Aside from That, Mrs. McKinley, How Was the Expo?

This coming week marks the 120th anniversary of the assassination of President William McKinley. I will admit that vinticentennials tend to get overlooked, and McKinley's is generally ranked in the middle of U.S. administrations. But without McKinley's assassination, instead of ending up on Mt. Rushmore, Teddy Roosevelt would probably have languished in the obscurity endured by most vice presidents from Daniel Tompkins to Alben Barkley.

Besides, I have no idea whether I'll still feel like keeping up this Saturday history schtick for another five years for when the quasquicentennial comes around.

"Night at the Pan-American" by Lucius Hitchcock in Harper's Weekly, September 7, 1901

To refresh your American History 101, McKinley was shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901.

"Put Me Off at Buffalo" by Rowland C. Bowman in Minneapolis Tribune, May, 1901

The Pan-American Exposition was a chance for the U.S., fresh off its victory in the Spanish-American War, to show off to the world, and President McKinley had every intention of milking it for all it was worth. 

The previous decade had witnessed a wave of assassinations by anarchists in Europe: President Marie François Sadi Carnot of France in 1894; Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo of Spain in 1897; Empress Elizabeth of Austria in 1898; and King Umberto I of Italy in 1900. Because of this, McKinley's personal secretary, George Cortelyou, twice tried to take shaking hands with the public off McKinley's schedule. Having had to cancel a "President's Day" appearance at the Exposition in May when his wife took ill, however, McKinley insisted on getting to press the flesh on September 5 and 6.

"My Harp Is Also Turned to Mourning..." by Gennette (?) in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 7, 1901

Fired up by the speeches of anarchist Emma Goldman, Czolgosz decided on September 3 to assassinate McKinley. He was unable to get close enough to shoot McKinley at the Exposition on September 5, but returned the next day with his gun concealed in a cloth rag, and waited in the president's receiving line until he was right up in front of his target. He fired two shots at point blank range before he was wrestled to the ground.

"One Bandage Too Many" by Gennette in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 8, 1901

I'm having to guess at this Brooklyn Daily Eagle cartoonist's name from his signature alone. Whether the name begins with a J or a G, I have not come across any information about him.

"Why Not Make This a Law, Uncle" by Gennette in Brooklyn Eagle, September 10, 1901

This is a peculiar cartoon: to nobody's surprise, Czolgosz would be executed for his crime before the end of October, so what difference would making "an attack upon the President, the Vice President or any member of the Cabinet... treason punishable with death"?

In part, the Brooklyn Eagle was arguing in favor of making attempted assassination of officials of the executive branch a federal crime. Czolgosz would be tried and executed by the State of New York, in whose jurisdiction the crime took place. (Assassination of the president or vice president was not made a federal crime until after John Kennedy's assassination in 1963.)

"At the Threshold" by Wm. A. Rogers in Harper's Weekly, September 14, 1901

 

As McKinley lay in hospital for several days, cartoonists for the weekly newspapers had the difficult task of eulogizing him in case he died, without pronouncing him dead in case he didn't.

Indeed, banner headlines on September 11 proclaimed McKinley's recovery from his injuries.

"The Crisis Passed" by Felix Mahony in Washington (DC) Evening Star, September 11, 1901

Was he really going to make it? Tune in next Saturday to find out!

(Spoiler alert: I've already told you.)