THE MAKING OF A NATION - William McKinley: The Twenty-Fifth

THE MAKING OF A NATION - William McKinley: The Twenty-Fifth President of the United States
By Frank Beardsley

Broadcast: Thursday, December 29, 2005

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VOICE ONE:

The Making of a Nation-- a program in Special English.

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On December Tenth, eighteen-ninety-eight, the United States and Spain signed a treaty in Paris officially ending the war between them. The fighting had stopped much earlier.

Spain had made the first move toward peace after its forces surrendered at Santiago, on the Cuban coast. A few weeks before, the United States Navy had destroyed Spain's Atlantic Naval¹ Fleet. The American Naval victory ended any chance that Spain could win the war.

VOICE TWO:

Late in July, the French ambassador in Washington gave President William McKinley a message from the Spanish government. Spain asked what terms the United States would demand for peace. President McKinley sent an immediate² answer.

Spain, he said, must give up Cuba. It must also give to the United states the islands of Puerto Rico and Guam. And he said Spain must recognize the right of the United States to occupy Manila in the Philippines. The future of the Philippines, he said, would be decided³ during negotiations⁴ on a peace treaty.

VOICE ONE:

McKinley's terms seemed severe to Spain. But Spain had no choice. It could not continue the war. So, ten weeks after war broke out, Spain agreed to stop the fighting and accept the American terms. It signed a peace agreement in Washington on August Twelfth.

 
William McKinley

A Spanish note protested sadly that the agreement took away the last memory of a glorious past. "It expels us from the western hemisphere, which became peopled and civilized⁶ through the proud efforts of our fathers."

VOICE TWO:

The two countries agreed to meet in paris to negotiate details of a peace treaty. The talks opened October First. The two sides agreed quickly on the issue of Cuban independence, and an American take-over of Puerto rico and Guam. But they could not agree on what to do about the Philippines.

At the beginning of the talks, the United States was not sure if it wanted all or only part of the Philippines. At first, President McKinley wanted Spain to give up only Luzon, the main island. Then he decided that the United States should demand all of the Philippines. McKinley explained later how he made this decision.

VOICE ONE:

"I thought first we would take only Manila. Then Luzon. Then other islands, perhaps. I walked the floor of the White House many nights. More than once, I went down on my knees and asked God to help me decide.

"And one night," said McKinley, "It came to me this way: "That we could not give the Philippines back to Spain. That would be cowardly and dishonorable. We could not turn them over to France or Germany, our trading competitors in Asia. That would be bad business. We could not leave them to themselves.

They were not ready for self-government. So, there was nothing for us to do but to take them all. And to educate the Filipinos, to civilize⁵ them, and make Christians⁷ of them.

"With that decision," said McKinley, "I went to bed and slept well."

VOICE TWO:

Spain, however, did not want to give up the Philippines. It protested that the United States had no right to demand the Islands. True, Americans occupied Manila. But they did not control any other part of the Philippines.

The two sides negotiated for days. Finally, they reached an agreement. Spain would give all of the Philippines to the United States. In return, the United States would pay Spain twenty-million dollars.

With this dispute ended, the peace treaty was quickly completed and signed. But trouble developed when President McKinley sent the treaty to the United States Senate for approval.

VOICE ONE:

Many Americans opposed the treaty. They thought McKinley was wrong to take the Philippines. Opponents of the treaty included former President Cleveland, industrialist⁸ Andrew Carnegie, labor⁹ leader Samuel Gompers, writer Mark Twain, and others.

They organized anti-imperialist groups in many cities to oppose the treaty. They made speeches and published newspapers explaining their opposition¹⁰. Imperialism¹¹, they said, had ruined ancient Rome. And it would ruin the American republic.

They said colonies halfway¹² around the world would be costly¹³ to protect. A large army and navy would be needed. They said colonial policies violated important democratic ideas upon which the United States had been built. We went to war with Spain, they said, to free Cuba from its colonial masters...not to make ourselves masters of the Philippines.

