6th September 1901: President William McKinley shot at the Pan-American Exposition by Leon Czolgosz

President McKinley had begun his second term earlier that year, with Theodore Roosevelt as his vice president. His first term had seen rapid economic growth at home, and swift victory in the Spanish-American War of 1898, leading to a comfortable victory in the election of 1900.

On 5 September 1901 McKinley visited the Pan-American Exposition where he spoke in favour of negotiating trade agreements with other countries to support the expansion of American industry. The next day, after visiting Niagara Falls, he returned to the Exposition where he was due to meet the public at the Temple of Music. The President’s personal secretary, George Cortelyou, tried to persuade him to cancel the event for the sake of his safety. ‘Why should I?’ McKinley replied. ‘Who would want to hurt me?’

Waiting in the crowd for the chance to shake hands with the President was American steelworker and anarchist Leon Czolgosz. Having experienced strikes and economic hardships that gradually made him more radical in his political beliefs, he reached the conclusion that social inequality in America persisted due to a corrupt government that allowed the exploitation of the poor.

Inside the Temple of Music, Czolgosz approached the President at 4:07pm. Armed with a revolver that he concealed under a handkerchief, he shot him twice in the abdomen at point blank range. He was soon taken to the Exposition’s hospital where a doctor operated on his wounds. The second bullet could not be located, but they were confident that the President would recover. Nevertheless he died less than a week later of gangrene brought on by his wounds.