American History - Part 141 - McKinley - Shot Dead - Boxer Rebellion - Phillippine Rebellion
Channel: ListenAndReadAlong
Date: 17/07/2013

A Filipino nationalist group led by Emilio Aguinaldo rejected American control. Aguinaldo declared the formation of a Philippine republic. And he started a guerrilla war against the occupying forces.
The rebellion in the Philippines became a major issue in America's presidential election of 1900.
The Republican Party renominated William McKinley as president. And it nominated a hero of the Spanish-American War, New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt, as vice president. The Democratic Party, for the second time, nominated Congressman William Jennings Bryan as president. It nominated a former vice president, Adlai Stevenson, as vice president again.
The Republican victory destroyed the hopes of many nationalists in the Philippines. With William McKinley in the White House again, they saw little chance of gaining independence. Nationalist leader Emilio Aguinaldo, however, refused to surrender. As long as he remained free, the guerrilla war would continue.
For months, American forces tried without success to find him. Finally, with the help of a tribe of Filipino mercenary soldiers called the Maccabebe Scouts, they captured him. Aguinaldo signed an agreement to support the United States.
With this agreement, the rebellion ended on the island of Luzon. But it continued for more than a year in the southern Philippines. Hostilities ended officially on July 4th, 1902.
American occupation of the Philippines made the United States a major power in the Far East. As such, it began to develop new policies toward Asia. Especially a new policy toward China.
Americans had been trading with China for years, but not heavily. As the American economy grew, however, businessmen saw China -- with a population of 400,000,000 people -- as a great market for American products.
Other countries were interested in this market, too. Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and Russia all claimed special rights in parts of China. They began to divide the country into areas called spheres of influence. It seemed these areas could become foreign colonies. Then the United States would be cut off from trading directly with China.
To prevent that from happening, American Secretary of State John Hay proposed what became known as the "Open Door" policy.
Secretary Hay asked the nations involved to agree to equal trading rights for all countries in all parts of China. No nation, he said, should interfere with the rights or powers of any other nation in China.
No one welcomed the proposal. But no one rejected it, either. Most of the nations involved said they agreed with the idea. But they said they could not approve it unless everyone else did.
Secretary Hay refused to wait for them to act. So in May, 1900, he announced that all the nations involved had given their approval to the "Open Door" policy.
The new policy was tested very soon. Within a month of Hay's announcement, violence broke out against foreigners in China.
The attacks were led by a secret group called Righteous, Harmonious Fists. Foreigners called its members Boxers.
Boxers hated all foreign influence in China. They organized in areas where foreign influence was strongest. They killed Christian missionaries and Chinese who had accepted the Christian religion. They also destroyed foreign industries, especially railroads.
The rebellion lasted about two months. It ended when an allied force of American, British, French, German and Japanese soldiers reached Beijing and ended the Boxer occupation.
In September, 1901, President McKinley made a major foreign policy speech at the Pan-American Fair in Buffalo, New York
The next day, President McKinley went to the fair's temple of music. He planned to spend several hours meeting the public and shaking hands.
A young man waited in line to see him. When the young man stepped in front of McKinley, McKinley reached out to shake his hand. Two shots rang out from a gun the man had hidden under a cloth. One of the bullets struck McKinley in the stomach.
The President was taken to an emergency hospital on the fairgrounds. He was not conscious. The bullet had damaged his stomach, pancreas, and one kidney. But doctors did not believe he was in danger of dying.
The man who shot McKinley was Leon Czolgosz.
For 2 days, the President remained in a coma. Then his condition changed. He regained consciousness and was able to talk. He rested and became stronger.
Then the President's condition changed again. An infection developed in his wound. It spread throughout his body. In another few days, he was dead.
Vice President Roosevelt hurried to Buffalo. He went to the house where the president's body lay. Then he went to another house to be sworn in as president. He was 42-years-old, the youngest man ever to hold the office.
Roosevelt declared that the administration would go on as before. "It is my aim," he said, "to continue unbroken the policy of President McKinley for the peace, the prosperity, and the honor of our beloved country."