American Presidents: Totalus Rankium - 25.2 William McKinley

Episode Date: April 25, 2020

William McKinley is not winning any points for being an interesting person (literally - spoilers) but he did live in interesting times. Join us as we manage to skirt round diving in depth on tariffs and instead discuss The American-Spanish war, the lesser known American-Philippine war and William’s fun day out at the fair.

Welcome to Totalus Rankium. This week, William McKinley. Part 2. Hello and welcome to American Presidents Total's Rankium. I am Jamie. And I'm Rob, ranking all of the presidents from Washington to Trump. And this is episode 25.2, William McKinley, part 2. The boring one. Why on earth would you say that, Jamie? Everyone's been saying that. He's really boring.

It's all tariff-less. He doesn't really... He just sort of plods along. That's the impression I'm getting. Okay. Well, let's see if I can change that opinion for you in this episode. Not from the message you were sending me earlier in the week, no. Well, I haven't got to the end by that point.

Maybe something exciting happens at the end of his presidency. Eh. No? Okay. We shall see. I think he'll just turn grey and slowly fade away. Okay, well, let's see if I can make the introduction exciting for you, shall I? Okay. Yeah. Grab you with a tease. Okay, right. Well, start in... I'll give you a place this time. Interesting, okay. Yeah, start in Uluru in Australia. Where?

Ayers Rock, Uluru. Oh, in Australia, right, okay. Yes. Yeah, okay. Ayers Rock, Uluru. I'll give you a bit of a challenge. Yeah. And you're not allowed to just do a...

And you sweep over and then you're there. You're not allowed to do that. I want a bit more. Good luck. Okay. I'm just going to talk for a while until you've thought of something. So you're saying I can't start in Ayers Rock and then sweep all the way across the globe? Or through the globe either.

I can't tunnel. Oh, okay. You can't go through the mantle, no. Okay. It's fine. Fine. But you can have a person. Open on Uluru, okay. You can't go through the mantle, no. Okay. It's fine. Fine. But you can have a person. Open on Uluru, Australia.

Picture the scene. Yeah, got it. Yeah. Hot, desert-y. Yeah? Ooh. And you can hear, in the distance, a kind of chugging sound. Okay.

And the murmur of a crowd. Interesting. Yeah. And the camera starts to pan. Pan or... You see, I'm not actually someone who's in charge of camera directions. A director. So all I know is the word pan. And I'm also aware that actually pan doesn't mean just move the camera any way I want.

Okay. But in this case, side to side movement. Facing forward, the camera is moving to the right. It's not turning. It's panning. Yeah? With you. Yeah.

Okay. So you're there. You've got a good view of Uluru. And then as it pans to the right, a border hits, and there's the Eiffel Tower. Oh. Yeah. Okay.

Right. And then the chugging's getting louder and louder, and the crowd noises are getting more excited. And then another border hits, and then there is the Colosseum. Rome. Oh. Oh, yeah.

Link to our other podcast. Yes. Yes, it is. Nice. And it's starting to, I'm going to use the word pan again, but pan out this time. Move out. So you can see more of what you're seeing.

And what you're seeing is posters of the world encouraging you to go and visit places. Oh, very nicely done. Because you realise what you're actually in is in a train station. Obviously a train station with aspirations. Yes. This train station is going places. It's the American dream.

Well, yeah. Why stop with the Midwest when you can go to Australia? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Anyway. So, you now realise you're in this train station and the camera's rotated. I'm going to use rotated. Rotatey-panned round.

And then you see this crowd full of excited people. None of them looking at the posters. They're looking at the incoming train. Yeah, it's a fake. Is this the same train station as the president who got poked? Oh, Garfield. No, different train station. That one who got poked? Oh, Garfield. No, different train station. That one was in Washington.

This one's in Buffalo. Ah, I was going to say, they probably still haven't got rid of the bloodstains yet. No, wait for those. Right. Anyway, train comes in, very well decorated. Everyone's cheering. And you just see a man looking a bit shifty in the crowd. You can tell he looks shifty

because he's looking side to side without moving his head. Does he have a monobrow? Why not? So anyway, you just close up on his monobrow, but then flick back, back to the train. It's pulled in by this point, more cheering. And then someone announces, ladies and gentlemen,

because they have that accent back then the president of the united states and then the band starts playing and and then the president appears with his wife and he takes a step off the train and then smashed to black and then you hear the explosion oh Oh, no. What happens to him? We're going to find out. Because then McKinley smashes onto the screen, part two. Or bits him or the word. The word McKinley, subtitled, got your interest now, haven't I? Okay.

Yeah. Right. Hmm. Hmm. Intriguing. Let's make a start then, shall we? Because this is an episode on the presidency of McKinley. Yes. Yeah.

But it's going to take a while to get to him. Maybe about a third of the episode before I start talking about him. Because we're coming to the end of the Gilded Age. Oh. Yeah. We've been a while in the Gilded Age, haven't we? Yes, it's been very gilded. It has. A lot of rich people. Yeah, We've been a while in the Gilded Age, haven't we? Yes, it's been very gilded. It has. A lot of rich people.

Yeah, lots of corruption. We're now moving into what's gone down in history as the Progressive Age. Quite a lot changes in America and in the entire world as the century changes. So, I'm going to spend a little bit of time this episode catching you up on a few things that you need to know. Okay. About generally the state of America and the state of the world. Well, I guess in this sort of times, late 18, very late 1800s, it's sort of like we've hit this sort of, certainly in Europe, the science has started to explode a little bit

again. Yeah, yeah. All of that's changing. The way businesses run are changing. The way politics works change. Yeah. Rapid change during this time. So we're going to start with the internal politics in America. We're going to get you catched up with the Democrats because a lot's going on with them.

And we've not really talked about them. If you remember, Brian popped up last episode. Yes. Running against McKinley. Yeah. Well, due to time reasons, we didn't really go into who Brian was much. And Brian's important.

He's an important figure and will be an important figure for the next few episodes. So let's get a bit of background on Brian, shall we? This is almost like a mini episode on Brian. Let's smash through his life very quickly. You're just re-emphasising the point of how boring McKinley is, if you're having to do a third episode on somebody else. It is nothing to do with the fact that I sat down to write

my notes and found myself just more drawn to typing about Brian than McKinley. Nothing to do with that. It is genuinely important we talk about him. So, Brian, he was born in Illinois. His father was a fierce Jacksonian Democrat. He was homeschooled by His father was a fierce Jacksonian Democrat.

He was homeschooled by his mother, and he showed he had a talent for speaking at an early age. I mean, like a seriously good talent. Apparently, little Brian would give speeches, public speeches, at the age of four. Wow. Yeah. I couldn't find out what on, and believe me, I looked.

Probably nothing substantial, I can imagine. Probably nothing substantial. And I say to you, there was a cat in the heart. Who does this cat belong to? And then he howled at the cat. The struggling cat. Yeah, it was impressive stuff. Anyway, he then grew up.

He was interested in religion and debate, two things that go together very well. Yes, they do. Yeah, he went to college. He did very well in college. He'd graduated top of his class. Then he got married, went to law school and passed the bar. This is a story we have seen many times before. By just about everybody in the US. Yeah, well, certainly ones we've covered. Anyway, he and his new wife then moved to Nebraska to make their fortune.

He did well in law, he became a prominent character within the city, and got into politics again. The usual trajectory here. However, he was fiercely against the high tariffs of the Republicans, and he soon gained a name for himself in the Democrats due to his amazing oratory skills. And when you've got like really good oratory skills you stand out in a crowd. Yeah, I mean having good oral skills, I think is very important. Exactly. Due to these amazing oral skills, he was soon elected to the House.

Now to remind you, during the Gilded Age, the Democrats started to split between the Bourbons and the non-Bourbons. Yes. Now, remember, the Bourbons wanted to protect business. Small businesses, they said. But in reality, like, the railroads, the big businesses,

the factories. Because they had fingers in many pies that they wanted to protect. However, they differed from the Republicans with their hate of the tariff. They wanted small government, strong states. We're going back to states' rights with the Bourbons here. However, opposing the Bourbons within the Democrats and growing rapidly were the Anti-Bourbons, which sounds like an appalling, appalling faction name. It does.

Yeah, I mean, they were never known as the Antiburbans. They never really gained a name at this time, so. The Jins? Yeah, we'll call them the Jins. They develop into the Free Silver Faction, though, so we might as well just start calling them the Silver Faction at this point. Yeah. Anyway, they hated tariffs, obviously.

They were Democrats. But they looked around at the economic misery that most people were living through during the Gilded Age, and they wanted the government to do something about it. Not just shrink away, but actually organise, like a government, to try and make society fairer. Haha, yeah. Yeah, it's crazy, crazy idea.

Communists. Even if they had to go after big businesses And their corruption to do it They thought that was worth it They came from, as I've mentioned before All the farmers and labourers who were fed up Of both the Republicans and the Democrats Arguing over who gets to play with all the money

While people were literally starving to death Yeah As we saw, the rise of a third party, the Populist Party, stemming from these Farmers' Alliances, showed that people were serious about this. This was a serious movement. It needed to be paid attention to. Now, Brian, as a Democrat,

realising his beliefs found more with the Populist Party, abandoned the Democrats in the 92 election and backed the Pop populist presidential candidate over Cleveland. So he's still a Democrat but he said no actually I prefer the populist guy to my own party's candidate. As you can imagine that didn't go down well with many people. No that's not what we want. The whole idea of political parties is you stick together. Yeah tribalism done it. Yeah well despiteism, dammit. Yeah, well, despite this, or rather because of it, Brian was then

re-elected in the House. The populist movement had a lot of support. Then in 94, Brian ran for the Senate but was unable to get it. The national mood was swinging back to the Republicans and away from the Bourbon Democrats. This was bad news for the Democrats, but good news

for Brian personally, despite losing the senatorial race, because he hated the Burdens. That just meant they were weaker within his party and he could start moving against them. Yeah. So he starts touring the country with his speeches, and remember, he gave a damn good speech. Always about cats. Yeah. He pushed the case for his faction within the Democrats and promoted the use of silver to help the poor of society. If we have a silver-backed currency, inflation goes up,

the debts are lowered, everyone will feel a bit richer, apart from the really rich. But who cares, they're rich, was essentially his message. So the Democrats split even further, with the more conservative Bourbons distrusting this populist leaning silver man. But, with the populist party itself starting to show signs of collapse, their supporters, mainly

ex-Republican voters, who would usually refuse to vote Democrat, they saw something in Brian and were willing to support him, even if he was technically a Democrat. I mean, his views aren't... Are they traditionally Democrat at this point? No, no, this is revolutionary Democrat views.

