U.S. President William McKinley was shot and fatally wounded on September 6, 1901 while shaking hands with the public in the Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. He died on September 14 from gangrene caused by the bullet wounds. Re-elected president in 1900, McKinley enjoyed meeting the public, and was reluctant to take security precautions. The Secretary to the President, George B. Cortelyou, feared an assassination attempt at the Temple of Music, but McKinley kept the visit in the schedule. The assassin was Leon Czolgosz, who had lost his job during the economic Panic of 1893. He regarded McKinley as a symbol of oppression, and felt it was his duty as an anarchist to kill him. Unable to get near McKinley earlier in the visit, Czolgosz shot McKinley twice as the President reached to shake his hand in the reception line (1905 illustration shown). McKinley initially appeared to be recovering, but took a turn for the worse on September 13 and died early the next morning; Vice President Theodore Roosevelt succeeded him. Czolgosz was executed for the murder and Congress passed legislation giving the responsibility of protecting the president to the Secret Service.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_William_McKinley

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1781:

American Revolutionary War: General Benedict Arnold led British forces to victory in the Battle of Groton Heights. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Groton_Heights

1930:

Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen was deposed in a military coup by José Félix Uriburu. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip%C3%B3lito_Yrigoyen

1944:

World War II: Soviet forces captured the city of Tartu on their way to re-establishing their rule in Estonia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartu_Offensive

1966:

South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, the "architect of apartheid", was stabbed to death by Dimitri Tsafendas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrik_Verwoerd

1970:

Members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked four jet aircraft en route from Europe to New York City, landing two of them at Dawson's Field in Zerqa, Jordan, and one plane in Beirut. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson%27s_Field_hijackings

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

munificent: Very liberal in giving or bestowing; lavish; as a munificent benefactor. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/munificent

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The word patriotism has been employed … to express a love of the public good; a preference for the interests of the many to those of the few; a desire for the emancipation of the human race from the thrall of despotism, religious and civil; in short … to express the interest felt in the human race in general, than that felt for any country, or inhabitants of a country, in particular. And patriot, in like manner, is employed to signify a lover of human liberty and human improvement, rather than a mere lover of the country in which he lives, or the tribe to which he belongs. … Patriotism, in the exclusive meaning, is surely not made for America. Mischievous every where, it were here both mischievous and absurd. … It is for Americans, more especially to nourish a nobler sentiment; one more consistent with their origin, and more conducive to their future improvement. It is for them more especially to know why they love their country, not because it is their country, but because it is the palladium of human liberty — the favoured scene of human improvement.   --Frances Wright https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frances_Wright