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McKinley Assassination

McKinley Assassination. A Political Assassination. President McKinley. William McKinley, Jr. (January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901) was the twenty-fifth President of the United States, and the last veteran of the Civil War to be elected.

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McKinley Assassination

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  1. McKinley Assassination A Political Assassination

  2. President McKinley • William McKinley, Jr. (January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901) was the twenty-fifth President of the United States, and the last veteran of the Civil War to be elected. • By the 1880s, this Ohio native was a nationally known Republican leader; his signature issue was high tariffs on imports as a formula for prosperity, as typified by his McKinley Tariff of 1890.

  3. 1896 Election • Electoral vote: 271 176 • Statescarried: 23 22 • Popularvote: McKinley: 7,112,138 [51%] Bryan: 6,508,172 [46.7%]

  4. McKinley Administration • McKinley presided over a return to prosperity after the Panic of 1893 and was reelected in 1900 after another intense campaign against Bryan, this one focused on foreign policy.

  5. The Assassination • 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. • Leon Czolgosz shoots President McKinley with a concealed revolver.

  6. Leon Czolgosz

  7. Czolgosz • Czolgosz was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1873, the son of Polish immigrants. • 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. • Goldman was later arrested and briefly detained on suspicion of involvement in McKinley's murder. • Leon Czolgoszmugshot, from the day after the shooting

  8. Scene of the shooting • In his statement, which he gave on Sept. 7, 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. • Scene of the shooting inside the Temple of Music. Spot where McKinley was shot marked with an X.

  9. Roosevelt becomes president, 1901 • Roosevelt then boarded the train.The train stopped briefly in Albany before pulling into Buffalo at 1:30 p.m. • 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. • Six weeks away from his 43rd birthday, he was and still is the youngest man ever to hold the office of President.

  10. 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". • 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.

  11. Protecting the president • 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. • Not until 1906 did the Congress pass legislation officially designating the Secret Service as the agency in charge of presidential security.

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