So he's pulling new voters into the party. The establishment of the party are horrified. I guess this is very similar to making a link to British democracy, so it's relatable, would be, for example, when Jeremy Corbyn took over the Labour Party It is very similar to that. There's always been like a hardcore

more socially lefty element in the Labour Party but it became a lot bigger when Corbyn became the leader. Yeah I mean the major difference there of course is that Corbyn's movement within Labour was more of a return to the old way of doing things. You could argue, actually, it would have been closer to compare him to Smith and Blair and Brown

coming in in the early 90s and changing Labour then. But both ways, it's a new movement within a party starting to take over the establishment. new movement within the party starting to take over the establishment and it was not liked by either of those Labour governments or the Democrats back in the 1800s. Still, Brian's popularity starts to soar. The next national convention was upon them and the battle was on to see which faction was going to control the party, the Bourbons or the Silvermen? A debate was set up, because after all, these are civilised men. They're going to debate the issue, formally. Let's debate silver and gold.

When did the fighting start? Well, actually, no fighting started. Because remember, Brian was apparently the world's most gifted speaker. And his opponent was just a mere mortal, just trying to convince people that gold standard was a good idea. But then Brian walked in with his, like, four cat carriers, and he knew he was doomed. And dressed like one of those living statue people,

like, completely covered in silver. Oh, like the Iron Man. Yeah, completely covered in silver. Oh. Like the Iron Man. Yeah, yeah. A bit like that. He absolutely destroyed his opponent. His speech, which I've mentioned in two episodes now, but never really gone into, is called the Cross of Gold speech. It went down so

well that apparently it was applauded for over half an hour. That's a lot of clapping. That's a lot of sore hands. I'm refusing to believe that. It's like when you read a book and your character says, I paused for a minute. It's like, no you didn't. No one pauses for a minute during a conversation. Could you imagine pausing

in a conversation for a whole minute? So, I just don't believe it. You're going to do it now, aren't you? I was thinking you should just cut off for a minute so I have a minute of silence in the episode. Anyway, I'm just refusing to believe that it was a half an hour ovation. I'm going to say it was probably a minute, a whole minute and a half, in fact. That's a long time for a clap, isn't it?

That's a very long time, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Anyway, however long, it was clapped. Brian's speech convinced a lot in the party that his talk of silver wasn't just him talking about silver and being revolutionary. This was actually an issue as old as the Democratic Party itself. This was all about political freedom, independence, a right for the common man to be American, damn it.

And a lot of people were convinced. Convinced enough that he was elected as the Democratic nominee to race against McKinley in the upcoming election. Now, I say a lot of people were convinced. The Bourbons weren't. They were horrified. They actually preferred the Republican McKinley to Bryan. Wow. Yeah, rather have a Republican who knows how to look after the businesses rather than this crazy upstart. That's almost, I don't know, there was talk in the last American election about that,

about they'd rather have Hillary and possibly losing to Trump than having Sanders. I think what we can safely draw upon is that politics hasn't changed much in the last 100 years. We are seeing very modern styles of back and forth in American politics during this election. So yeah, the Democratic newspapers, which I mentioned at the end of last episode, refused to back Brian. Because the newspapers were owned by big business and big business Democrats.

So yeah, they'd rather support the Republican. The big businesses also poured money into the McKinley campaign because they were scared of Brian, essentially. So Brian, hugely disadvantaged here, used his biggest weapon, his mouth. Oh, okay. Yeah, he toured. He toured. He toured and he toured and he toured and he gave some damn good speeches. He covered 27

states. He reached an estimated 5 million people. Back then, that was impressive. That's a lot of people. Yeah, he lost, as we saw. Yeah, McKinley won. He becomes the 25th president. So how did McKinley win?

Because he had the backing of almost all the newspapers and he had all the financial backing of all the big businesses. Yeah. Yeah. Brian's movement was big. I mean, you could argue, in a way, it was a third-party movement that had managed to infiltrate one of the two parties. It was a big movement, but it just wasn't quite enough.

It came close, but it wasn't quite enough. So, yeah, McKinley, 25th president, in charge, like I said at the end of last episode, in the most unified Republican party we've seen since Grant. But the mood of the country is changing, as you can see. A lot of people are starting to say, hang on, this isn't fair also what's changing is the mood of the whole world so let's cover the mood of the whole world now shall we i guess by

what what year are we in now 1896 uh because i'm covering a few things here let's just say we're in the late 1890s because Because I know by this point certainly in Europe tensions are starting to rise. There's sort of like, maybe not at this point but there are certainly empire building nations just looking at each other a little bit more closely. There is a reason

why I'm suddenly doing a let's look at the wider world. This is building for future episodes. Things need to be explained. It's not just because I'm avoiding talking about McKinley, I promise. Context. It's context, Rob. It's fine. Yes, this is much-needed context.

So, yeah, we've just recapped what's going on with the Dems. Let's quickly now catch up with everywhere else in the whole world. Every other living person. Yeah, yeah. Because, as we're about to see, it's not long before America look up and realise that the rest of the world exists. Oh! Yeah, you might have noticed

that in the early days of this podcast, we talked about other parts of the world all the time, especially Europe. There was always quite a bit about international politics and what was going on in the world. We also talked a bit about Japan and China and just generally global politics. And then, for quite a while,

the most we get is the occasional interest in building a canal through Panama that goes nowhere. But that's about it. We've not talked about international affairs at all for quite a few episodes, have we? Well, that's about to change. Now, to be fair, the United States haven't been completely closed off to the outside world since the Civil War. Most of the activities, however, are linked to them trying to dominate trade over the

Pacific. A few little things have happened that I didn't mention because they didn't add to the flow of the story. But we now need to catch up. So, quick recap on America and the outside world post-Civil War. Let's begin with Alaska, which we did mention. It was purchased, remember? Yeah. Was it from Canada or Russia? Russia.

Yeah, they purchased it from Russia at a nice cheap price of... Three dollars. Grant was mocked for it, saying that it was his icebox. Then in 71, the US leased a military base in Samoa. For those who aren't 100% certain, Samoa is

roughly one third of the way between New Zealand and Hawaii, being closer to New Zealand. Draw a line between New Zealand and Hawaii, go a third of the way towards Hawaii. That's roughly where Samoa is. Is Samoa now classed as an American territory? We'll get into that. Okay. Yes. Well, there's Samoa and there's American Samoa. Right. But for now, just know in 71 they leased a military base there. For their protection, of course. Well, this was for, mostly for coal refueling for their trade ships and or warships,

should they be needed in the area. Oh, no. Then, in 1875, the United States stepped into a civil conflict in Hawaii due to a succession problem. And the United States came out of it with a lovely trade treaty. How nice. And also a little bit of land in the Pearl Harbour that they have there. So they've got that.

Then in 1879, a naval base was built in Samoa. So, I mean, yeah, coal for ships, but now even more, just in case we need warships. Then 1882, do you remember our Japanese tangent we went on in Filmworld's episode? About how America broke open the trade? Yeah, they were quite insular, weren't they?

Since the fall of the samurai. Japan had cut themselves off entirely. America came along and essentially hit them all with a big stick until they were forced to open. Poke, come on. Poke, come on. Poke, come on. Poke, come on. Yeah, yeah, with slightly more threats of death. Well, I'm going to gloss over all the detail because there's not time to go into it, but just imagine that again with Korea. Oh, okay.

Korea weren't quite as cut off as Japan, but yeah, they basically just went along and threatened a lot of violence until Korea opened up trade. So there you go. Trade with Korea. How nice. Then 1885, Pearl Harbour was turned into a coaling station. Lovely coaling station. For ships. For coal.

Then we have a couple of events that I did briefly mention. Tensions in Samoa led to Britain, Germany and the United States jointly protecting the Samoan government in 1889. Yeah.

Yeah, tensions between the three countries had led to some standoffs in the Pacific. It's essentially a Mexican standoff at this point, isn't it? Yeah, all three countries want to dominate. The three countries are, as we will see in this episode, starting to gain the best navies in the world. Britain's obviously already had it for quite some time, but the United States and Germany are fast approaching them.

Yeah, so tensions rise between the three countries, but it was decided, no, we're together. We'll protect the Samoan government together, which the Samoan government were thrilled about. Brilliant! Yep. Then 1893, so we're catching up now, the United States,

as I briefly mentioned before in previous episodes, covertly overthrew the Hawaiian government. US immigrants on the island had revolted and had opened the island for the United States troops that happened to be nearby. As we saw, Harrison seemed to be okay with this, but he was leaving office. And then the Bourbon Cleveland became president for his second term, and the Democrats at this time were very anti-expansionalist. So Cleveland commissioned a report and found that this coup was illegal. We shouldn't have done that, is essentially what he said. Whoops.

But we're not going to do anything about it. We're not going to put the old government back in charge or anything. Just wash my hands from it, is basically what Cleveland did. By the way, Bill Clinton in 1993 formally apologised for this on the 100th anniversary. So, sorry, shouldn't have overthrown your government there. Oops. Ah, well. So, I wonder how many more of those we'll get over the next century as various 100-year anniversaries come and go.

