Buffalo, New York (JFK+50) On September 6, 1901, President William McKinley* was shot while shaking hands with the public in the Temple of Music at the Pan American Exposition here in Buffalo at 4:07 p.m.
The President had been shaking hands about ten minutes when he was approached by a man with a handkerchief wrapped around his right hand. The man, later identified as Leon Czolgosz**, fired two shots at point blank range from a .32 caliber pistol hidden inside the handkerchief.
One of the bullets caused only a superficial wound, but the other passed through the President's stomach and lodged in the back.
Over the next several days, Mr. McKinley's condition improved but then suddenly declined. He passed away on September 14th. McKinley was the third POTUS to be a victim of assassination within 36 years.
*William McKinley was seen as a weak POTUS by historians until the 1960s when revisionists argued that he had tried to avoid war and asserted great presidential authority over his cabinet & generals.
**Leon Czolgosz, 28 years old at the time, was an "avowed anarchist" who said..."All those people seemed bowing to the great ruler. I made up my mind to kill that ruler."
SOURCES
"The Assassination of President William McKinley," History, www.history.com/
"William McKinley: Impact and Legacy," by Lewis L. Gould, UVA/Miller Project, www.millercenter.org/
