Anarchist Shoots President McKinley at Exposition

Context

William McKinley had won reelection in 1900 after guiding the United States through the Spanish-American War and the return of economic prosperity following the Panic of 1893. His administration oversaw territorial expansion with the acquisition of Puerto Rico and the Philippines, and the president enjoyed broad popularity as the nation entered a period of industrial growth. McKinley’s original vice president, Garret Hobart, had died in 1899; the 1900 Republican convention selected New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt as his running mate at the urging of state political boss Thomas Platt.

Leon Czolgosz, a 28-year-old unemployed factory worker of Polish immigrant parentage, had become drawn to anarchist ideas amid the economic hardships of the 1890s. Anarchist attacks on European leaders had heightened American concerns about the movement, and two U.S. presidents—Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and James A. Garfield in 1881—had already been assassinated in the preceding decades. McKinley himself resisted elaborate security arrangements and preferred direct contact with the public during his travels.

What Happened

McKinley arrived in Buffalo on September 5, 1901, for a series of appearances at the Pan-American Exposition celebrating hemispheric progress. His secretary, George B. Cortelyou, had twice removed a planned public reception at the Temple of Music from the schedule over security worries, but McKinley insisted it remain. On the afternoon of September 6, the president entered the ornate hall shortly after 4 p.m. and began greeting a long line of visitors while surrounded by police, soldiers, and Secret Service agents.

Czolgosz joined the reception line with a .32-caliber Iver Johnson revolver concealed beneath a white handkerchief wrapped around his right hand. When he reached McKinley, the president extended his hand; Czolgosz fired twice at close range. One bullet grazed the president’s chest after striking a button; the second entered his abdomen. McKinley remained standing briefly and urged aides and bystanders not to harm the attacker as the crowd seized Czolgosz. The president was taken to the exposition’s emergency hospital for immediate surgery.

Aftermath

McKinley appeared to stabilize after the operation and was moved to the home of the exposition’s president for recovery. Doctors issued optimistic bulletins for several days, and Vice President Roosevelt departed on a camping trip in the Adirondacks. On September 13, however, gangrene set in around the abdominal wound, leading to rapid decline; McKinley died at 2:15 a.m. on September 14 with his wife Ida at his bedside. Roosevelt was sworn in as the 26th president later that day.

Czolgosz was indicted for first-degree murder, tried in late September, convicted within hours, and sentenced to death. He was executed by electric chair at Auburn Prison on October 29, 1901. Congress subsequently formalized the Secret Service’s role in protecting the president.

Legacy

The assassination accelerated the expansion of presidential security protocols and marked the last time a sitting president would be killed until 1963. It also elevated Theodore Roosevelt to the White House, where his progressive domestic reforms and assertive foreign policy defined the early twentieth century. Historians view the event as a turning point that underscored the tensions between industrial-era prosperity and radical political movements while reinforcing the continuity of constitutional succession.