Yeah, oh gosh. Anyway, last thing we need to cover before getting to McKinley is a continuation of world affairs. But that's what's going on in the pacific but uh just over the american continent of course is cuba but i don't think i've mentioned at all in this podcast uh if i have it's only been briefly cuba are currently revolting against spain for the third time since the 1860s. Right. Again, not the time or the place to cover the Cuban Wars of Independence

because that's just too much detail and it's not that important to this podcast, but we do need to know some details, so huge simplification here. Ever since the first revolution in the 60s and 70s, there have been some in Cuba and the United States pushing for the United States to annex Cuba They were calling for the United States to do exactly what they did to Hawaii basically just just yeah come over and Just say you're protecting it

Just just from Spain and then just take the island for the United States. Many in Cuba, however, wanted independence from Spain but were absolutely horrified by the idea of then being owned by America. Fair enough. Yeah, so, I mean, obviously, life being complex, there were factions on Cuba arguing for different things. You've got a smaller faction of pro-Spain, you've got a larger faction of pro-America, you've got a larger faction of true independents. But again, huge simplification. However, in America, there are a lot of people, especially in the business and political classes, that started to become very interested in Cuba.

In fact, Blaine from Maine said, and I'll quote, if ever ceasing to be Spanish, Cuba must necessarily become American and not fall under any other European domination. Yeah. Europeans are just so far away as well. I mean, it makes sense. Exactly. What are they going to do about it? Yeah. So, the current war

of independence by Cuba started in 1895, two years before McKinley takes office. This was a guerrilla war by the rebels who were struggling to get weapons to fight the Spanish forces on the island. Yeah. Things were nasty on the island. The Spanish cracked down hard, as we'll go into a bit more detail later. That said, the rebels were making slow but steady progress. The Spanish had sent over 200,000 troops to Cuba in total, but

they were still losing ground. Now, the United States were not involved officially, which meant that they were stopping anyone attempting to smuggle weapons to the island for the rebels, because obviously that's piracy, and the United States were controlling the waters.

But there was a growing support for the revolution in America, from businesses who saw it as an opportunity to expand, to the common people who saw people attempting to overthrow European oppressors as a good thing. I mean, this is America, this is what we do. We overthrow European oppressors. Yeah, irony gone. So there we go. To sum all that up then, before we get into McKinley. Internally, the Democrats are changing from a party seen as for the old planter class to a party for more the working class. But still, the party is very split and it's very unsure which way it's going to go.

The Republicans are still using tariffs to protect American businesses and they're now starting to be seen more and more as a party for the business owners and for the rich. The world is scrambling, as it has been for decades, to control the Pacific. Britain is still the most powerful naval power in the world but like I say, it's starting to be caught up by both Germany and somewhat shockingly to those in Europe the United States.

And Cuba is revolting and Spain is starting to struggle and support for the rebels in the United States is growing. You need to know all of that to understand McKinley's presidency, which is why I have spent the first half an hour or so just covering all of that fair enough so mckinley part two here we go um on the way to

the inauguration he was sat next to the outgoing cleveland and he noticed that the democratic leader seemed very chipper mr president mckinleyinley said, you're happier than I am. The reply came from Cleveland, I am sure of that, Major. Which we've seen a few times recently, outgoing presidents being quite relieved. Oh, thank God. McKinley then gave his inaugural address, announcing, and I'll quote here,

you might want to make a note of this. We want no wars of conquest. We must avoid the temptation of territorial aggression. War will never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed. I give it three months. You're not far off. Soon afterwards, he told people working in the White House that there would be none of that, and I quote,

none of that jingo nonsense in his government. So, a nice clear message at the start of his government there. You don't get much clearer than that. Now, McKinley then surprised some when he appointed for his Secretary of State, John Sherman, who we came across last episode, brother of the war general. Sherman, well respected in the party,

but he's old by this point. He's 70 and people have started to notice that he was going a bit odd. He was saying things and it's nothing you can put your finger on but so things that would have been said say 50 years ago that would have been acceptable but really aren't now yeah yeah exactly um yeah but sherman needed to get the secretary of state job because that would free up a senate seat because sherman was a senator at the time and obviously the Senate seat could then go to Hannah you remember McKinley's campaign manager and

friend yeah yeah so the seat would go to Hannah because obviously democracy yes yeah what if the people and all that yeah yeah yeah exactly now McKinley starts his presidency apparently very calm I was impressed by how he just got on with the job. He listened to his cabinet. He met with his cabinet regularly. One member of the cabinet later said McKinley was so effective because he had no ego whatsoever.

In fact, I'll quote here, he was a man of great power because he was absolutely indifferent to credit. He cared nothing for credit, but he always had his way so as long as what he wanted to get done was done he didn't care who who claimed the credit for i've i've worked with somebody like that so they and they said to me is i would never go into a meeting not knowing what i wanted from it and they'd give the impression of it's your idea your idea for this and things would happen and the conversation would be led in such a way where it wasn't their idea it was that person's idea but they made it look like it was

their idea and said well it's your idea wonderful idea guys well done we shall do that exactly and that is exactly what mckinley was like apparently although this person you're describing sounds like someone who has led a blessed life where all their meetings they've ever had have had a purpose yeah because i i i would love to say every meeting i've gone to i know what i want to get out of the meeting but most of the meetings i go to are categorized in the that could have been an email oh yeah the thing i want to get out of the meeting is myself but uh it's the first time in my life i've experienced that where literally every meeting was seen as important and it was things happened from it it was very efficient yeah is that what you're

talking about efficiency yeah it genuinely was I sort of missed those days bizarre very bizarre anyway so an efficient cabinet being run well it's essentially the the image we get from the start of McKinley's government. Now, obviously, there was one area that McKinley wanted to get his own way with immediately. Tariffs? Obviously, I'm talking about tariffs. Yeah. Obviously.

I'm just, I'm not doing it, though. I refuse. Oh, thank goodness. We've talked enough about tariffs. We have. I really think we have. I don't think we need to talk about it more. I'll cover the basics.

The Dingley Act is what it's called. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it was put through we need to talk about it more. I'll cover the basics. The Dingley Act is what it's called. Yeah, it was put through. The tariffs were raised once more. Remember, the Democrats had lowered them again. Well, they're back up. And thanks to the recent economy collapse that was blamed on Cleveland, this

hike in tariffs has huge widespread support. So there you go. Fair enough. Not only that, the economy started to improve and in fact started to boom. This was a rapidly increasing economy. Because yeah, we are in full-on boom and bust cycle here. The first three years of the McKinley administration, the exports of the United States doubled.

And now also doubled the amount that they were importing. America were now producing things for the world, rather than just making things for themselves. In other words, if you simply look at economic figures, the United States were now doing very, very well. So well that McKinley started to think that perhaps actually a new way forward was needed in terms of tariffs. I'm jumping ahead a bit here, but this fits best here. The United States, as I say, exporting more and more than ever, that in turn means more trade. If you're exporting, then obviously you're trading for something. Now, this extra trade, however, was being hampered

due to the fact that many other countries in the world were not happy with America's extortionate tariff rate. Why trade with America if their tariffs are so high? Let's go somewhere else. Now, McKinley had always said that he wanted high tariffs because he wanted to protect the US businesses. But did they actually need protecting anymore?

I mean, America were producing steel and exporting it to England, who were buying it from there instead of from Sheffield. Yeah, I mean, that's... These American businesses no longer needed the protection. They had grown enough that they could compete on a global level. So surely it's time to open up trade as much as possible. Yeah.

Due to this, the McKinley government start pulling away from the protectionism as the term progresses. This isn't overnight. We'll come back to it slightly at the end. But McKinley's thoughts change on this issue. So there you go. That's my tariff talk for the episode. That was nice and succinct, thank you. Didn't mention a percentage once. No.

No. And for that I thank you. Yeah. Anyway, one reason why we're not going to talk too much about tariffs, because McKinley's got more immediate things to deal with, and that's foreign affairs. Ooh. Not like an affair with someone from abroad. Ooh, that'd be a scandal.

It would, and far too exciting for McKinley. No, this is obviously stuff what's going on in the world. And first up is Hawaii. Cleveland, remember, had wished to wash his hands from the whole deposing the Hawaiian government thing. Let's pretend that didn't happen. But McKinley and the Republicans were really starting to think more and more about expanding. The more land they had in the Pacific and the Atlantic meant controlling more of their

trade routes, which they were hoping to start opening up. So the more land, the more money. Let's go and get some land is essentially what they were starting to think. I mean, it was never dressed up in that way. But that's the way the thinking of the Republicans start to go. McKinley soon announced that the United States would, in fact, after some thinking about it, be having Hawaii. After all, if we don't take it, McKinley pointed out, the Japanese will. Oh, that's just a dodgy way of thinking.

I mean, he's probably right, but... Well, McKinley was convinced, utterly convinced, that Japan was sending immigrants to the islands of Hawaii to set up a base for a revolution where the Japanese army could then step in and install their own government. I mean, quite where this idea came from. Who knows?

Oh, my goodness. I mean, who would do such a thing? Now, as we've seen, getting Hawaii isn't new thinking. Harrison, like I said, had been starting to push things in this direction before leaving office, and now McKinley was fully on board with the idea, pointing out that the United States needed Hawaii far more than it needed California, and they'd still taken that. Why do they need Hawaii?

Without Hawaii, they can't control the trade over the uh pacific ah okay yeah but without california there's trouble to do that as well true but at the time uh they were not thinking about trade on the pacific when they got california oh actually no to be fair they might have been slightly but anyway mckinley even uses the phrase manifest destiny, which we've not seen for a while. That's never a good phrase. I can't. Well, with all the jingoism floating around, wading through it like

soup they were in the White House. Anyway, support for the revolution in Cuba also surged. I mean, if we're planning to help out Hawaii, like we're going to help them by freeing them from potential future oppressors, then what

about the Cubans? I mean, they're being oppressed like, actually oppressed by the Spanish rather than potential future oppressors. So should we not go and free them also? So that's potentially a war with Spain. Yes, exactly. Let's go to Cuba, find out what's going on, because life on Cuba, not good.

No, it's not just expansionist greed that's led to a surge of support for the revolution in America, because it's not nice on the island. The removal of slavery and several revolution attempts had led to the island being an economic mess, and a lot of people suffering. The Spanish government had become harsher and harsher with their reprisals to the revolution attempts and in turn the revolutionists on the island had become more and more desperate. Now as the latest revolution broke out a couple of years previously, things went bad very quickly. In an attempt to weed out the guerrilla tactics of the rebels,

the Spanish governor there decided to simply separate the whole population of the island and the rebels. As in just move the rebels away from everyone else? Well, no, you can't move the rebels. They're hidden. They're hiding. So move the entire population. Oh, yes. Mass migrations and confinement in city camps. Almost concentrated, you could say. Oh. Yeah, things were going bad.

