Trump referenced only two presidents in that inaugural address: William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. There is something ominous in these choices: McKinley for the general spirit with which he imbued America and Roosevelt for the particular way that spirit manifested under his leadership.
1898, as Stephen Kinzer shows in The True Flag, was a year of struggle for the American soul. That year, America faced a choice: remain a former colony mindful of its past and respectful of other nations’ sovereignty, or become an expansionist power, discard its conscience, and pursue colonialism and coups.
America’s expansionist ambitions overrode concerns of conscience, and Hawaii, Cuba, the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico would, in rapid succession, become the first to feel the results of that struggle for America’s soul. The president who decided that struggle was William McKinley. The current president, who said he wants his legacy to be “the wars we never get into,” showed reverence, in the same speech, for the president who led America into expansionist wars.
In 1898, McKinley called for 200,000 men—an enormous number at that time—to volunteer to fight in foreign conflicts. First, he stole Hawaii. Then he sent American troops to liberate Cuba from Spain. Congress passed the Teller Amendment which promised the Cubans that “The United States hereby disclaims any . . . intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over [Cuba]”. It clearly stated that “the people of the island of Cuba are, and of right ought to be, free and independent”.
The Americans quickly dispatched the Spanish, as promised, and then quickly dispatched with the promise. McKinley announced that the U.S. now ruled Cuba according to “the law of belligerent right over conquered territory,” which came as a surprise to the Cubans who didn’t know they had been conquered.
The Philippines had recently suffered a similar fate. Historian William Polk records the promise, allegedly made to the Philippine resistance by U.S. officials, that America “neither needs nor desires colonies.” While admitting that he could not speak for his government, the ranking U.S. officer at talks between the American military and the Filipino rebels, Commodore George Dewey, promised the resistance that “there is no doubt if you cooperate with us and assist us by fighting the common enemy, that you will be granted your freedom the same as the Cubans will be.”
He told the truth. The Philippines were treated just as the Cubans would be. The U.S. defeated Spain, and the Philippines declared independence. The U.S. then purchased the Philippines from Spain for $20 million and shifted its mission from liberation to occupation and the “benevolent assimilation” of the Philippines. That $20 million was a bargain: Guam was thrown in, as was Puerto Rico after U.S. troops landed on the island.