Episode 3411
Assassination of William McKinley
Sun, 2026-Sep-06 00:05 UTC
Length - 2:37
Direct Link
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.
The featured article for Sunday, 6 September 2026, is Assassination of William McKinley.
William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States, was shot on the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition in the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901, six months into his second term. He was shaking hands with the public when an anarchist, Leon Czolgosz, shot him twice in the abdomen. McKinley died on September 14 of gangrene caused by the wounds. He was the third American president to be assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and James A. Garfield in 1881.
McKinley enjoyed meeting the public and was reluctant to accept the security available to his office. Secretary to the President George B. Cortelyou feared that an assassination attempt would take place during a visit to the Temple of Music and took it off the schedule twice, but McKinley restored it each time.
Czolgosz had lost his job during the economic Panic of 1893 and turned to anarchism, a political philosophy adhered to by contemporary assassins of foreign leaders. He regarded McKinley as a symbol of oppression and was convinced that it was his duty as an anarchist to kill him. He was unable to get near the president during an earlier visit, but he shot him twice as McKinley 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 his conditions deteriorated on September 13 as his wounds became gangrenous. He died at 2:15 am on September 14 and was succeeded by his vice president, Theodore Roosevelt. A month later, Czolgosz was convicted of first degree murder and was sentenced to death. He was executed by the electric chair on October 29. Congress later passed legislation to officially charge the Secret Service with the responsibility for protecting the president.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:05 UTC on Sunday, 6 September 2026.
For the full current version of the article, see Assassination of William McKinley on Wikipedia.
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Until next time, I'm generative Niamh.
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