The country was then burnt. All the crops gone. We're talking ancient Roman tactics here that we've seen in our other podcast. Was this the Spanish or the Cubans? Well, it can't be the Cubans. That'd be ridiculous. Yeah, no, this was the Spanish. The rebels were using the crops to feed themselves.

So get rid of the crops, we'll starve them out. But so is everyone else. Yeah. Now, this brutal method helped the Spanish cause, but it was obviously devastating on the local population. There are estimates of deaths between 150,000 and 400,000 civilians. Yeah, not good. And it became very hard to ignore that,

whilst also promoting the need to protect Hawaii from possible future Japanese oppressors. Yeah. The expansionists in the Republican Party didn't want to ignore it. They started pushing hard to do something about Cuba. Yeah. This cause was helped by William Hearst, a robber baron type newspaper empire owner. He used his very powerful newspaper

empire to push for the war. The effect was immediate. The Morning Journal started to produce daily propaganda. Over a million copies were read a day and soon enough the public mood was very anti- Spanish. Now, as we're dealing with

propaganda and rumour, it's very hard to pull apart exactly what was and what was not made up in the journal. One popular myth that probably didn't happen is that when the journal sent a photographer to Cuba, the photographer contacted her to say that everything seemed very calm at the moment. I mean, obviously there's evidence that things had gone on, but I can't get any photos of women weeping in the streets or the kind of things that you want me to get photos of.

Yeah, it didn't look as disastrous as they'd probably thought. Yeah, exactly. Hearst, according to the myth, replied, you furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war. Oh, so stage the photographs and that'll be our reason for going. I mean, yeah, exactly. Take that how you will. I mean, it's full-on

propaganda mode. Still, good job we're no longer living in a world where Robert Barron newspaper owners routinely spout propaganda to an entire nation to further their own businesses, isn't it? Yeah. Refreshing. Hashtag second Gilded Age.

Anyway, so that's going on. Hearst's newspaper were not the only one really pushing this war either. Obviously looking for their own business interests. Public mood sways dramatically. Well it will.

McKinley, however, not convinced about getting involved. War was messy. He'd meant it in his inauguration speech. We're not going to war unless we've pursued every other avenue. War is a horrible thing. Well, war. What is it good for? Overthrowing oppressors

and expanding your own business interests apparently. Yeah. McKinley was asking, is this really the United States fight? I mean, do we really need to go to war? So he starts looking for a way to persuade Spain to grant Cuban independence peacefully. Is there

any way that we could negotiate something here? Yeah. This met with limited success. I mean, it was getting somewhere, but nowhere fast. Then McKinley had to deal with his Secretary of State, Sherman, who was still just a bit... I mean, it was getting somewhere, but nowhere fast. Then McKinley had to deal with his Secretary of State, Sherman, who was still just a bit... I mean, there was nothing really wrong.

I mean, he wasn't wearing his underpants on his head or anything. Well, that's a good sign. Yeah, but as, like, tensions are rising between the United States and Spain, it's now really the time to have Sherman as Secretary of State. Unfortunately for McKinley, Sherman started to speak his mind as only a 70-year-old can do.

Around this time, he started saying to reporters that Cuba should definitely be free, that the Japanese needed to be watched. And as for the English, well, never trust an Englishman. Well, certainly not. Yes.

The last thing a president wants, or has ever wanted, is a Secretary of State who speaks their mind. So it was decided something had to be done with Sherman. It was arranged that he get replaced. But then, reports of riots in Havana reached the United States. Havana, obviously, the capital of Cuba. There were a lot of United States citizens in Havana reached the United States. Havana, obviously the capital of Cuba. There were a lot of United States citizens in Havana, and it was feared that

they were going to get caught up in the riots. So it was decided they'd send the USS Maine to just go and hang around in the area, make sure everything's alright. See what's going on. Now the USS Maine was built to be the most powerful warship in the entire

Navy. Unfortunately, it had taken nine years to build and was obsolete by the time it was finished. Oh, no. Yeah, but it will do to go to Cuba and just pick up any US citizens in need. I mean, it's fine.

Send the Maine over. Unfortunately, the next series of warships will take 20 years to build, but they're top of the line. Oh, yeah, yeah. They're main over. Unfortunately, the next series of warships will take 20 years to build, but they're top of the line. Oh, yeah, yeah. They're going to be great as soon as they come out. They've got this paddle system on the bottom that if you just ride it like a bicycle, it propels the boat forward and everything.

Top of the line. It's going to be great. McKinley was woken one night soon afterwards. The main had accidentally blown itself up. Huh? Yeah, in the harbour at Havana. It just blew itself up? Was probably McKinley's reaction, yeah. The pride of the US Navy?

Well, more an obsolete warship. Well, the pride of the US Navy nine years ago. Yes. Well, it was merely just a thought. Yeah, apparently a spontaneous fire in the coal bunker had caused an explosion that had sunk the ship and killed roughly 260 men. That doesn't look good, does it?

Well, no, because almost immediately, and very understandably, what with all the tension, speculation grew rapidly that perhaps maybe, just maybe, it wasn't an accident. Maybe the Spanish had blown the ship up. Hearst and his newspapers, but also Joseph Pulitzer, another name for you there from the age, they used their newspapers to really increase that speculation.

The journal turned essentially into a one-issue paper, and that was the destruction of the main. Hearst himself promised a reward of $50,000 for, and I quote, the conviction of the criminals who sent 258 American sailors to their deaths. Wow. They were really ramping up the warmongering.

Oh dear. Now in Cuba, the Spanish very quickly put together an investigation. How the hell is this American warship blown up in one of our harbours? This doesn't look good. No, it doesn't. And they found out that it was definitely an accident. The report pointed out various things, such as the lack of a column of water being seen.

If the explosion was from a mine, the water would have rose up because it was an external explosion. There was no column of water, or at least none that had been seen. Also, the only way to detonate the mines was to use cables and do it electronically, because there was no movement from the ship to bash into the mine. There was no wind, it was calm. So you'd have to do it electronically. There were no cables found, so there was no evidence of a mine being exploded. Right. But also, the munition stores on the ships had exploded,

and apparently this is very unusual when a mine sinks a ship, because it hits, I can only assume, the bottom, and a hole makes it sink, whereas this seems to indicate that there was a fire throughout the ship. Yeah. So, using all this evidence, the Spanish report said, no, it must have been an accident.

The United States, then, conducted their own investigation. Right. They, you'll be shocked to learn... Well, they found that the explosion was definitely caused by a mine. Because, according to some witnesses, two explosions were heard. The first must have been the mine, and the second the munitions on the ship that blew up.

Well, you can guess which report ends up in the US papers. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Now, we don't actually know for certain which one the truth is. It never has been figured out definitively, and it never will be. But many historians have used a lot of expertise to try and figure it out, and it is generally accepted that it was actually an accident. It was just really unfortunate timing.

Yes, it was. Still, the US public at the time were convinced that it was not an accident, and that the Spanish had attacked them. Now, to begin with, McKinley sought to make sure that the United States was able to defend itself. Things were starting to ramp up, so he's got to do something. So he had some meetings with some congressmen, some senators, did some political manoeuvring, and a bill was passed that gave the president $50 million to spend on anything he wanted in any upcoming unpleasantness.

That's me paraphrasing the bill there. Yeah, I'd like to think that's the title of it. It pretty much was. When news of this came out, the powerful nations in the world suddenly took notice. Particularly Spain, understandably. Yeah, hang on. The United States had £50 million in their back pocket. They didn't need to borrow this money.

They'd literally just got £50 million and had just given it to the president and said, yeah, go on then. Spend that on whatever you want. I'm guessing at this point that's a scary amount of money. Yeah, apparently... Possibly nowhere as well. It's like, how?

Well, yeah, apparently the Spanish government were utterly stunned by this. What? Yeah. America kept to themselves for quite some time. Hmm.

And the major European powers were suddenly starting to realise that they'd not been doing nothing this whole time that they'd been keeping to themselves. They'd been massively building up their economy, just like production. Yeah, exactly. Levels of production that have only really been seen

when Britain hit the Industrial Age. That's the only thing you can really compare it to within Europe and America. It was hugely grand in scale, the production in America. And Europe really started to take notice at this point. Spain were not expecting America to just whip out $50 million. I guess there may have been a view still in Europe that they were just still the colonies, you know. They're just a small little place, far away,

don't worry too much about this sort of thing. Yeah, I mean, powerful, and it's tricky to go over and do anything about them anymore, as Britain had proved a couple of times. But yeah, still, they were the colonies. So Spain realised that perhaps maybe war's coming. Still, McKinley hadn't given up on negotiating. He still didn't want the war to happen.

Much to the disgust of many in the public. Effigies of McKinley and Hannah were burned in Virginia. People protesting his name in the streets. He was being painted as being too weak to stand up for those in need in Cuba due to his ties with big business. Right. The Hearst Papers, incidentally,

had done an amazing job of claiming that big businesses did not want the war and that if you had a pro-war stance, you also had an anti-big business stance, despite this clearly not being true i mean there were some big business owners who did not want war but there were also some who really did it depended what industry they're in yeah but what with a lot of tensions in the country about the big business owners uh the hearse papers were able to really

use this to get the public on side fight for cub Cuba, fight against big business, it's all one and the same. Yeah. Again, glad nothing like that happens anymore. Yes. Anyway, the pressure built up. Eventually, McKinley realised he could fight this no longer. This was developing into a constitutional crisis because a growing faction in Congress was saying

that they would declare war themselves if McKinley didn't. And that's not supposed to happen. And if it did, crisis. So it could rip apart the US government. In the end, McKinley didn't ask Congress to declare war, but he did formally hand the decision over to them. On the 20th of April, 1898, the United States declare war on Spain. Español. They said.

