A TRANSITIONAL MOMENT: WILLIAM MCKINLEY’S FOREIGN POLICY RHETORIC AND AMERICA’S OUTWARD TURN

Abstract

The Spanish-American War marked a turning point in American history. For the first time in U.S. history, American soldiers were fighting overseas. After the war, the United States gained its first imperial territories. America’s new position in the world created a new rhetorical exigence that called for a redefinition of the American people and the United States itself. This dissertation explores this transitional moment and the foreign policy rhetoric of William McKinley in three separate chapters—McKinley’s rhetoric about the Spanish-American War, the redefinition of the American people, and redefinition of the country. Defending his decision to enter the war, McKinley used the ideograph of civilization, framing the war in moral terms for the country. By winning the war and adopting a rhetoric of civilization, McKinley socialized the United States into the great power club. In redefining the American people, McKinley appealed to the values of patriotism and unity, employing the rhetorical trope of the citizen-soldier as the embodiment of these two values. The citizen-soldier trope privileged white males, while women and minorities were downplayed in McKinley’s conception of citizenship. In redefining the country, McKinley employed the trope of American exceptionalism. Here, McKinley redefined the nation from a primarily exemplarist nation to an interventionist state. Rewriting American history, McKinley demonstrated how the nation had always expanded and this latest expansion was America’s natural progression as God’s chosen people. The dissertation concludes by examining McKinley’s rhetorical legacy, how he set the discursive boundaries for future presidents, and his place in the rhetorical presidency.