# Why don't we care that McKinley was assassinated? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 25, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241 "2012-06-25T13:31:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/21 "2012-06-25T15:35:01Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > I am curious as to whether the OP skipped over Garfield himself intentionally, or whether “Meanwhile, I’d suspect a vast majority of Americans couldn’t even name **the** other president who was assassinated.” is unwitting irony. Garfield wasn’t memorable, either, nor was Chester A. Arthur who was his VP (although perhaps he should be remembered a little better as a machine politics crony nominated to balance the ticket, who unexpectedly backed reform once in office). > > Garfield’s assassination is remembered mostly because Guiteau was such an utter whacko, and because, rightly or wrongly, you can accuse the medical profession of gross incompetence leading to Garfield’s death (Guiteau’s lawyer attempted that as a legal defense - that the wound shouldn’t have been fatal - the doctors said so themselves at first). Did they poison his lasagna? Did it happen on a Monday? Garfield seems to take issue with Mondays. Which always struck me as odd, since it wouldn’t seem to matter what day of the week it is to him. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/22 "2012-06-25T15:53:01Z")
> [@](#): > > Wow, who knew I’d stumble across the Teddy Roosevelt Admiration Society here? > > I don’t remember him being on Firefly. 😉 You have to admit, though, he’d fit right in in the 'Verse. And it’s not just admiration. Even his enemies would have to admit that he was certainly a very interesting man. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/23 "2012-06-25T16:00:37Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > There are still a helluva lot of people alive today who remember the Kennedy assassination. In 100 years it probably won’t be much more than a footnote. This. It’s really Lincoln that’s the outlier here, due to the tremendous social and historical significance of the civil war. Although Kennedy’s assassination being the first (so far only) one captured on film probably has an impact as well. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/24 "2012-06-25T16:07:38Z")
McKinley was just another cog in the wheel of the corrupt Republican machine that ran the country at the time. His death represented the explosion of Progressivism into power and the bursting into power of Theodore Fucking Roosevelt. Nnobody missed McKinley. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/25 "2012-06-25T16:28:05Z")
Even naming a mountain after him didn’t work out all that well. Poor guy, makes Millard Filmore look like a regular John Tyler in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/26 "2012-06-25T16:28:47Z")
Why don’t we care that McKinley was assassinated? I blame empathy fatigue. Lincoln and JFK used up all the sorry. They’re like the homeless woman and her child who you buy hot dogs for when you see them digging through the trash can by the pushcart. McKinley is like the wino who sees that act of charity and then runs up to you asking for some spare change. Or cultural bias: if the 1896 race had been between William Jennings Bryan and a pretty blonde college girl, Nancy Grace would still be flogging the assasination. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/27 "2012-06-25T16:45:49Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Nnobody missed McKinley. Certainly not Czolgosz. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/28 "2012-06-25T17:18:35Z")
I’d hardly call it an assassination at all - for a head of state at the turn of the 20th Century, being killed by an anarchist was practically natural causes. [Cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_of_the_deed#Regicides_and_other_assassinations). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/29 "2012-06-25T17:26:24Z")
McKinley’s death was arguably the only presidential assassination that was of historical interest. The other presidential assassins were either lone nuts or part of small conspiracies directed at a single man. McKinley’s assassination was part of a long international terrorist campaign that saw dozens of world leaders being targeted. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/30 "2012-06-25T17:40:42Z")
But that would go against the belief in American Exceptionalism. After all, the U.S. never follows European trends. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/31 "2012-06-25T17:44:39Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > Wow, who knew I’d stumble across the Teddy Roosevelt Admiration Society here? > > I don’t remember him being on Firefly. 😉 His appearance was planned for the second season. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/32 "2012-06-25T18:10:16Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > To me, the most interesting part of the affair is the bizarre disposition of Czolgosz’s body following his electrocution. Wow, that was assholish to the nth degree. The fucker was dead, why not let his family bury him as they wish? The two lesser presidential assassinations were that because the killers were quickly apprehended and were true lone assassins. Neither just completed seeing the nation through a civil war nor were they the youthful embodiment of the new frontier. ---
