William McKinley is generally known to history as the US president before Teddy Roosevelt (TR). He was assassinated early in his second term, and as his vice president, TR assumed office. Most historians view TR as proper founder marking the beginning of the American century. In this book, Kevin Phillips says, not so fast. He contends that much of TR’s administrative foundation was laid by his predecessor and that had he lived, McKinley, not TR, might be considered among the greatest American presidents.
TR, of course, possessed a grandiose personality that few can match. He receives credit and adulation for reforming the American economy from the Gilded Age into an age of capitalistic growth. Phillips contends many of these ideas had their roots in McKinley’s leadership of the Republican party. In fact, McKinley had aimed to reform the monopolies and take on the trusts in his second term. This book makes that case by delving into McKinley’s personal biography. Phillips finally concludes that McKinley should be positioned among the near-greatest presidents and might have become among the greatest had he lived.
Of course, making the premise of a biography that someone might be considered greater had they lived seems fallacious at best. Speculation never has to deal with harsh realities like backlash. TR withstood decades of scrutiny that McKinley never faced. Phillips does make a good case that McKinley was a good, though uninspiring, president. He also makes a good case that McKinley’s and TR’s presidencies should be viewed as a continuum instead of as discontinuous. Of course, I’m not a professional historian, just a lay reader.
I enjoy reading biographies of US presidents, even those who are not considered as magnanimous as the others. McKinley certainly fits in that category. This well-written biography provides little inspiration, however; McKinley’s charisma certainly pales in comparison to his successor. It makes a good case that administratively, McKinley was TR’s superior, but administrative prowess lacks flare for the reading and voting public. TR will always dwarf all presidents after Lincoln and before FDR, and this book seems to contain a historian’s mild grudge about that narrative.
William McKinley
By Kevin Phillips
Narrated by Richard Rohan
Copyright (c) 2011
Macmillan Audio
ASIN B006RU6RZY
Length: 5:49
Genre: US Presidential Biography
www.amazon.com