The Anarchist Strikes
There was a long line of people waiting to meet and greet President McKinley at the Temple of Music. It was a sweltering summer’s day, and the reception began at 4 pm. Czolgosz was once again near the front of the queue, and he hid his .32 caliber Iver Johnson revolver in a handkerchief which he placed in his jacket pocket. This action did not make him stand out because a large number of people had cloths to wipe the sweat from their brows.
President McKinley was his usual cheerful and charming self and greeted everyone with a smile and a handshake. At approximately 4:07 pm, Secret Service Agent, and chief bodyguard of the president, George Foster, saw a man with his right hand wrapped in a handkerchief. Foster may have wondered if the man was hiding an injury and when McKinley witnessed the man, he leaned over to shake his hand.
This was the moment Czolgosz had been waiting for. He placed his hand on the chest of the president and opened fire with two shots. The crowd was in shock as McKinley slumped over and his entourage helped him to a chair. Foster and other agents jumped on Czolgosz, but even as the president was struggling for life, he said: “Don’t let them hurt him.” Although one of the bullets grazed McKinley, the other became lodged in his abdomen.
73 minutes after the shooting, the president underwent emergency surgery, but the bullet remained inside him. Initially, at least, it appeared as if McKinley was recovering as his strength improved daily. On September 12, six days after the shooting, he was able to consume toast and coffee orally. However, gangrene had been forming along the path of the bullet, and on September 14, 1901, President McKinley died in the early hours of the morning.
Aftermath
Czolgosz had achieved his objective. He later said: “All of these people seemed bowing to the great ruler. I made up my mind to kill that ruler.” Czolgosz was interrogated in a Buffalo jail in the days after the shooting. During questioning, he said: “I don’t believe in the Republican form of government, and I don’t believe we should have any rulers. It is right to kill them.” He was adamant that he acted alone and that he had little connection to the American anarchist movement.
Czolgosz’s murder trial began on September 23, 1901, in what was little more than an open and shut case. On September 26, he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. During the trial, his defense did such a poor job that in the modern era, it would probably result in a mistrial. They didn’t call any witnesses on his behalf although Czolgosz refused to discuss the case, so they hadn’t much to base a defense on.
He was executed via the electric chair on October 29, 1901, at New York’s Auburn Prison. State law only allowed for 26 witnesses, but there were over 1,000 requests sent to the warden. Just before his death, Czolgosz said: “I killed the president for the good of the laboring people, the good people. I am not sorry for my crime.” The vast majority of Americans were not sorry when the executioner hit the switch and caused 1,700 volts of electricity to surge through Czolgosz’s body. Never again would a president be allowed to have such lax security although John F. Kennedy was unable to escape an assassin’s bullet 62 years later.