Eric Rauchways Murdering McKinley - Essay Example

In his analysis of Mckinley’s murder, Rauchway wants the reader to understand the social and political struggles that faced the nation at the dawn of the 20th century and the solutions that got proposed. McKinley’s death arose many questions in regards to the nation’s culture and also led to far reaching changes in political and social institutions under Roosevelt’s administration. The rise of Roosevelt to power marked the progressive era in America’s history of the early 20th century.

Under McKinley, the US had embodied the social and political conservatism castigated under his republican party at the end of the 19th century. The rapid industrialization under McKinley’s rule created social and political problems for the country. The rapid industrialization had led to the creation of a massive lowly paid labor force, and a high immigration rate that led to population growth and overpopulation in urban towns. McKinley’s assassination and the growing unrest from the populist movement forced Roosevelt to search for answers to these problems.

Roosevelt like most American citizens at the time got caught up in trying to lace reason on the assassination of McKinley. Roosevelt tried to determine whether the reason for McKinley’s murder lay in the assassin or on the social conditions that created desperate people. Roosevelt proceeded carefully in his plan to put the American industry under supervision. Roosevelt employed the controversy stirred by McKinley’s assassination to introduce America into the progressive era. America had become rapidly industrialized and urbanized and the progressive movement aimed to provide a response to the economic and social changes that were taking place at the time.

Roosevelt pinpointed the great economic disparity, overcrowded cities, political dominance of the big businesses, and the poor working conditions as the problems that plagued industrial America. Roosevelt felt