September 14, 1901: The Death of President McKinley and the Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

On the morning of September 14, 1901, the United States awoke to the devastating news that President William McKinley had died from wounds sustained in an assassination attempt eight days earlier. His death marked the third time a sitting U.S. president had been assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and James A. Garfield in 1881. The tragedy not only plunged the nation into mourning but also ushered in a new and transformative chapter in American leadership with the sudden ascension of Vice President Theodore Roosevelt.

The Assassination Attempt: September 6, 1901

McKinley was shot on September 6 while attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. The event was meant to showcase American innovation and unity, but it became the site of a national tragedy. While greeting the public inside the Temple of Music, McKinley extended his hand to a man in line-Leon Czolgosz, a self-proclaimed anarchist who had concealed a revolver beneath a handkerchief. Czolgosz fired two shots into McKinley's abdomen.

The president initially appeared to be recovering. Doctors were optimistic, and Roosevelt, who had rushed to Buffalo upon hearing the news, eventually returned to the Adirondacks, believing the crisis had passed. But on September 13, McKinley's condition deteriorated rapidly due to gangrene caused by the internal wounds. By the early hours of September 14, he was dead.

The Assassin and His Motive

Leon Czolgosz, 28, had become radicalized after losing his job during the Panic of 1893. He viewed McKinley as a symbol of capitalist oppression and believed that killing him would strike a blow for anarchism. His actions were influenced by the wave of political violence sweeping across Europe and America at the time, including the assassination of King Umberto I of Italy in 1900.

Czolgosz was quickly subdued by bystanders and later convicted of first-degree murder. He was executed by electric chair on October 29, 1901, just six weeks after the shooting.

Roosevelt's Sudden Ascension

At the time of McKinley's death, Theodore Roosevelt was hiking Mount Marcy, the highest peak in New York State. A courier reached him with the grim news: the president's condition had worsened. Roosevelt descended the mountain overnight, traveling by buckboard wagon, train, and carriage to reach Buffalo.

On the afternoon of September 14, Roosevelt stood in the library of his friend Ansley Wilcox's home in Buffalo. Wearing borrowed formal attire, he took the Oath of Office at 3:30 p.m., becoming the 26th President of the United States.

Roosevelt, just 42 years old, became the youngest person ever to assume the presidency. Though he pledged to continue McKinley's policies, it quickly became clear that Roosevelt would chart his own course-one defined by progressive reform, conservation, and a robust foreign policy.