Leon Czolgosz
Leon Frank Czołgosz (1873–October 29, 1901) was the assassin of U.S. President William McKinley. A registered Republican, in the last few years of his life he was heavily influenced by anarchist writers such as Emma Goldman.
One of seven children of Polish immigrants, Czołgosz (Polish, pronounced /ʧɔʊ̯gɔʃ/, often anglicized to /ʧoɫgɑʃ/) was born in Detroit, Michigan. His actual date of birth is unknown - some sources state, without offering any evidence, that he was born on 1st January 1873. He lived in conditions of brutal poverty most of his life. He left his family farm in Cleveland, Ohio at age ten to work at American Steel and Wire Company with two of his brothers. When Czolgosz was 12, his mother died while giving birth to another child. At the height of his employment, he was making $4 a day, but after the workers of his factory went on strike (during a time when unions were considered dangerous and illegal), they were fired.
In 1898, after witnessing a series of similar strikes (many ending in police confrontation), Czolgosz returned home, where he was constantly at odds with his family's Roman Catholic beliefs and with his stepmother. He became a recluse, and spent much of his time alone, reading socialist and anarchist newspapers. Some speculate that Czolgosz may have suffered a mental breakdown. He was very affected by hearing a speech of Emma Goldman, and sought her out in New York City to discuss political matters. She later wrote a piece sympathetic to Czolgosz's assassination of McKinley, though not quite in favor of the act. However, Czolgosz, as far as is known, failed to be accepted into any anarchist group. Indeed, his fanaticism and comments about violence aroused their suspicions; some even thought he may have been a covert government agent.
The radical Free Society newspaper issued a warning pertaining to Czolgosz reading:
- "The attention of the comrades is called to another spy. He is well dressed, of medium height, rather narrow shouldered, blond, and about 25 years of age. Up to the present he has made his appearance in Chicago and Cleveland. In the former place he remained a short time, while in Cleveland he disappeared when the comrades had confirmed themselves of his identity and were on the point interested in the cause, asking for names, or soliciting aid for acts of contemplated violence. If this individual makes his appearance elsewhere, the comrades are warned in advance and can act accordingly."
Czolgosz's experiences had convinced him there was a great injustice in American society, an inequity which allowed the wealthy to enrich themselves by exploiting the poor. He concluded the reason for this was the structure of government itself. Then on July 29, 1900, King Umberto I was assassinated by avowed anarchist, Gaetano Bresci. Bresci told the press he had to take matters into his own hands for the sake of the common man. The assassination sent shockwaves through the American anarchist movement. In Bresci, Czolgosz found his hero: a man who had the courage to sacrifice himself for the cause. When he was later arrested, police found a folded newspaper clipping about Bresci in Czolgosz’s pocket.
On August 31, 1901 he moved to Buffalo, New York and rented a room near the site of the Pan-American Exposition. On September 6, Czolgosz went to the exposition with a pistol in his hand, concealed in a handkerchief. McKinley had been standing in a receiving line greeting the public for several minutes when Czolgosz reached the front of the line and shot McKinley twice at point-blank range. McKinley would die from his wounds on September 14.
The gun used by Czolgosz was a .32 caliber Iver-Johnson "Safety Automatic" revolver, serial number 463344. Czolgosz purchased the gun on September 2, 1901.
After a short trial, Czolgosz was found guilty and executed by electrocution, by three jolts at 1700 volts each, on October 29, 1901, in Auburn prison in Auburn, New York. His last words were "I killed the President because he was the enemy of the good people—the good working people. I am not sorry for my crime." As the prison guards strapped him into the chair, however, he did say through clenched teeth, "I am sorry I could not see my father." Emma Goldman was arrested on suspicion of being involved in the assassination, but was released because there was no evidence to support this suspicion.
Czolgosz's story, along with those of 8 other presidential assassins and would-be assassins, was the basis of Sondheim's and Weidman's Broadway musical Assassins. In the musical, he is befriended by fellow assassins Charles Guiteau and John Wilkes Booth, also the only other two characters with "ballads". His song, The Ballad of Czolgosz, is an upbeat, folk song that contrasts sharply with his friend Booth's earlier ballad.
The antagonist of Warren Adler's mystery novel, American Quartet, used Czolgosz as inspiration in a Washington, D.C. killing.
See also: List of assassins