**Author:** ![President\_Johnny\_Gentle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@President\_Johnny\_Gentle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/President_Johnny_Gentle)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/33 "2012-06-25T18:43:29Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The other presidential assassins were either lone nuts or part of small conspiracies directed at a single man. I don’t think that William Seward and Andrew Johnson would have agreed with this statement. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/34 "2012-06-25T19:30:57Z")
The assassination is actually a very historically significant event-McKinley wanted a very limited role for the USA, following the Spanish-American war. Roosevelt wanted the USA to take the stage with the “Great Powers” (France, UK, Russia, etc.). Roosevelt openly criticized his boss ("no more backbone than a chocolate eclair), while the sober McKinley (who had witnessed the horrible slaughter of the Civil War) wanted minimal involvement. Had McKinley lived, the US’s dalliance with empire would have lasted no more than 5-10 years, and (very likely) the USA would never have entered WWI. We would have stayed out of the world wars, and focused on our own problems. Roosevelt’s accession meant that the USA began the tradition of intervening in every conflict around the world-it lead directly to Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq.☹ ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/35 "2012-06-25T20:24:34Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > We would have stayed out of the world wars, and the Nazi reign in Europe would be in its 8th decade. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/36 "2012-06-25T20:50:43Z")
> [@President\_Johnny\_Gentle](#): > > I don’t think that William Seward and Andrew Johnson would have agreed with this statement. 🙂 True. I didn’t express myself very well. The Booth conspiracy was directed at more than one person (in addition to Johnson and Seward, Grant was also a target). I meant that the Booth conspiracy didn’t represent any wider historical movement. Succeed or fail, it was going to be over in 1865. Even the cause it was acting for had already disappeared. Same thing with the attempted assassination of Harry Truman. The assassins didn’t have any widespread support, even among the Puerto Rican nationalist movement. But there actually was an international anarchist movement that had thousands of members and committed other terrorist acts before and after the McKinley assassination. (Although Leon Czolgosz almost certainly was never a member of an anarchist group. He appears to have been a “lone nut” who was swayed by anarchist propaganda he had heard and read.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/37 "2012-06-25T20:52:33Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > and the Nazi reign in Europe would be in its 8th decade. And the Nazi reign in America would be in its 6th decade. A lot of countries learned that neutrality was no guarantee that Hitler wouldn’t invade you anyway. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/38 "2012-06-25T23:52:24Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > The assassination is actually a very historically significant event-McKinley wanted a very limited role for the USA, following the Spanish-American war. Roosevelt wanted the USA to take the stage with the “Great Powers” (France, UK, Russia, etc.). Roosevelt openly criticized his boss ("no more backbone than a chocolate eclair), while the sober McKinley (who had witnessed the horrible slaughter of the Civil War) wanted minimal involvement. > Had McKinley lived, the US’s dalliance with empire would have lasted no more than 5-10 years, and (very likely) the USA would never have entered WWI. > We would have stayed out of the world wars, and focused on our own problems. Roosevelt’s accession meant that the USA began the tradition of intervening in every conflict around the world-it lead directly to Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq.☹ I agree with you that McKinley’s murder was significant, not that he wanted a limited role for the US. He was POTUS during the Spanish-American War and not an innocent bystander, don’t forget. That war was solely to greatly expand American influence in the Pacific and Cuba. That’s hardly an anti-imperialist. ---
**Author:** ![supery00n](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@supery00n](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supery00n)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/39 "2012-06-25T23:55:46Z")
Because the Vice President who succeeded him upon McKinley’s death was such a damn good president whereas Johnson and Johnson were so bad! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241/40 "2012-06-26T00:05:44Z")
Uh … most people who liked Kennedy think that Johnson was a pretty good president. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-care-that-mckinley-was-assassinated/626241.md?page=3)