Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
 

Cooley Hurd

(26,877 posts)
Sat Sep 6, 2014, 07:15 PM Sep 2014

113 years ago today: Buffalo, NY was its era's Dallas, TX...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_William_McKinley



The 25th President of the United States, William McKinley, was shot and fatally wounded on September 6, 1901, inside the Temple of Music on the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley was shaking hands with the public when he was shot by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist. The President died on September 14 from gangrene caused by the bullet wounds.

McKinley had been elected for a second term in 1900. He enjoyed meeting the public, and was reluctant to accept the security available to his office. The Secretary to the President, George B. Cortelyou, feared an assassination attempt would take place during a visit to the Temple of Music, and twice took it off the schedule. McKinley restored it each time.

Czolgosz had lost his job during the economic Panic of 1893 and turned to anarchism, a political philosophy whose adherents had recently killed foreign leaders. Regarding McKinley as a symbol of oppression, Czolgosz felt it was his duty as an anarchist to kill him. Unable to get near McKinley during the earlier part of the presidential visit, Czolgosz shot McKinley twice as the President reached to shake his hand in the reception line at the temple. One bullet grazed McKinley; the other entered his abdomen and was never found.
McKinley initially appeared to be recovering, but took a turn for the worse on September 13 as his wounds became gangrenous, and died early the next morning; Vice President Theodore Roosevelt succeeded him. After McKinley's murder, for which Czolgosz was put to death in the electric chair, the United States Congress passed legislation to officially charge the Secret Service with the responsibility for protecting the president.

</snip>
3 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
113 years ago today: Buffalo, NY was its era's Dallas, TX... (Original Post) Cooley Hurd Sep 2014 OP
It was a CIA conspiracy! Archae Sep 2014 #1
Robert Lincoln was present at the Exposition, at McKinley's invitation ... eppur_se_muova Sep 2014 #2
I've always thought that was fascinating about RTL... Cooley Hurd Sep 2014 #3

eppur_se_muova

(36,266 posts)
2. Robert Lincoln was present at the Exposition, at McKinley's invitation ...
Sun Sep 7, 2014, 01:14 AM
Sep 2014
Robert Lincoln was coincidentally either present or nearby when three presidential assassinations occurred.[33]

Lincoln was not present at his father's assassination.[34] He was at the White House,[35] and rushed to be with his parents.[36] The president was moved to Petersen House after the shooting, where Robert attended his father's deathbed.[37]

At President James A. Garfield's invitation, Lincoln was at the Sixth Street Train Station in Washington, D.C., where the President was shot by Charles J. Guiteau on July 2, 1881, and was an eyewitness to the event. Lincoln was serving as Garfield's Secretary of War at the time.

At President William McKinley's invitation, Lincoln was at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, where the President was shot by Leon Czolgosz on September 6, 1901, though he was not an eyewitness to the event.[38]

Lincoln himself recognized the frequency of these coincidences. He is said to have refused a later presidential invitation with the comment "No, I'm not going, and they'd better not ask me, because there is a certain fatality about presidential functions when I am present."[39]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Todd_Lincoln#Presence_at_assassinations


Recently finished reading "All The Great Prizes", a bio of John Hay, Abraham's Lincoln personal secretary and biographer, and later an ambassador and Secretary of State under McKinley and, after the assassination, Roosevelt. Hay carried great influence in the Republican Party and did much to get both Garfield and McKinley elected.
 

Cooley Hurd

(26,877 posts)
3. I've always thought that was fascinating about RTL...
Sun Sep 7, 2014, 08:47 AM
Sep 2014

...and 3 of 4 POTUS assassinations.

Also fascinating is that John Hay gave TR a ring containing a lock of Abraham Lincoln's hair, which he wore at this second inaugural.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»113 years ago today: Buff...