McKinley: A New Hero?
William McKinley, US president 1897-1901, is a hero to Pres. Trump. He was the last US president of the Gilded Age, the era of Morgan, Rockefeller and Carnegie, prior to the income tax. He presided over a period of unprecedented income inequality, when the top 10% of US households owned 75% of the nation’s wealth. He strongly supported tariffs, by far the largest source of revenue for the US government at the time. And, he was a champion of the gold standard, which favored creditors over debtors.
Internationally he became a supporter of US expansion, of imperialism. Under his watch the US declared war on Spain and annexed Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines and Hawaii, and established a protectorate over Cuba. He favored treaties that later resulted in the construction of the Panama Canal. He favored the exclusion of Chinese immigrants.
Sources: Miller Center, Univ. of Virginia and Wikipedia