Now, to make sure it passed Congress, an amendment was added. Cuba would not be annexed after the war. This was a war of liberation, not conquest. Absolutely. Yeah, no annexing Cuba. Definitely not. I mean, the other Spanish land, but... Anyway, let's carry on. Now, what follows is the American-Spanish War,

which I'm guessing you know well? Yes, yes, of course. It's a war that started between Spain and the USA. I don't know how surprising it might be for people listening in America. This war's not known outside of America very well at all. No, first I've heard of it. For all I know, it's not hugely well known in America, but I'm guessing it is. I'm sure they cover this.

Well, what follows is a very short war. It only lasts less than four months. That is a very short war. Which is a good thing in a way. Yes, well, yeah. Now the war was to liberate Cuba, obviously. Yeah. So where's it going to start? Oh, it's going to be in Hawaii isn't it, or something ridiculous.

Go even further. Japan? Much closer. The Philippines. Of course. That's the natural place to That's where you go to liberate cuba that's why che went there yeah what yeah well apparently mckinley wasn't 100 certain where the philippines were to begin with when his advisors suggested that this where they start the philippines but once all that was sorted out, they found a map and everything.

It was established that Spain had their Pacific fleet in the Philippines. That's where it was based. Preemptive strike. Yeah, if you want to take out Spain as a power, let's go and take out the fleet that they're not expecting us to attack first. Let's do that, they said. So McKinley gives the go-ahead to engage. The United States fleet in the Pacific launched a surprise attack

on the Spanish presence in the area in the middle of the night. It was assumed that no one would try and enter the harbour where they were based in the night because it would be too dangerous. But they did. It was a firm victory for the United States. They gained the Spanish base in Manila Bay, and they took out the Spanish fleet with only a single US death. So when did they give that base back to the Philippines?

We'll get into that in a bit. Anyway, like vultures, the fleets of Britain, France, Germany and Japan then suddenly turned up, just to see what was going on. Oh, hello. I heard some noises over up. Just to see what was going on. Oh, hello. Heard some noises over here. Just seeing if you're okay. Some quite loud bangs. Is everything okay?

Is that Spain on the floor over there? Oh dear. Oh dear. It looks quite bad. The German fleet in particular made some moves to try and take over the area. It's like, well, since you've knocked Spain out, we'll be having this, thank you very much. But it was nothing serious. The United States fleet made it very clear

that if they wanted the Manila Bay area, they'd have to literally fight through the American forces. Germany backed down, thinking, we don't want to kick off a war between nations of the whole world here. That would be awful. That would be awful. That would be awful. So let's back down.

Anyway, McKinley decided to send more troops to the area, just to be sure. One of the captains of a reserve fleet set off to reinforce and on the way opened up a sealed envelope with some orders in that he'd been given. Go and capture the island of Guam. Another Spanish holding in the Pacific. The United States cruiser then entered the main harbour of Guam

ready for battle. Are you picturing the scene? I'm picturing a scene. What scene are you picturing? I've still got the idea of flags in my head. Lots of flags. A guy standing on top. Two sort of Tommy... They didn't have Tommy guns.

I don't know. Two guns just right... You know, a bit rowdy. Rowdy. Okay. Well, the American cruiser entered the main harbour of Guam and it was empty. Oh, so the guy on the top looked a bit silly then with his guns and his flags. He certainly did.

Ah, damn! There was a japanese trading ship uh in the harbour but that was literally it all house was quiet confused the captain ordered that they fire at the old fort that was overlooking the harbour i mean we're here we might as well make a go at this whole invasion thing the grade one listed world heritage site that one yeah that that was the one. Just really get the impression this threw the Americans a lot. It's like, this is not how I imagined an invasion to go.

Is it an invasion if everyone's ignoring you? I mean, I don't know. Even the locals are just carrying on. Well, the cruiser shot 13 blasts at the fort. But the fort still stood, undamaged. They had missed every single shot. That's... Which is embarrassing. Yeah, I mean, you're going to fire a cannon person.

I mean, so far this is looking like the most embarrassing invasion in history for America. But don't worry, the tables are about to turn. Because the captain then noticed a small boat heading towards them with just a few men in it. It's odd, he thought. Well, the captain ordered they be let aboard because they wanted to be brought aboard. It was two Spanish officials who were in charge of the harbour. Hello, they said. Buenos dias.

They'd come to apologise that they couldn't return the lovely salute that the US ship had just given to them because they'd ran out of gunpowder. Would you mind awfully if we could do this maybe at another time when our supply chain is back on its feet? Would that be okay? Well, in fact, they've said, deliveries of all sorts were very slow to get to this island. It's quite remote.

They'd not received any mail for a few weeks. Oh, that's clever. It's not a ploy. Oh, that's clever. It's not a ploy. Oh, it's not? Oh, no. The captain then informed them that Spain and the United States were at war and they were now prisoners, much to the shock of the Spanish officials.

But that's not fair. What? So to sum this invasion up, America entered the harbour with a wars warship fired 13 shots at a fort missed all of them and then the spanish came along thinking that that was just a salute to say hello came along and admitted they had no gunpowder and essentially gave themselves up as prisoners of war no one's coming off well in this invasion. No. Is it still an invasion or is it just a...

An incident. Yeah. A series of mistakes. That's what it is. But still, America have Guam now, which is nice. So I thought you said when they were saying we haven't received posts or anything, I thought they were just trying to say it's not worth having it.

There's no point. It's so remote. Don't worry about it. No, they literally did not know that there was a war on. Wonderful. Yeah. Anyway, that's the war in the Pacific. Meanwhile, over in Cuba, a large force of United States troops had just landed from Florida in late June.

It had taken a long time to get them organised. Public opinion was still going down for McKinley. He's procrastinating. Why haven't the forces set off yet? It's great we're doing things in the Philippines, but what about Cuba? But eventually, the forces do land. In early July, the only deciding land battle of the war took place,

the Battle of San Juan Hill. Not going to go into any detail here, because one of our future presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, was in this battle, so we'll wait for his episode. Nice manly civil presence. So to sum up, the US forces, greatly outnumbering the Spanish, won after a whole day of tough fighting. The Spanish fleet, based in Cuba,

then decided maybe they'd best not be there anymore, and made a dash for open sea, and ran straight into the superior United States fleet. They were wiped out. And with this, the war was pretty much over. McKinley then ordered Puerto Rico to be taken, because

why not? It's there, and it was with complete ease. The US troops just walked into it, essentially. And it's still a territory now to this day. Again, we get into it. So Spain, coming to the same conclusion that the British had had a couple of times, realised that fighting such a large force

so far from home was just not practical. This was different than going and getting islands in the Pacific or land grabs in Africa. This was a fully weaponised nation with a booming economy that were trying to fight half a world away. It just wasn't going to work. It's not, is it? No.

So they decide to seek a way to surrender. Now, this proved to actually be a bit of a headache for McKinley. Just as Polk had to decide what to do with Mexico after invading them, McKinley now had to attempt to strike the delicate balance of gaining as much for the United States as possible without looking like an imperialist how bent on world domination. It's a fine line. It is a fine line.

Now, to begin with, let's be clear, they said, Cuba's going to be independent. They had agreed on this before the war in Congress. So Cuba, independent. However, can't help but notice we've got Guam and Puerto Rico and the Philippines at the moment. Ooh. Oh, and while we're talking about this, McKinley said to his cabinet,

should we actually just take Hawaii? Because I'd like Hawaii. I need a good holiday home, I think. Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's nothing to do with the Spanish, but I mean, while we're talking about annexing places in the Pacific, it's time we really just firmly get Hawaii. McKinley, now that the war was over and there was no fear of more deaths and chaos that war brings, seems to have firmly settled in the expansionist camp. He pushed to get as much as possible.

Now, not everyone was happy with this. There were a lot in America who started to look around and think that their experimental republic, based on the ancient Greek and Roman democracies, was starting to look a lot like one of the European empires that they apparently despise so much. I would argue, though, they're living up to the Roman Empire building beautifully. Oh, yeah, I mean, don't get me wrong.

I idealised versions of Greek and Roman democracy, not actual versions. An anti-imperious league was set up in Boston and then soon moved to Washington made up of a lot of powerful people who opposed this direction. These were politicians, those robber barons who did oppose expansion, because there were some. The Democrats, still very split at the moment between the Bourbons and Brian's faction, found common ground on this. Brian and Cleveland agreed that the United States should not be colonising just for expansion's sake.

McKinley let Spain know that they would start negotiations with the idea that Cuba would be free and Puerto Rico would be given to the United States. And we'll work from there. By the end of negotiations, the United States had also

gained Guam and the Philippines. Wonderful. The United States now had a much stronger hold on the two major oceans. Quote from a newspaper around this time, We are all jingos now, and the head jingo is the Honourable William McKinley. Now, as you hit upon almost immediately, the Philippines were not happy about this. Nope.

They declared independence. Yeah. They declared independence before the American-Spanish war was over. They declared independence immediately. The United States did what any self-respecting conqueror of new land does when terms like these arise. Put more flags in the ground oh well they just ignored it and carried on oh yeah now by this point sherman had been replaced with a new

secretary of state who sent a message to the u.s official in charge over there i'll quote avoid unauthorized negotiations with the philippine insurgents so just pretend that didn't happen right then an ambassador turned up in was, from the Philippines, to find out exactly what's going on. The ambassador met with an apparently uncomfortable McKinley, as through a translator, it was made clear that the Philippines fully expected the United States to give them independence from imperial rule. Isn't that what America stood for? It should. McKinley thanked the ambassador for his time

and then asked him to put his request in writing so he could really mull it over and then showed the ambassador the door. For the next three years, America and the Philippines were at war until eventually the United States come out on top. An estimated 5,000 troops died on the United States side. This is double that of the Spanish-American War.

Around 15,000 Filipino troops died. And the turmoil caused 250,000 to 1 million civilian deaths due to famine and disease from this war. as commodore dewey the man in charge of the war over in the philippines put it i'll quote him here i never dreamed that they wanted independence what why would you i mean why would you yeah mckinley mckinley argued that they needed to be looked after because they weren't strong enough to stand on their own. And if the United States didn't have them, then they'd either fall into chaos or a European power would take them. So, yeah, there we go.

