President William McKinley had arrived in Buffalo on September 5th, 1901. The Exposition to that point had been running for months and Buffalo’s achievements with the Exposition were the talk of the world. When McKinley arrived he showed up in a grand parade – video of this was taken on Thomas edison’s brand new video cameras. McKinley gave a glorious speech about Buffalo and the how the Pan-Am Expo would forever be remembered for its displays of electricity and other achievements.
The next day McKinley and his wife went to see the Niagara Falls. When they got back top Buffalo, McKinley went to the Temple of Music building to shake hands. This was a great delight for visitors to the Expo. McKinley was loved by many because of his winning the Spanish American War, as well as taking over Hawaii and the Philippines. Many saw him as the man that was taking America from being a rich and industrialized country - - to becoming the world’s most powerful country.
In the Temple of Music building Mckinley was surrounded by Expo Police and Secret Service agents. On top of that security, before people got to shake his hand they had to walk by many American soldiers that were also guarding the president. Mckinley quickley shook the hands of 200 people in just a couple of minutes. Inside the temple an organist was playing a masterpiece very loudly… witnesses say that the moment his song ended, and it was finally quiet… they heard two gunshots.
The man that had shot president McKinley was a man named Leon Czolgosz (ZOLE-GOSE). Czolgosz was from Cleveland and he had traveled to Buffalo to kill McKinley. He claimed that he disagreed with the way government worked and especially hated McKinley. Czolgosz had showed up at the Temple of Music with his hand wrapped to look like it was in a cast- but inside of his fake cast was a gun. When he got up to McKinley he shot the president twice in the stomach.
Czolgosz never said he was sorry and was defiant to the end. While he was under arrest in Buffalo, the citizens in Buffalo were so mad at him that it looked like they might break into the jail and kill him until soldiers arrived to stop a riot. Meanwhile, the Expo was put on hold… and for the first time in months… Buffalo was dark because none of the beautiful buildings were lit.
McKinley held onto life for 9 days but then died. Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as the next president in Buffalo right after. Czolgosz was execuited by the electric chair a few days after that. Many say that the next 2 ½ months of the Expo were no fun because the entire country was so sad about McKinley that they did not want to go out and have fun.
1.)What was McKinley’s speech about?
2.)Where was McKinley assassinated?
3.)How did Czolgosz get close enough to kill McKinley?
4.)Describe what happened to the Expo after McKinley was assassinated?
5.)Some say that Buffalo has been cursed ever since the assassination of McKinley - - do you agree or disagree? Explain.