The Anarchist Who Believed Assassinating a President Was His Duty to the Common Man

History · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Leon Czolgosz, a disillusioned laborer, saw President William McKinley as the ultimate symbol of systemic oppression. After losing his job during the 1893 economic crash, he turned to radical ideologies, eventually deciding that ending the president's life was a necessary act to rectify the deep injustices of American society.

Born in 1873, Leon Czolgosz grew up in a working-class family, eventually finding employment at the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company. The economic turmoil following the 1893 crash left him alienated from traditional institutions, including the church. He drifted toward radical socialist circles and eventually anarchism, seeking a solution to the inequality he perceived between the wealthy and the exploited poor.

Czolgosz’s radicalization was fueled by observing industrial strikes and learning of the 1900 assassination of King Umberto I of Italy by Gaetano Bresci. Inspired by Bresci’s claim that he acted for the common man, Czolgosz purchased a revolver and traveled to Buffalo, New York, for the Pan-American Exposition. On September 6, 1901, he joined the receiving line at the Temple of Music, concealing his weapon. When he reached President McKinley, he fired two shots into the president's abdomen.

The aftermath was swift and severe. McKinley died from an infected wound on September 14, 1901. Czolgosz, who had been viewed with suspicion by other anarchists—even being labeled a spy in the newspaper Free Society—was arrested immediately. He was convicted of first-degree murder within a month and executed by electric chair on October 29, 1901. While figures like Emma Goldman later defended his motives as those of a misguided patriot, his actions left a permanent mark on the American presidency.

The assassination occurred at a pivotal moment in American history. McKinley had recently overseen the nation's emergence as a global empire following the 1898 war against Spain. His death brought an abrupt end to a presidency defined by the gold standard, protective tariffs, and a shifting role on the world stage, forever altering the trajectory of the executive branch.

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