I mean, it's insane that this war is clearly, in every metric, much bigger than the American-Spanish War. I'd never even heard of this war since I was doing the research. The American-Spanish War. Yeah. I'd never even heard of this war since I was doing the research. The American-Spanish War, definitely. Nice, quick, short war that America won against the might of Spain. This one just doesn't look as good, does it? Almost up to a million people lost their lives

because of... That's the upper estimate, yes. But even if we take the lower estimate, we're talking a quarter of a million. And even if you're being really harsh and just looking at American deaths, then you're doubling the American-Spanish war. Yeah. So this continues on throughout the rest of McKinley's term.

But quietly, not many people in America take note. There's certainly not outrage of all the deaths, which, by the way, is a larger number than the deaths of the Cubans by the hands of the Spanish. Not good. No. Anyway, the United States had won. Against the Spanish, that is. And the world started to take note. The United States was now a world power and people were starting to realise this. They're not just a powerful ex-colony of Britain, as you mentioned earlier. In the United States, McKinley's popularity rose significantly. They stopped burning effigies of him for a start.

The booming economy was starting to be noticed, and everyone loved winning a war against a European power, especially so quickly and decisively. Now, due to the booming US economy and the rising production of gold, the inflation that the silver backers wanted was happening anyway. Remember the old silver and gold argument? Yeah.

Yeah, well, because of this, that argument just dies a natural death, really. McKinley and Congress pushed through an act that backed the gold standard. The gold-silver debate just goes. This has a knock-on effect that it took the legs out from under Brian, who for past few years have been building his support with the idea that only he could bring economic safety to the

common man. It's a much harder message to push if the common man suddenly starts feeling a lot safer anyway. Do we need your radical ideas anymore? I'm feeling fairly comfortable and this is a life I already know. So support for Brian falls, in particular in those sparse agricultural states such as Nebraska and South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Washington.

Places that Brian had had a strong support before. So internally, the Republicans start looking stronger in America, and in the wider sense of the world, America start to get support from perhaps an unexpected direction. Because Britain start getting close to America. Special relationship.

Oh yes, we're definitely starting to get into the start of that special relationship. Ooh, USA. Ooh. Britain absolutely love seeing the Spanish being smashed by the USA. Oh. Britain absolutely loved seeing the Spanish being smashed by the Americans. Brilliant. That was fantastic. Loved seeing the Spain lose a war or two, did Britain.

And now, McKinley was also starting to talk about getting rid of those horribly high tariffs you've got over there. So now we could perhaps do a bit more of trade. And look, us English-speaking countries, we're just a bit better than the rest of them, aren't we? So time we had a chat, what old fellow. Was generally the messages coming from Britain...

Over a cup of tea. Yeah, with the United States in the Americas and Britain, well, everywhere else, together we can put an end to the imperial ambitions of Spain and Britain, well, everywhere else. Together, we can put an end to the imperial ambitions of Spain and France, and in particular Germany, who are really starting to get a bit big for their boots. They're getting very mechanised, aren't they? Yeah. They're beginning to. So, we start to see the United States and Britain becoming closer politically. The old idea of the canal was brought up again. If you remember, the United States and Britain

had agreed to shelve the project in the 1850s, agreeing neither would attempt to build the canal without the other one being involved. Yeah. Well, after fighting a war in the two main oceans, the United States really started to see the benefits of a linking canal. It'd be really useful if we can swap our Atlantic and Pacific fleets around, if we need to.

So they had a quick chat with Britain, as everything's much more friendly now, and it was agreed. The United States could build that canal. Go ahead. In fact, you can even control it. But you cannot fortify it. Build the canal, no forts. That's the deal.

The Senate were not happy with this, but after a bit of political wrangling, eventually an agreement was agreed to. The United States could build it, but not fortify. So there you go, Will. That one step closer to the Panama Canal. So, the upcoming election's coming up, and it's looking good. McKinley was as popular as ever post-war. Bryan was weakened. One thing to sort out before the election

took place, though, McKinley's vice president had died. Oh. So we needed another one. That's unfortunate. Yeah. These things happen. It's fine, we'll get another. Loads popped down to the vice president shop. McKinley sought around, he could think of several men he wanted in the post. However, thinking I should politically be sensible here,

he decided to go for the rising star of the Republican Party, the aristocratic, somewhat eccentric Theodore Roosevelt. This was the assistant secretary of the Navy who would quit to go and lead a regiment in the war and then come home to become the governor of New York and was becoming very popular throughout the country. McKinley wasn't enthusiastic about it. He didn't particularly like Roosevelt.

Hannah completely and openly opposed it, did not want it to happen. But he was popular at the time. It seemed needlessly destructive to not give Roosevelt the vice presidency position. It will just bolster votes, so let's do it. Plus, the party bosses in New York really wanted to get rid of this unpredictable reformer who was now the governor of New York and figured that dumping him in the vice president's office was the best way to do it. After all, it's not a real job anyway. I was just going to say, it still sort of seems a meh. Still, it always is. That never goes away.

Yeah, so yeah, let's dump him in the vice presidency job and he'll just maybe calm down a bit. So the election came. The candidates still the same. It's still McKinley v. Bryan. The argument shifted though. Silver's no longerinley v. Bryan. The argument shifted, though. Silver's no longer a big issue. The war had been won. The popular Theodore Roosevelt was the vice president candidate, and he was giving lots of speeches. And McKinley just sailed into his second term, no problems at all. Nice.

He gave his second inaugural speech, convincing the public that, I know I've been banging on about high tariffs all my life, but actually, we should probably stop doing that now. It's time to actually expand into the world market. Let's lower the tariffs, more trade. Now, this was something he really wanted to push. I mean, he'd won his first election on convincing the public that high tariffs were the only way to stop economic

disaster, like the Panic of 93. And he's proven it, to be fair. Yeah, exactly. In the eyes of the public, yeah, the high tariffs had saved the economy. Now he wants to get rid of them, and he knows that's going to be tricky to do, because he'd built up his political power based on it.

So, he decides to go on tour of the whole country, spreading the message of exactly why the high tariffs were good, but they've served their purpose. It's time to change course. The tour was to last several months, going to many states, starting in California and ending in Buffalo, New York, where he was going to give a speech to the Pan-American Exposition.

Big fair with lots of buildings and things to see. Look how good we are. We're America, essentially. However, Ida, his wife, became ill. This was bad. McKinley really feared that she was going to die. It came close. But fortunately, after staying in San Francisco for a while,

she recovered and the rest of the trip was cancelled. The couple returned to Washington. Still, the speech in Buffalo was still on. They were still going to go and do that. And when time came McKinley and Ida headed for the city by a train.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Oh, being of the episode. What happens? What happens? What happens? They pull into a very busy train station. A lot of people were there to meet the president, very excited that he had come to their city. Right.

McKinley stepped out of the train. As you do. And an explosion ripped through the air. Several windows blew out on the train that they were on and a few people screamed. It was the cannon that was saluting their arrival. It was a big cannon because it's the president. You've got to get the biggest cannon.

Yeah, everyone was a bit shocked. Ida in particular didn't like it. But oh well, mistakes happen. So there you go. That was it. Did I make the most of that in the introduction? Did you think he was going to be assassinated by explosion? Yes.

Yes, I did. Sorry. I had to do something to grab your attention. Yeah, it grabbed my attention. It did. Okay. Anyway, McKinley then goes into the city. He goes to the exposition.

To a crowd of over 50,000 people, he delivered his speech. He talked about an end of American isolationism, embracing the world economy. The speech went down very well. The next day, McKinley and Ida visited Niagara Falls. Ooh, moist. Yes, that's the one word he wrote in his diary that day yeah he went halfway across the bridge to canada but made sure he didn't go any further because that would have been like classes and invasions yeah exactly but yeah he did that and then he headed back to buffalo to

go back to the exposition uh to attend a reception at the temple of music that they'd built big grand music hall they'd built uh just for the music hall they'd built just for the fair, which they then were going to rip down afterwards. Very much like the ones in Paris and London that were being had around this time. Crystal Palace, yeah. Yes, exactly. Anyway, he arrives. He does the usual shaking hands with lots of people

as he headed towards his seat. And it's then that a man pulled a gun out and shot McKinley twice in his abdomen. What? Yeah. McKinley lurched forward as the assassin was piled upon by security. McKinley told his aide, don't worry, I'm not seriously hurt, but then, look down, the blood was just pouring out of him. He said, my wife, be careful how you tell her, oh be careful. He then collapsed. No, not another one. You weren't expecting this, were you? No. Did you like my double bluff with the explosion at the train station? It was a hell of a double,

no, not another one. Oh yes. What dropping nine flies? An ambulance arrived. McKinley was hurried towards it. As he was moved onto the stretcher, a chunk of metal fell out of him. He's a cyborg. Not quite. I believe that's a bullet, McKinley said. And it was.

One of the bullets had hit a button, which had prevented it from entering McKinley too much. The other bullet, however, had very much penetrated him. Now, don't worry. There happened to be a fantastic surgeon nearby who had proven that he was able to operate on wounds such

as this very successfully. He was a good surgeon. He was, unfortunately, in the middle of neck surgery in the Niagara Falls unfortunately, in the middle of neck surgery in the Niagara Falls. Literally in the middle of the... On, like, a boat. A barrel. Water splashing.

He was in one barrel. The woman was in another barrel. It was a golden time for America. It really was. It was. Yeah. Now, as we've seen, medicine in this age is going through a revolution.

A gunshot like McKinley's would have been fatal throughout all of history up until this point uh it was only 17 years previous to this that the first successful operation of its kind was achieved they washed their hands to start well yeah exactly um and they were able to stop gangrene from growing in the stomach and stuff like that. This is now, it's only just not actually fatal. That said, they were not in a high-tech surgery and they did not have a world-class surgeon. They were at a fair with whoever was available.

Oh, is Doctor Doctor there? Doctor Doctor's not there. I just really hope it's Kenneth the Popcorn Boy. He'd been on a course, so it was fine. First aid course. Yeah, exactly. He's just shoving popcorn into the wounds. That'll probably do.

Well, they did manage to find a surgeon in the city. It wasn't, like, the world-class surgeon who was at Niagara Falls, unfortunately. But they did find one. The surgeon made an incision in the president and then, you guessed it, triumphantly raised one finger and inserted it into the hole. Oh.

