Assassination of William McKinley
William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States, was shot on the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition in the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901, six months into his second term. He was shaking hands with the public when an anarchist, Leon Czolgosz, shot him twice in the abdomen. McKinley died on September 14 of gangrene caused by the wounds. He was the third American president to be assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and James A. Garfield in 1881.
Assassination of William McKinley
Temple of Music on the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, U.S.
September 6, 1901
4:07 p.m.
.32 caliber Iver Johnson revolver
1 (McKinley; died on September 14, 1901 as a result of initial injury and subsequent infection)
To advance anarchism
McKinley enjoyed meeting the public and was reluctant to accept the security available to his office. Secretary to the President George B. Cortelyou feared that an assassination attempt would take place during a visit to the Temple of Music and took it off the schedule twice, but McKinley restored it each time.
Czolgosz had lost his job during the economic Panic of 1893 and turned to anarchism, a political philosophy adhered to by recent assassins of foreign leaders. He regarded McKinley as a symbol of oppression and was convinced that it was his duty as an anarchist to kill him. He was unable to get near the president during an earlier visit, but he shot him twice as McKinley reached to shake his hand in the reception line at the temple. One bullet grazed McKinley; the other entered his abdomen and was never found.
McKinley initially appeared to be recovering, but his conditions deteriorated on September 13 as his wounds became gangrenous. He died at 2:15 am on September 14 and was succeeded by his vice president, Theodore Roosevelt. Czolgosz was sentenced to death and executed in the electric chair, and Congress passed legislation to officially charge the Secret Service with the responsibility for protecting the president.
Presidential visit
Plans and arrivals
McKinley gave a short speech at his second inauguration on March 4, 1901.[11] Having long been an advocate of protective tariffs, and believing the Dingley Tariff, passed during his first year in office, had helped the nation reach prosperity, McKinley planned to negotiate reciprocal trade agreements with other countries. This would open foreign markets to United States manufacturers that had dominated the domestic market thanks to the tariff, and who sought to expand.[1][12] During a long trip planned for the months after his inauguration, he intended to make major speeches promoting this plan, culminating in a visit and address at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo on June 13.[13][14]
McKinley, his wife Ida, and their official party left Washington on April 29 for a tour of the nation by train, scheduled to conclude in Buffalo for a speech on what had been designated as "President's Day". He met with rapturous receptions in the Far West, where many had never seen a president. In California, the First Lady became seriously ill, and for a time was thought to be dying. She recovered in San Francisco, but her husband canceled the remainder of the tour and the McKinleys returned to Washington. The speech at the Exposition was postponed until September 5, after McKinley spent some weeks in Washington and two months in Canton. He used his time in his Ohio home working on the Buffalo speech and in supervising improvements to his house.[15][16] He intended to remain based in Canton until October.[17]
Czolgosz had lived on his parents' farm near Cleveland beginning in 1898, working little – he may have suffered a nervous breakdown.[18] He is known to have attended a speech by anarchist Emma Goldman in May 1901 in Cleveland: he approached her before the speech and asked her to recommend books on anarchism; she obliged. The talk, in which Goldman did not advocate violence but expressed understanding for those driven to it, was a great influence on Czolgosz; he later stated that her words burned in his head.[19] He came to see her at her Chicago home in July as she was about to depart on a trip to Buffalo to see the fair, and the two anarchists rode together to the train station. Goldman expressed concern to another radical that Czolgosz (who was using the alias Fred Nieman) was following her around; soon after, he apparently departed Chicago.[20] William Arntz, a worker at a park in Canton, stated that he had seen a man resembling Czolgosz in mid-1901, when the President was staying at home and sometimes visiting the park. The man was wearing two guns, and when Arntz reminded him that firearms were not permitted outside the park's shooting range, responded dismissively. Arntz sought the police, but the man was never found.[18][21]
Later in the summer, Czolgosz moved to Buffalo, though his reasons for doing so are not known. Author and journalist Scott Miller speculated that he may have chosen Buffalo because of its large Polish population. He boarded in the suburb of West Seneca and spent much of his time reading. Czolgosz then left for Cleveland, though what he did there is uncertain; he may have picked up anarchist literature or procured more money. After Cleveland, Czolgosz went to Chicago, where he saw a newspaper mention of President McKinley's impending visit to Buffalo. He returned to Buffalo, as yet uncertain of what he would do; at first, he only sought to be near the man who to him embodied injustice. On Tuesday, September 3, he made up his mind. Czolgosz later stated to the police:
Books
Other sources