LoC Blog: President McKinley Assassinated

On September 6, 1901, President William McKinley was shot twice in the stomach while attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Leon Czolgosz, a Polish citizen associated with the Anarchist movement, fired at McKinley who was greeting the public in a receiving line.

Assassination of President McKinley. T. Dart Walker, artist, 1905. Chronological List of Presidents, First Ladies, and Vice Presidents of the United States. Prints & Photographs Division

McKinley died September 14, whispering the words of his favorite hymn, “Nearer my God to Thee, Nearer to Thee.” He was succeeded by his vice president, Theodore Roosevelt.
Czolgosz’s execution in an electric chair was reenacted in a short feature shot by Edwin Porter and released, along with films of the World’s Fair and the McKinley funeral, by the Edison Company in 1901. Porter began making films for the Edison Company in 1900. He introduced important innovations to the new art of filmmaking including the practice of continuity editing that quickly replaced the earlier technique of stringing together a series of static scenes.

Execution of Czolgosz, with panorama of Auburn Prison. Edwin S. Porter, camera; United States: Thomas A. Edison, Inc., 1901. Last Days of a President: Films of McKinley and the Pan-American Exposition, 1901. Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound Division

 

via  https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/september-06#president-mckinley-assassinated