Pokey pokey. Yeah, to be fair, it was a clean finger. You see, they're learning. They are. That's not the point. Well, it was found that the bullet had passed through the stomach, like in and then back out again. So the surgeon sewed up both the entry and the exit wounds of the organ,

but could not find the bullet. He presumed it must be in his back, thinking, well, there's nothing I can do without causing more damage, and plenty of people have bullets in them and go on to live perfectly normal lives. So let's just sew the president back up and hope for the best, which is what was done. After a couple of tense days, much to everyone's relief, McKinley started to approve.

He asked about how his speech had gone down with the public. relief, McKinley started to approve. He asked about how his speech had gone down with the public. Still, however, the doctors were not complacent at this time. The top surgeon had managed to get to them by that point. It was decided

that since Alexander Graham Bell had been useless last time a president was shot, this time they're going to call out the big guns. So they call Thomas Edison. Edison? Oh, yes. Oh. The electricity guy. Yeah, if battle doesn't work, call Edison when the president's shot.

Edison provided a machine that was recently invented. In fact, it had been on display at the fair. It was really cool. It used these rays, these really cool rays. So cool they were just called X-rays. That's how cool they were.

Oh, wow. Yeah, they should be able to find the bullet using that, Edison said. But once the machine arrived, it wasn't used, and apparently, we're not sure why, but one source claimed that when it arrived, it was missing one part, so they couldn't use it. I'd like to think it was the

plug. Yeah. Ran out of x-rays. Sped him to every next Thursday. Now, McKinley obviously improving but his stomach is a mess. I mean, it's got two holes in it. Sewed up holes but it's still not good. So,

someone suggested, rather than let McKinley starve, they feed him with the old broth up the bum trick that they tried with Garfield. But what? There must be something scientifically really wrong about that. There is. It didn't work for Garfield. It didn't work for McKinley. In fact, McKinley, it would appear, disliked this so much that he starts to struggle to eat orally.

It's like, forget it, I'm going to try and eat rather than that. Yeah, I mean, try and have a T-bone steak shoved up your jacksie. It's going to be a bit of a... Yeah, not good. So he starts to eat and apparently starts to recover a bit of strength, although obviously he's still in a lot of pain. Then, about a week after being shot, McKinley suddenly collapsed.

Unknown to the doctors, gangrene had infected the president's stomach. He was doomed almost straight away. There was never ever going to be any saving him. McKinley did manage to awake in just enough time to be fully aware he was about to die. He said,

It is useless, gentlemen. I think we ought to have a prayer. He then was able to say goodbye to Ida and then died on the 14th of September, 1901. Same year as Victoria? Yeah, yeah. A few months afterwards. So there you go. Another one. Wow. Yeah. Why was he assassinated? What was the... Well, there was a man named Leon Chalgosch, if I'm pronouncing his surname correctly there, from Detroit. Leon was in his late 20s. He was born, as almost all Americans were, let's not forget,

into a poor family and worked in a factory. During the Panic of 93, the factory where he worked, as many were, were in dispute with the workforce, who wanted better working conditions. The factory cracked down on the strike, Leon was fired. He became more and more disillusioned and angry, as he watched strike after strike violently put down by factory owners aided by the government. He became more and more angry and reserved. And then, in 1900, the King of Italy was assassinated

by an anarchist. Leon became inspired. I mean, he'd been reading, you see, and attending several groups. And he had decided that the best way to deal with widespread systematic oppression of the poor is to just shoot the man in charge. That'll sort it. So, uh, he did. But he's it. So he did. But he's very popular at the time. Yeah, he was popular by a lot of people, but don't forget there were a lot of very angry workers in America after decades of the Gilded Age and just oppression of the poor.

There's a lot of angry feeling out there. This wasn't... Leon identified as an anarchist. This was just anti-government. He didn't care what type of government it was. He was just anti the man in charge. He was an angry man who had lost everything. So, yeah, there you go.

Anyway, McKinley's dead. Now we get to rate him. Ah, statesmanship! Okay, you can go one or two ways here. Let's start with the economy, shall we? So, good. For the economy, he oversaw a booming economy recovering from the bust during

Cleveland's term. McKinley's policy of high tariffs had helped build industry in the country, but he wasn't so ideologically wedded to the tariffs that he didn't move away from them when he thought they were no longer helping. These are all easy to argue as positives. However, against him, the hyper-capitalist system that America was going through at the time creates a boom and bust economy that had very little to do with who the man is in charge at that time. The tariffs aided the industry of the country,

but to the detriment of the workforce, who became more and more disadvantaged, hungry, and generally angry. Angry enough, in fact, to pick up a gun and shoot someone. I mean, that's quite angry. That's quite angry. So I think McKinley's policies improved the economy of America, I would argue, but to the detriment to most of the people who lived in the country. That's what I would argue anyway.

Then, of course, we've got the war with Spain. Again, two sides. I mean, Cuba was being appallingly treated by the Spanish. There's no question about that. That said, the real reason the US was suddenly interested was the economic benefits a free Cuba would bring them. Otherwise, they would have just let the Spanish get on with it. Yeah.

Because let's face it, European countries have been doing atrocities all over the shop for a very long time, and the US haven't suddenly gone, no, we must fix this. McKinley did oppose the war. He genuinely sought out ways to peacefully resolve it. But once the war was over, he did become the chief expansionist. And then, of course, we got the Philippine War. It lasted years.

There were far more deaths than the Spanish-American War. And America did just as bad as the Spanish did in Cuba. And what surprised me is it's not known about... Well, certainly not. I haven't heard of it. No, no. i have a vague awareness of history despite what i present in the roman podcast i mean this is a clear land grab it's nothing else yeah absolutely so i mean that's not great and then of course we've got hawaii hmm i mean that's a dodgy one i mean that that was just a u.s instigated coup and then they took

over it was a bit more bumpy than that but that's essentially what happened uh so that's not great That's a dodgy one. I mean, that was just a US instigated coup, and then they took over. It was a bit more bumpy than that, but that's essentially what happened. So that's not great. Yeah. So, I don't know. What are you thinking? So you did sort of put US back on sort of a,

I don't want to say golden age, but sort of put them on the track again. So as a statesman, you could argue yes, but on the counter of that, you could say, well, you you know they're obviously people so annoyed with what's going on the inequality that he lost his life for it so that is also a thing it hasn't been sorted out i think it depends what metric you're measuring on if you're looking at numbers figures especially economic ones you can paint a very rosy picture of McKinley. Absolutely, yeah. But if you're looking at how good were the lives of his

subjects, fellow citizens I should probably say, it's not great. But it's in some ways seems to be a continuation of the Gilded Age with extra invasions on top. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm not that impressed. He worked for a lot in Congress. He did do political stuff for his country and he worked hard at them. Four. I, you know, considering he took them out of a bad show with Cleveland to in a boom again.

They went through the bust, they're going back through a boom again. I can't give him as low as four. I think, what, five? I just don't give him any credit for that, though. I mean, that's the boom and bust economy. It booms and it busts. It just happened four well for the Republicans this time. But something has to be in place for it to boom.

It doesn't do that on its own. You need to put things in place. Yeah, I suppose more so than usual, you can point to the McKinley tariffs and say that does seem to have an effect. But go on then. I'm sticking with four. You're going for five.

Okay. Okay, that's nine. Anything? Can you think of anything personal here? I mean, if we take the, quite frankly, dubious wars off the table, anything? Can you think of anything personal here? I mean, if we take the quite frankly dubious wars off the table. He had a lot of brothers and sisters.

He had a few. Is that disgraceful? Nope. You're just finding anything from your notes from last week? Yep. Right, fair enough. Well, I mean, disgrace is going to be the imperialistic nature, isn't it? He's very much kind of, I'm not this, I mean, disgrace is going to be the imperialistic nature, isn't it? You know, he's very much kind of, I'm not this, I'm not this.

Then he actually very much was. Yeah, I mean, you could argue the whole there'll be no jingoism here and then him just being chief jingo. Yeah. I can't give many. I'll give one point for that. Really? Yeah.

And the Philippines? That's all statesmanship. Starting'll give one point for that. Really? Yeah. And the Philippines? That's all statesmanship. Starting all with Spain just for land? That's all in statesmanship. That is not... It's disgraceful, though. Yeah, but we covered this ground with the early presidents to make a clear distinction between the rounds. Yeah, fair enough.

Juvius Walls falls in statesmanship. It's his personal life, disgrace gate. And his life was, and I'm just going to say it, dull. So I just can't. That's a fair point. Yeah, no, I can't give him. I might take away one. That's about it.

Yeah, one for him being slightly less than truthful with his intentions. So there we go. Two. Minus two. Right, okay. Ooh, well, with his intentions. So there we go. Two minus two. Silver screen. Right, okay. Ooh.

Well, all the exciting stuff happened, the wars and that, that's the exciting stuff, but he wasn't there. Yeah, he's really not. I've definitely spent more of my words in my notes on what was happening in the world around McKinley's life. There is a reason why most of his biographies that I read

seem to dedicate at least half of the book to tariffs and currencies and American-British relations rather than talking about McKinley, because he just didn't seem to do much. I'll quickly go over it. He grew up and went to college. He suffered from depression for a bit, remember?

And then he went home and then the Civil War started. Okay, you can get some points here. Lots of action in the Civil War. He was just like a normal soldier who rose through the ranks to major. Served under Hayes, remember? So if we're doing a film, we can at least get Hayes in. Yeah, oh yeah, that's true.

After the war, thanks to his connections, he became a lawyer. He then met Ida. Then his two daughters died, and Ida just mentally broke. That would be a very depressing part of the film, but slash series. Then he gets into politics. He becomes obsessed with tariffs there's a lot about tariffs uh then he becomes the governor he talks about tariffs some more then he ran for president whilst talking about tariffs uh then he did some stuff with tariffs

then there was a war with spain then there was a war in the Philippines then he won re-election and was shot so there you go right in the stomach oh yes it's not good and I'm also going to tell you something now which I might have hinted at before I'm holding up to the camera to Jamie right now if you're listening

the American President series on William McKinley now for those of you who don't know the American President series on William McKinley. Now, for those of you who don't know, the American President series is a fantastic series of biographies on the presidents. They're ideal for me with the little-known presidents because they are concise and I can quickly get a good idea of the president's life

before searching out the detail in the areas that are more interesting. So I tend to read one of these for every president, unless there's a really well-known, really good biography out there. This is the first biography I have not finished. I didn't even finish it. I didn't get to his death. I've got no idea what this book says about McKinley's death because it is so badly written.

