EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a weekly series marking the 120th anniversary of Niles native William McKinley’s U.S. presidency.
The New York Times reported in its April 20, 1901, edition that Harvard University was considering conferring an Honorary Doctor of Law degree to President William McKinley at its upcoming June commencement.
President McKinley had neither an undergraduate or law degree. He had attended Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, in 1859. He left Allegheny after a year because of health issues and his family’s worsening finances, deteriorating as a result of the Panic of 1859. McKinley attended the Albany School of Law in 1866 but left before graduation.
The alumni had written many letters to Harvard protesting the possibility of Harvard conferring an honorary degree on McKinley. The alumni most upset were those from New York City.
Here are some of the alumni’s comments that appeared in the April 20, 1901, New York Times article.
Augustus Hand of New York wrote the the following letter, reflecting the feeling of many of the New York alumni:
“The Harvard degree of L.L.D has become a prize to be conferred only upon recognized leaders in science and art — great scholars in the broadest sense.
“That President McKinley is not entitled to receive a degree based upon such leadership will hardly be denied even by his greatest admirers. No conceivable reason appears for conferring upon him the degree of L.L.D. at Harvard except that he expects to be present at the commencement exercises. The insufficiency of such a reason needs no comment.”
Harvard’s acting president responded to the disgruntled alumni with the following response:
“I have heard of no organized protest from graduates to the corporation against the granting of a degree to Mr. McKinley, but I understand that several individual protests have been filed in New York. As yet no degrees have been voted, and they will probably not be until the next meeting of the Overseers without whose consent no degrees can be conferred. Sometimes honorary degrees are not voted on until the morning of the commencement.”
Harvard alumni A.M. Howe of Cambridge, Massachusetts, weighed in on the possibility of McKinley receiving an honorary degree.
“To confer the L.L.D. upon him at this time would cause much needless pain and injustice to a considerable number of graduates by seeming to commit the university to a decision upon a political policy, which decision is not the function of such institution. Perhaps, too, it would not be grateful to the president or his friends to make him the recipient of a degree which cannot be a hearty and willing gift of the university.”
The university offered to confer the honorary degree on McKinley despite the protests, and he accepted. However, because of the critical condition of his wife Ida’s health, the president was available to attend the commencement. Harvard’s policy was the honorary degree recipient had to be present to accept the degree.
Harvard did state McKinley would receive his honorary degree at a later time, when he could attend commencement. Unfortunately, McKinley’s untimely death at the hand of an assassin prevented the awarding of that honor.
Patrick Finan of Cortland is the retired former library director of the McKinley Memorial Library in Niles.
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