Qualla: The Assassination of William McKinley: The Handshake That Changed America

The Assassination of William McKinley: The Handshake That Changed America: Introduction

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit T. Dart Walker, Public domain. The president gave away his good-luck piece minutes before he was shot. A twelve-year-old girl named Myrtle Ledger of Spring Brook, New York, had asked William McKinley for the red carnation he always wore on his lapel, and he handed it to her with a smile. Then he resumed shaking hands - fifty per minute, his experienced politician's grip pulling each visitor past him quickly. At 4:07 p.m. on September 6, 1901, inside the Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, a man with his right hand wrapped in a handkerchief as if injured reached toward the president. McKinley extended his left hand instead. As their hands touched, Leon Czolgosz fired twice through the handkerchief into the president's abdomen. McKinley was the third American president to be assassinated, and his death at age 58 would put Theodore Roosevelt in the White House and propel the nation into a new century.

Image: T. Dart Walker | Public domain

The Assassination of William McKinley: The Handshake That Changed America: A President Who Wouldn't Hide

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit E. Benjamin Andrews, Public domain. William McKinley loved meeting people and refused to be separated from them. His personal secretary, George B. Cortelyou, had tried twice to remove the Temple of Music reception from the schedule, fearing an assassination attempt. McKinley restored it both times. 'Why should I? N...

Image: E. Benjamin Andrews | Public domain

The Assassination of William McKinley: The Handshake That Changed America: The Assassin in the Crowd

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Wiendenthal Photo Company of Cleveland,Ohio, Public domain. Leon Czolgosz was born in Detroit in 1873, the son of Polish immigrants. He lost his factory job in Cleveland during the economic turmoil of the Panic of 1893, and drifted toward anarchism. Emma Goldman's speeches burned in his head, though Goldman herself grew uneasy about his p...

Image: Wiendenthal Photo Company of Cleveland,Ohio | Public domain

The Assassination of William McKinley: The Handshake That Changed America: Four Minutes in the Temple of Music

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Adam Moss from East Amherst, New York, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Temple of Music was an ornate auditorium in the heart of the fair. Grand Marshal Louis Babcock had arranged a broad aisle from the east doors to where McKinley would stand, an American flag draped behind him, potted plants arranged around his position. Secret Service agents, ...

Image: Adam Moss from East Amherst, New York, United States | CC BY-SA 2.0

The Assassination of William McKinley: The Handshake That Changed America: Eight Days of False Hope

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit C.D. Arnold, official photographer to the Exposition (credited on page 228 of source), Public domain. The best surgeon in Buffalo was in Niagara Falls performing a neck operation. When told the president of the United States needed him, Roswell Park said he could not leave. Then they told him who had been shot. Park arrived too late; another surgeon, Matthew D. Mann - a gynecolog...

Image: C.D. Arnold, official photographer to the Exposition (credited on page 228 of source) | Public domain

The Assassination of William McKinley: The Handshake That Changed America: The Century Turns

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit E. Benjamin Andrews, Public domain. Roosevelt was racing over Adirondack mountain roads by carriage when he learned McKinley was dead. He took the oath of office that afternoon at the Ansley Wilcox House in Buffalo. Czolgosz went to trial nine days after the president died, was convicted in half an hour, and was ex...

Image: E. Benjamin Andrews | Public domain