William McKinley assassination

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The William McKinley assassination took place on September 6, 1901, at the Temple of Music, in Buffalo, New York. President William McKinley, attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, was shot twice by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist. McKinley initially appeared to be recovering from his wounds, but took a turn for the worse six days after the shooting and died on September 14, 1901. Theodore Roosevelt succeeded McKinley as President. McKinley was the third of four American presidents to be assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and James Garfield in 1881 and preceding John F. Kennedy in 1963. After McKinley's murder Congress would officially charge the United States Secret Service with the physical protection of American presidents.

Contents 1 McKinley at the Exposition 2 The assassin 3 The shooting 4 Death of the President 5 Roosevelt succeeds to the Presidency 6 Aftermath 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links

[edit] McKinley at the Exposition

McKinley and his wife, Ida McKinley, arrived at the Exposition on September 5th, which had been designated as "President's Day" in his honor.^[1] Events scheduled for that day included private receptions and a military review^[2] as well as a speech to be given by McKinley.^[3]

On the morning of the 6th, McKinley visited Niagara Falls and returned to the Exposition for a scheduled public reception that afternoon. His secretary, George B. Cortelyou, disliked such public receptions, believing them to be security risks.^[4] Cortelyou suggested that McKinley should skip the reception, but McKinley replied, "Why should I? No one would wish to hurt me."^[5] McKinley, accompanied by Cortelyou and Exposition president John Milburn, arrived at the Exposition at 3:30 p.m., and proceeded to the Temple of Music building where the reception was to take place.^[6]

In 1901 the United States Secret Service, founded in 1865 to combat counterfeiting, was not officially responsible for the protection of American presidents. However, the Secret Service had already provided informal, occasional security since 1894, starting with McKinley's predecessor Grover Cleveland.^[7] The Secret Service was there that day to protect the President, along with local Buffalo detectives and a squad of eleven Army servicemen that had been instructed to keep an eye on the crowd.^[8] McKinley, flanked by Cortelyou and Milburn, stood and shook hands with the people filing by in a long line. Waiting in that line was Leon Czolgosz.

[edit] The assassin

Czolgosz was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1873, the son of Polish immigrants. He had once been a factory worker but had been unemployed for several years and was living with his family in 1901. Czolgosz had become interested in anarchism in the years preceding the McKinley murder. In May of 1901 he attended a speech, given by famous anarchist Emma Goldman, in Cleveland, Ohio. Czolgosz traveled to Goldman's home in Chicago on July 12 and spoke briefly to Goldman before she left to catch a train.^[9] Goldman was later arrested and briefly detained on suspicion of involvement in McKinley's murder.^[10][11]

In his Sept. 7 statement Czolgosz said that he had read eight days prior, in Chicago, that McKinley would be attending the Exposition. He immediately took a train to Buffalo and rented a room. Czolgosz was at the fair on Sept. 5 for President's Day, and heard McKinley's speech. He was tempted to shoot the President then but did not because he could not get close enough. Instead, he came back to the Exposition the next day. Goldman's speech from May was still "burning [him] up". He joined the line of people waiting to shake the president's hand. Czolgosz wrapped up his hand with a white handkerchief to hide the pistol he was carrying.^[12] Secret Serviceman George Foster later explained his failure to observe Czolgosz's wrapped-up hand by saying that Czolgosz was too closely bunched up to the man in front of him.^[13]

[edit] The shooting

McKinley had been shaking hands for approximately ten minutes when Cortelyou left his side to shut the doors. William J. Gomph, the exposition's official organist, was softly playing Schumann's Traumerei on the massive organ that was a special attraction at the Temple of Music. At this moment, 4:07 p.m.^[14] Czolgosz advanced to face the President. McKinley reached out to take Czolgosz's "bandaged" hand, but before he could shake it Czolgosz pulled the trigger twice.^[15] A man named James Parker, standing immediately behind Czolgosz, punched him in the face and knocked him to the ground.^[16] Agent George Foster jumped onto Czolgosz and shouted to fellow agent Albert Gallagher "Al, get the gun! get the gun! Al, get the gun!^[17] Gallagher instead got Czolgosz's handkerchief, which was on fire. Private Francis O'Brien of McKinley's Army detail picked up the gun.^[18]

McKinley remained standing while security dragged Czolgosz away. After someone hit Czolgosz again, McKinley cried out "Don't let them hurt him."^[19] Eleven minutes after the shooting an ambulance arrived and McKinley was taken to the hospital on the Exposition grounds.^[20] He had been shot twice. One bullet deflected off his ribs, making only a superficial wound. However, the second bullet hit McKinley in the abdomen, passed completely through his stomach, hit his kidney, damaged his pancreas, and lodged somewhere in the muscles of his back.