It is the worst biography I've ever read. Now, I don't know if that's McKinley's fault or the author's fault. I genuinely don't know if McKinley was so boring it's impossible to write about him or whether this person just loves tariffs more than McKinley because seriously, most of it's about tariffs. It's just boring. It jumps all over the place. So I want to give him zero because researching him was painful at times. But maybe I'm being slightly unfair there. So maybe you've got a more unbiased opinion

because I've just presented his story in one go to you. So what do you think? Well, just to add slightly more context to what you were just saying as well, on Sunday you and I Zoomed, didn't we? We did. We Zoomed online for just a quick little catch-up with stuff. Which before the pandemic lockdown,

that sentence would have made it sound like we were playing in the garden. Yeah, Zoom! Which I'd like to think we were doing as well. But yes, no, we did. We were doing another recording for something. Yeah, and you spent a good five to seven minutes ranting about how bad that book was oh it's it's it's awful it's such a good series of biographies and this one was useless absolutely i imagine if you were doing like an

essay on uh the economy of the late 1800s you'd find lots of useful stuff in there, but not... We're not. Not for this. Not for this podcast. It was useless. Yeah. The only thing interesting about his life is his death. Yeah. It really is.

The war, you know, he was part of it. Yeah. But he's not an interesting guy. I think he's dull. I think any film or series made out of him... Well, you wouldn't do it. You just wouldn't. You wouldn't. Especially considering what happens

when the president dies, who becomes president? If you're doing a politician in this era, you're going to Teddy Roosevelt. Yeah. So I'm giving you zero as well, so I'll match you in that. Yeah, he had a boring life. I had a sympathy as well for your struggle.

Oh, it was a struggle I mean interesting stuff happened but all of the stuff about the war in Spain about Philippines all of the stuff about Brian's movement and the Democrats all of that that I genuinely found really interesting none of that was in this book literally

the end of the war with Spain is mentioned before the introduction of the war with Spain who would do that? Anyway, I'm going to stop ranting about this book now. So, that is... Do they have one for every president? How far do they go up to? They do have one for every president in theory, but it's hard to get some of them.

I don't use one for every president. Like I said, the likes of Lincoln and Washington, who have really well-established biographies that people recommend. I tend to go for the big ones. But for small presidents, I tend to use this service. Anyway, that silver screen, he got nothing. Next. Conversability. Okay, there we go. Ooh.

Yep. Very dark, typical sort of Victorian. Yep. He's holding a note. He's got like a gold hair clip in his left hand. I think that's his glasses, I think, around the hair clip. Oh, yes, I can see now. Yeah, I think there are some glasses.

He's dressed very formally. He's got silver temples. Yes. He's a bit on the large side. He seems quite imposing. He does. I want to know what's on the note. Do you think that's his list, his to-do list?

Countries to invade. Yeah, Hawaii, Guam. It says, if you zoom in, it says, if you're reading this, you've zoomed in too close. Oh, nice. I like. Weird. They must have known. Yeah.

But the way it's painted, because it seems, you know, it's painted from pretty much his knees or just below his knees going up, so it seems quite imposing for that reason. Yeah. I'm not unimpressed, but I'm not impressed. No, I'm not really impressed. It's like standard.

Five, I think, average. There is. This might change your opinion. There is a slight light patch just behind his neck. Can you see it? Like the flash? Yeah, there's just a little bit of white light paint. On his collar.

On his collar, yeah. Now, because that tiny, tiny bit of lighter colour on his collar there, just behind his neck, looks very similar to the colour of his hair on his temple, you can almost imagine he's got a ponytail. Oh. the colour of his hair and his temple, you can almost imagine he's got a ponytail.

Oh. Which certainly changes the image of this quite a bit. It does. I've now got, like, 80s. Yeah. You can tell the lockdown's affecting you, isn't it? I'm going for five. I think it's middle of the road.

I like the note. Yeah, I'm going for five. Yeah. Okay. Ponytail or not. 2.5. Yeah, I'm going for five. Yeah. Okay. Ponytail or not. 2.5. However, I'm going to introduce something new to this round because it's the 1900s. It is?

It is. So you can now hear... Modern history. So you can now hear him as well. Yeah. Wow. Is this the first president we've heard? I mean, obviously others have done recordings,

but this is the first time we're listening to one. I think the first president that we actually have a recording of is Cleveland, which I just missed. It's definitely the era, this is the era we start getting recordings. So if you type in McKinley's speech, the 1896 campaign speech, you can hear what he was saying to try and beat Brian. My fellow citizens, recent events have imposed upon the patriotic people of this country a responsibility and a duty greater than that of any since the Civil War. Then it was a struggle to preserve the government of the United States. Now it is a struggle to preserve the financial honour of the government. So there you go.

Wow. That's quite weird. He's got a weird accent. Yeah, yeah. We are really rapidly catching up with, like, the now. We've got recordings of people. We've never had that in an episode. Ah.

Just think, soon we'll be hitting inaugurations, laser shows. Yeah, exactly. That'll be good. Nice. Anyway, no points on that. But, yeah, there you go. That's what he sounded like. Right, bonus rounds.

Bonus! Bonus. He'll, I think, score quite well on this one. One term, because he completed one term. Didn't he get voted in for a second? Yeah, he got a completer. Oh, right. He didn't.

But obviously he makes up for that here by getting two points for assassination. Yeah, he does. Yeah, he does. All worth it in the end. And he just loses out on two points for landslide. His second election was much better, but his first one wasn't as decisive so if you take a an average he is in the one category for election not quite the

two oh dear so what's he got he's got 13.5 13.5 that's not great is it it's a bit embarrassing is he a low scoring president no no i No, no, a low-scoring president's in the minus numbers, Jamie. Of course, yes. Johnson off the top of my head, minus 3.5. Something like that. No, this puts McKinley very much in the middle of the road. Yeah. Not a high flyer, but not one of the awful ones.

So, there you go, that's McKinley. Right, next time, next time is Vice President Steps to the Fore. Ah. Yeah. Teddy Roosevelt. Heard much about Teddy? Then he's the big manly man. Interesting.

He's quite sickly as a child, but big booming guy. Oh, okay, right. That's what I remember. Okay. Teddy Bears are named after him or something. You definitely know a lot more about teddy Roosevelt than most presidents we've covered then we're entering modern history so I know the odd fact I'll bring my

old teddy to the next recording as well oh definitely do that that'll be good in memory of him yeah just so you know in terms of interest when I put down this McKinley biography that I'm still waving in front of the camera I just picked up the Roosevelt one that I'm still waving in front of the camera I just picked up the Roosevelt one that I'm reading immediately and

oh it's so much better just immediately it's like oh this one's well written so I'm picturing Brian Blessed for the next episode we'll see we will see anyway that's for next time for this time thank you very much for listening

don't forget you can download us on Apple, iTunes, Player, Thingybop, and Podbean. Yep, and please keep leaving those reviews, and in these weird times when we're not allowed to leave our houses, remember, most accidents happen in the home, so be careful.

And with that slightly ominous message, goodbye! Goodbye! and with that slightly ominous message goodbye goodbye American or American Captain Manuel. Ah, yes. C, as we say in Spain. Obviously, now you're my prisoner,

I've just come down to check that you're OK, that everyone's treating you correctly. Well, Captain Clint, I must say I was very thoughtful. I've been treated very, very fairly, I think. A bit surprised at the old capture, but, you know. Yes, yes, yes. A little bit delicate, but I'm in the middle of writing my report about what happened. Ah.

Yes, and I think it's safe to say that, well, no one comes off A-well in this, do they? No, it's humiliating. Let's just put it out there. Yes. It's an embarrassment. It is. I was wondering if you didn't mind helping me write that report. You mean adding my own flair, wink wink, to the report? adding my own flair, wink, wink, to the report. Well, yes, of course. I mean, it's always hard to get a full picture if you're just looking at something from one side.

I mean, who knows? Perhaps, perhaps from your view, those 13 shell shots were actually, I don't know, terrifying. Yes, and of course we had more than one boat. We had at least 24. Oh, I definitely saw lots of... I'm just going to say this. When I came into the harbour, I was quaking.

Quaking at the fear of the might of the Spanish army. I like that. I think that sounds fantastic, Captain Clint. Equal as I sat in my manor with my Spanish flag flying above my head with national pride and I saw the American flag enter the harbour, I pretty much piddled myself. Yes, obviously, from the boat I could see on the shore your men getting ready straight away because you, there was a war. I knew there was a war on, of course.

Yes, yes, that definitely happened. Yes. And then you started firing on, not saluting us, firing at us. Firing, firing. And those shells hit important strategic sites. They did. Not the castle, but other sites that were hard to spot and absolutely put in the right

and correct strategic places but were unfortunately hit by your amazing strategic volley. One in a thousand captains would have been able to achieve such destruction of your

mighty, mighty fortress. Yes. Yes. Yes. I like how this is going. Almost a battle of titans, you could say. I would say hard fought. It was, and that moment that I invited you on to, no, no, the moment you swung onto the ship.

Cutlass in mouth. Cutlass in mouth, and then... Shirtless. Oh, yes mouth and then... Shirtless! Oh yes, and then I rose my own sword and together we fought. Oh, and the men were standing around us in a big circle as we traded vicious barbs at each other. And then we went at it, clashing one, two, sparring, sparks flying. The ship was on fire at this point. It was, but unfortunately you bested me and you beat me to the ground.

But only because you knew I have a child. And you could not cope with the thought of hope leaving little Harry's eyes upon hearing of my death. You gentleman! And you treated me like a gentleman. You picked me up. You clasped my hand. We shook hands like friends. Yes, friends. Well, I think this is a good report. Class of Sherry. Tally-ho.