politician, says Lewis L. Gould, Professor Emeritus of American History at the University of Texas, in his article on McKinley.
Tryst With Tariffs
Andrew Jeong, writing on McKinley in The Washington Post, says that it would be wrong to identify McKinley with a high-tariff regime. Economic historians point out that the US economy had always been based on high tariffs before, during, and after McKinley’s term (1897–1901).
From 1861 to 1933, average tariffs on dutiable imports were 50% and remained around that level for several decades. The US economy grew at an average of 4% per year from the 1870s until 1913—higher than those of Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, and Canada in the same period.
The reasons for economic growth were not necessarily due to high tariffs. It was due to increasing amounts of credit given by US banks and a spike in infrastructure-related construction, such as on railroads and ships. Immigration provided cheap, unskilled labour and a small but vital pool of skilled workers. Technological advances, such as the telephone, also played a part.
When McKinley helped pass new tariff legislation in 1890 as a representative in Congress, raising the average duties on imports of manufactured goods to 49.5%, the measure was widely unpopular. The masses saw the tariffs as favouring large companies rather than the common man.
The high tariff issue led to the Republicans’ defeat in the midterm elections that year, and Republican President Benjamin Harrison lost to Democrat Grover Cleveland in the 1892 presidential race.
McKinley had been shot on 5 September 1901 and died a few days later.
McKinley lowered the tariff on Cuban sugar, which helped Cuba export its sugar to the US. But when the Democrats regained control of Congress, they reintroduced sugar tariffs in 1894, hurting Cuban sugar producers. This led to US-Spain clashes, as Spain was then ruling Cuba. The US-Spanish war broke out in 1898.
What Trump has not realised is that McKinley eventually accepted that free trade was the best way to increase US prosperity. As the US industrial base expanded, it needed overseas markets, and high tariffs became a barrier.
According to Robert W. Merry, the author of President McKinley: Architect of the American Century, McKinley had carved out the concept of “trade reciprocity.” In a speech in Buffalo in 1901, McKinley said: “What we produce beyond our domestic consumption must have a vent abroad. The period of exclusiveness is past. Reciprocity treaties are in harmony with the spirit of the times, measures of retaliation are not.”
According to Merry, a key distinction between McKinley and Trump is that McKinley used tariff reductions as a “reciprocal carrot” which arose from negotiations rather than US Presidential fiats.
McKinley Regretted Wars
McKinley regretted fighting a war to seize the Philippines, which turned out to be an expensive acquisition with massive casualties. The Philippine-American War was a conflict between the US and Filipino nationalists that lasted from 1899 to 1902 after the US gained control of the Philippines from Spain following the Spanish-American War over Cuba.
Filipino nationalists, led by Emilio Aguinaldo, sought independence from the United States. The “Philippine Republic” declared war on 2 June 1899. US Admiral George Dewey attacked Manila Bay, and fighting spread across the archipelago. By the time the Filipinos surrendered in 1902, over 4,200 American soldiers and more than 20,000 Filipino soldiers had died. Additionally, 200,000 Filipino civilians perished due to violence, famine, and disease.
In the course of the war, a disturbed McKinley said that he wished that the American Admiral George Dewey had not sailed into Manila Bay.
It is in this light that Trump should view his plans to annex Greenland and the Panama Canal. Both Greenland and Panama have rejected his claims and declared their intention to resist US aggression.