The doctors, unable to find the bullet, left it in his body and closed up the wound.^[21] An experimental X-ray machine, which might have helped to find the bullet, was on hand at the exhibition, but for reasons that remain unclear it was not used. (In the following days Thomas Edison would arrange for an X-ray machine to be delivered all the way from his shop in New Jersey, but it was never used either).^[22][23] McKinley, still unconscious from the ether used to sedate him, was taken to John Milburn's home to recover.^[24]

[edit] Death of the President

Czolgosz confessed everything that night, stating "I killed President McKinley because I done my duty. I didn't believe one man should have so much service and another man should have none."^[25]. He provided more detail the next day,^[26] insisting that he acted alone, although his statement did not prevent Goldman's arrest a few days later.

Contrary to Czolgosz's assertion that he had killed the President, not only was McKinley still alive, but he seemed to be recovering. On Saturday the 7th McKinley was in good condition, relaxed and conversational. His wife was allowed to see him, and he asked Cortelyou "How did they like my speech?".^[27] A bulletin sent from his sickbed on Sept. 8 said "The President passed a good night and his condition this morning is quite encouraging. His mind is clear and he is resting well. Wound dressed at 8:30 and found in a very satisfactory condition."^[28]

Most of McKinley's Cabinet came to Buffalo, as well as his old friend and former campaign manager, Senator Mark Hanna.^[29] Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was attending a luncheon event in Vermont on Sept. 6 when word came that the President had been shot.^[30] Roosevelt and his party left immediately for Buffalo, arriving on the 7th. However, by the 10th McKinley had improved to the point that Roosevelt's presence no longer seemed necessary, and, for the sake of publicity, the Vice President left Buffalo that day. He went to take a hiking vacation in the Adirondack Mountains, where his wife and family were already waiting.^[31] Similarly, Mark Hanna and the Cabinet members left Buffalo when the crisis seemed to have passed.^[32]

The President continued to improve. A bulletin on the 9th stated "The President's condition is becoming more and more satisfactory. Untoward incidents are less likely to occur." On the 10th a bulletin stated "The President's condition this morning is eminently satisfactory to his physicians. If no complications arise a rapid convalescence may be expected." McKinley continued to take water orally and nutritive enemas. On the 11th, the President took beef juice orally, the first food he'd taken in the stomach since the shooting. Bulletins said "continues to gain" and "Condition continues favorably." On the 12th McKinley had his first solid food, some toast and egg with coffee, but he "did not relish it and ate very little."^[33][34]

Later on the 12th the President's condition began to worsen. He reported headache and nausea and his pulse rate increased, rapid but weak. McKinley became sweaty and restless, although he remained conscious and alert. A bulletin on the morning of the 13th said "The President's condition is very serious, and gives rise to the gravest apprehension." That day, Friday September 13, McKinley began rapidly deteriorating. Hanna and the Cabinet returned to the Milburn house.^[35] McKinley was given adrenaline and oxygen in attempts to improve his weak pulse.^[36][37] His condition worsening, McKinley told his doctors “It is useless, gentlemen, I think we ought to have prayer.”^[38] Later, as he faded, McKinley whispered the words to the hymn "Nearer, My God, to Thee".^[39]. A bulletin at 6:15 p.m. said "The President's physicians report that his condition is most serious in spite of vigorous stimulation....Unless it can be relieved the end is only a question of time."^[40]

Senator Hanna, griefstricken, said "Mr. President, can't you hear me? William! Don't you know me?"^[41] President McKinley, brought down by infection and gangrene, died at 2:15 a.m. on September 14.

[edit] Roosevelt succeeds to the Presidency

On September 12, Theodore Roosevelt and his family arrived at their cabin on Mount Marcy, altitude 3500 feet. The next morning, a cold, foggy day, Roosevelt left for a climb to the top of the mountain, accompanied by a couple of his friends and a park ranger. By noon on the 13th, the Vice President and his party had stopped to rest at the summit on a large flat rock that offered a panoramic view of the mountains.^[42] They climbed back down five hundred feet to have lunch by a lake. At about 1:30, a park ranger arrived, running, bearing a telegram.^[43] Roosevelt understood as soon as he saw the messenger what had happened, saying later: "I instinctively knew he had bad news....I wanted to become President, but I did not want to become President that way."^[44]

The telegram confirmed his fears, reporting that McKinley's condition had turned very much for the worse. After returning to his cabin, Roosevelt received a dire telegram from Secretary of War Elihu Root:

THE PRESIDENT APPEARS TO BE DYING AND MEMBERS OF THE CABINET IN BUFFALO THINK YOU SHOULD LOSE NO TIME COMING

Just before midnight, Roosevelt left his family for a carriage ride down Mount Marcy, a trip that even in daylight usually took seven hours.^[45] At 3:30 a.m. Roosevelt boarded another wagon and continued the long, twisting ride down the mountain at high speed in the dark.^[46] Two hours later Roosevelt finally arrived at the train station in North Creek, New York, where, at 5:22 a.m. on the 14th, he received a telegram from Secretary of State John Hay:

