One public reception · eight days of decline · modern protection begins
Leon Czolgosz shot President McKinley during a public reception in Buffalo. McKinley's death eight days later accelerated the move toward permanent presidential protection.
President William McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz during a public receiving line inside the Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901. Surgeons operated immediately, but one bullet remained unrecovered and McKinley died of infection and gangrenous complications at the Milburn House on September 14. Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in that same afternoon in Buffalo, Czolgosz was swiftly tried and executed, and the assassination accelerated the emergence of full-time Secret Service protection for the president.
Temple of Music
The exposition hall where McKinley was shot
The scale
Key figures are drawn from the published case record.
Attack to aftermath
The shooting, emergency surgery, McKinley's decline, Roosevelt's succession, and rapid prosecution unfolded within weeks.
See all 8 mapped locations →Sep 5, 1901
On the day before the shooting, McKinley toured the Pan-American Exposition and delivered a major speech endorsing reciprocity and expanding American trade.
Sep 6, 1901
During a public receiving line inside the Temple of Music, Leon Czolgosz approached with a revolver hidden beneath a handkerchief and shot President McKinley at close range.
Sep 6, 1901
Doctors opened McKinley’s abdomen, repaired visible damage to the stomach and intestines, and failed to locate the bullet during an operation performed under improvised fairground conditions.
Sep 14, 1901
After several days of guarded optimism, McKinley’s condition worsened from infection and gangrenous deterioration, and he died at 2:15 a.m. on September 14, 1901.
Sep 14, 1901
Later the same day, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office at the Ansley Wilcox House in Buffalo and became the 26th president.
Sep 24, 1901
After only a brief deliberation, the jury found Czolgosz guilty of murdering President McKinley.
The historical turn
Czolgosz exploited a public receiving line, concealing the revolver beneath a handkerchief as he approached the president.
Doctors repaired visible internal damage but could not locate the bullet before infection and gangrene developed.
The assassination created the expectation of continuous presidential protection by the Secret Service.
Czolgosz was tried, convicted, sentenced, and executed within fifty-three days of McKinley's death.
Explore the documentary record →Where certainty changes
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Go deeper
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