VOICE TWO:

Republican Henry Cabot Lodge¹⁴ of Massachusetts led the Senate fight for the treaty. The opposition was led by the other Massachusetts senator, George Hoar, also a Republican.

Senator Lodge appealed to national pride. He urged the Senate not to pull down the American flag. Rejection¹⁵ of the treaty, he said, would dishonor the president and the country. It would show that we are not ready as a nation to enter into great questions of foreign policy.

Senator Albert Beveridge of Ohio also spoke¹⁶ in support of the treaty. Senator Beveridge said the Pacific would be of great importance in coming years. Therefore, he said, the power that rules the Pacific will be the power that rules the world. And, with the Philippines, that power is -- and forever will be – the United States

VOICE ONE:

Senator Hoar spoke strongly against the treaty. He said that taking over the Philippines would be a dangerous break with America's past.

He said the greatest thing the United States had was its tradition of freedom. To take the Philippines, he said, would deny that tradition. It would violate the Constitution and the ideas contained in the Declaration of Independence: the idea that all men are created equal...and that government exists only with the permission of the governed.

VOICE TWO:

The Senate vote on the treaty was set for February sixth. It seemed that the opposition had enough votes to reject it. But several things happened before the vote.

William Jennings Bryan, the leader of the democratic party, opposed the take-over of the Philippines. But he urged Democratic senators to vote for the treaty. Bryan was looking ahead to the presidential election in nineteen-hundred. He believed that the Philippines' take-over would cause the United States nothing but trouble. He could put the blame for all the trouble on the Republicans. Then -- if he was elected president -- the Democrats¹⁷ could give the Philippines their independence.

Bryan succeeded in getting seventeen Democrats and Populists in the Senate to vote for the treaty.

VOICE ONE:

Two days before the vote was taken, violence broke out in the Philippines. President McKinley, without waiting for the senate to act, ordered the American military government in Manila to extend its control throughout the Philippines.

The leader of the Philippine rebels, Emilio Aquinaldo, opposed the order. Rebel forces prepared to fight. On the night of February fourth, thirty-thousand rebels attacked American forces around manila. Sixty Americans were killed, and more than two-hundred-seventy were wounded. Rebel losses were much higher.

VOICE TWO:

News of the rebel attack caused some Senators to change their minds about the Philippines. Some who had opposed the treaty now agreed with the "Washington Star" newspaper that: "the Filipinos must be taught to obey."

Eighty-four Senators were present for the vote on the treaty. To pass, the treaty needed a two-thirds majority -- fifty-six votes. One by one, the Senators voted. Then the count was announced.

Fifty-seven of the lawmakers had voted yes. Only twenty-seven had voted no. The treaty was approved. The Philippines belonged to the United States.

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

You have been listening to the Special English program, the Making of a Nation. Your narrators were Steve Ember and Doug Johnson. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley.

1 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

2 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

5 civilize   

vt.使文明，使开化 (=civilise)

参考例句：

• We must civilize away the boy's bad habit.我们必须教育这孩子使其改掉恶习。
• Those facilities are intended to civilize people.那些设施的目的在于教化民众。

6 civilized   

a.有教养的，文雅的

参考例句：

• Racism is abhorrent to a civilized society. 文明社会憎恶种族主义。
• rising crime in our so-called civilized societies 在我们所谓文明社会中日益增多的犯罪行为

7 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

8 industrialist   

n.工业家，实业家

参考例句：

• The industrialist's son was kidnapped.这名实业家的儿子被绑架了。
• Mr.Smith was a wealthy industrialist,but he was not satisfied with life.史密斯先生是位富有的企业家，可他对生活感到不满意。

9 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

10 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

11 imperialism   

n.帝国主义，帝国主义政策

参考例句：

• They held the imperialism in contempt.他们鄙视帝国主义。
• Imperialism has not been able to subjugate China.帝国主义不能征服中国。

12 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

13 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

14 lodge   

v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆

参考例句：

• Is there anywhere that I can lodge in the village tonight?村里有我今晚过夜的地方吗？
• I shall lodge at the inn for two nights.我要在这家小店住两个晚上。

15 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

16 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

17 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》