THE PRESIDENT DIED AT TWO-FIFTEEN THIS MORNING

Roosevelt then boarded the train.^[47] The train stopped briefly in Albany before pulling into Buffalo at 1:30 p.m.^[48] There he met his friend Ansley Wilcox and went to Wilcox's house in Buffalo, one mile from Milburn's house where McKinley's body lay. After cleaning up, Roosevelt went to the Milburn house to pay his respects. He met Root, Cortelyou, and most of the rest of the Cabinet there, but could not see McKinley's body as the autopsy was already underway. Root recommended holding the ceremony there, but Roosevelt thought that "inappropriate" and decided to return to the Wilcox house for the swearing-in ceremony. Roosevelt took the oath of office as the 26th President of the United States at 3:30 p.m.^[49] Six weeks away from his 43rd birthday, he was and still is the youngest man ever to hold the office of President.

[edit] Aftermath

Emma Goldman brought a huge amount of bad publicity on herself by writing an article in which she compared Czolgosz to Brutus and called McKinley the "president of the money kings and trust magnates".^[50] Goldman found that even other anarchists and radicals were unwilling to help her effort to aid Czolgosz, believing that he had discredited the anarchist movement.^[51]

Czolgosz went on trial on September 23, 1901, only nine days after the President died. Prosecution testimony took two days and consisted of the doctors who treated McKinley and various eyewitnesses to the shooting. Defense counsel Loran Lewis did not call any witnesses. In his statement to the jury, Lewis noted Czolgosz's refusal to talk to his lawyers or cooperate with them, admitted his client's guilt, and said that "the only question that can be discussed or considered in this case is...whether that act was that of a sane person. If it was, then the defendant is guilty of the murder....If it was the act of an insane man, then he is not guilty of murder but should be acquitted of that charge and would then be confined in a lunatic asylum."

The jury took only half an hour to convict Czolgosz. On Sept. 26 Czolgosz was sentenced to death.^[52] He was immediately taken to Auburn State Prison to await execution.^[53] Czolgosz expressed remorse, saying "I wish the people to know I am sorry for what I did. It was a mistake and it was wrong. If I had it to do over again I never would do it. But it is too late now to talk of that. I am sorry I killed the President."^[54] Czolgosz was executed by means of electrocution on October 29, 1901.^[55]

After McKinley's murder Congress took up the question of Presidential security. In the fall of 1901 they informally asked the Secret Service to control presidential security, and the Service was protecting President Theodore Roosevelt full-time by 1902. However, this was not yet official. Some in Congress recommended the United States Army be charged with protecting the President.^[56] Not until 1906 did the Congress pass legislation officially designating the Secret Service as the agency in charge of presidential security.^[57][58]

The McKinley Monument in Buffalo, New York, a 96-foot-tall obelisk in Niagara Square, was dedicated in 1907.^[59][60] The Milburn house, where McKinley died, was later destroyed.^[61] A stone marks the location of the Temple of Music where McKinley was shot.^[62] The Wilcox house in Buffalo, where Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office, is now a National Historic Site.^[63]

[edit] See also

• List of United States Presidential assassination attempts

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Beschloss, Michael. Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989. Simon and Schuster, 2007. ISBN 0684857057.
• Bumgarner, Jeffrey. Federal Agents: The Growth of Federal Law Enforcement in America. Greenwood Press, 2006, ISBN 0275989534.
• Goldman, Emma. Living My Life. New York, Courier Dover, 1970 edition. ISBN 0486225437.
• Lowy, Jonathan. The Temple of Music: A Novel. Three Rivers Press, 2005. ISBN 0307209849. A novel of the assassination.
• Morris, Edmund. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. Modern Library, 2001 (paperback edition). ISBN 0375756787.
• Morris, Edmund. Theodore Rex. Random House, 2001. ISBN 0394555090.
• Olcott, Charles. The Life of William McKinley. Houghton Mifflin company, Boston, 1916. Available here.
• Townsend, G.W. Memorial Life of William McKinley. 1901. Available here.

[edit] External links

• McKinley Assassination Ink. Comprehensive collection of primary source materials on the McKinley assassination
• "Lights out in the City of Light"; Anarchy and Assassination at the Pan-American Exposition
• McKinley assassination at the Crime Library
• Film archive of the Pan American Exposition, at the Library of Congress. Include clips of McKinley's funeral train, McKinley at the Exposition reviewing the troops on Sept. 5, and the crowd outside the Temple of Music after the shooting.

Coordinates: 42°56′19″N, 78°52′25″W