(January 29, 1843–September 14, 1901), was the 25th President of the United States, 1897–1901, assassinated shortly after re-election; won the Spanish-American War, 1898; annexed Guam, Puerto Rico, the Hawaiian Islands, the Philippine Islands, under Admiral George Dewey; defeated the Spanish in Cuba under Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and the “Roughriders”; put down the Boxer Rebellion in China, 1900; arranged the permanent lease of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, 1901; planned the Panama Canal; Governor of Ohio, 1892–96; Ohio delegate to the Republican National Convention, 1892, 1888, 1884; U.S. Representative, 1876–83, 1885–91, being Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee; married Ida Saxton, 1871; Prosecuting Attorney of Stark County, 1869; President of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), Canton, Ohio, 1868; admitted to the bar, 1867, delivering his first political speeches in favor of Negro suffrage; Acting Assistant Adjutant-General of the 1st Division, 1st Army Corps, on the staff of General Samuel S. Carroll; Major of the U.S. Volunteers, 1865, brevetted by President Lincoln for his gallantry; Captain, 1864, fighting the Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley; First Lieutenant, 1863; Commissary-Sergeant, 1862, fighting at Antietam; Private in the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 1861; and attended Allegheny College, Pennsylvania, 1860.
During his 1892 gubernatorial campaign in Ohio, William McKinley declared:
The men who established this government had faith in God and sublimely trusted in Him. They besought His counsel and advice in every step of their progress. And so it has been ever since; American history abounds in the instances of this trait in our national affairs.
Our rulers may not always be observers of the outward forms of religion, but we have never had a president, from Washington to Harrison, who publicly avowed infidelity, or scoffed at the faith of the masses of our people.2823
On July 4, 1892, in an address to the Baptist Young People’s Union in Lakeside, Ohio, Governor William McKinley shared:
Lincoln, like Washington, illustrated in his administration faith in God. On March 4, 1861, he said: “Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance upon Him who has never forgotten this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulties.”2824
On June 29, 1893, before the First International Convention of the Epworth League in Cleveland, Governor William McKinley declared:
We live to make our Church a power in the land while we love every other Church that exalts our Christ. That broad Christian liberality lies at the basis of your work. … Every organization of this kind demonstrates that Christian character is helpful in every avenue or emergency of life. … The demand of the time is the young man thoroughly grounded in Christianity and its Book.2825
On July 14, 1894, in Cleveland, Ohio, Governor McKinley stated in a speech to the Christian Endeavor’s International Convention:
There is no currency in this world that passes at such a premium anywhere as good Christian character. … The time has gone by when the young man or the young woman in the United States has to apologize for being a follower of Christ. … No cause but one could have brought together so many people, and that is the cause of our Master.2826
In 1896, while speaking of the attributes of Abraham Lincoln, President-elect William McKinley declared:
The purposes of God, working through the ages, were, perhaps, more clearly revealed to him than to any other. … He was the greatest man of his time, especially approved of God for the work He gave him to do.2827
On Thursday, March 4, 1897, in his First Inaugural Address, President William McKinley proclaimed:
In obedience to the will of the people, and in their presence, by the authority vested in me by this oath, I assume the arduous and responsible duties of President of the United States, relying upon the support of my countrymen and invoking the guidance of Almighty God. Our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers, who has so singularly favored the American people in every national trial, and who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps. …
It is consoling and encouraging to realize that free speech, a free press, free thought, free schools, the free and unmolested right of religious liberty and worship, and free and fair elections are dearer and more universally enjoyed to-day than ever before. …
Illiteracy must be banished from the land if we shall attain that high destiny as the foremost of the enlightened nations of the world which, under Providence, we ought to achieve. …
Let me again repeat the words of the oath administered by the Chief Justice which, in their respective spheres, so far as applicable, I would have all my countrymen observe: “I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” This is the obligation I have reverently taken before the Lord Most High. To keep it will be my single purpose, my constant prayer.2828
On October 29, 1897, President William McKinley issued a Proclamation of a National Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer:
In remembrance of God’s goodness to us during the past year, which has been so abundant, “let us offer unto Him our thanksgiving and pay our vows unto the Most High.” Under His watchful providence industry has prospered, the conditions of labor have been improved, the rewards of the husbandman have been increased, and the comforts of our homes multiplied. His mighty hand has preserved peace and protected the nation. Respect for law and order has been strengthened, love of free institutions cherished, and all sections of our beloved country brought into closer bonds of fraternal regard and generous cooperation.
For these great benefits it is our duty to praise the Lord in a spirit of humility and gratitude and to offer up to Him our most earnest supplications.
That we may acknowledge our obligation as a people to Him who has so graciously granted us the blessings of free government and material prosperity, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, do hereby designate and set apart Thursday, the twenty-fifth day of November, for national thanksgiving and prayer, which all of the people are invited to observe with appropriate religious services in their respective places of worship. On this day of rejoicing and domestic reunion let our prayers ascend to the Giver of every good and perfect gift for the continuance of His love and favor to us, that our hearts may be filled with charity and good will, and we may be ever worthy of His beneficent concern.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington this 29th day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-second. William McKinley.
By the President: John Sherman, Secretary of State.2829
On December 6, 1897, in his First Annual Message to Congress, President William McKinley stated:
It gives me pleasure to extend greeting to the Fifty-fifth Congress. … meeting under felicitous conditions, justifying sincere congratulation and calling for our grateful acknowledgment to a beneficent Providence which has so signally blessed and prospered us as a nation. …
The wise utterances of President Grant in his memorable message of December 7, 1875, are signally relevant to the present situation in Cuba, and it may be wholesome now to recall them. At that time a ruinous conflict had for seven years wasted the neighboring island. During all those years an utter disregard of the laws of civilized warfare and of just demands of humanity, which called forth expressions of condemnation from the nations of Christendom, continued unabated.2830
On April 11, 1898, in a message to Congress, President McKinley stated:
Yesterday, and since the preparation of the foregoing message, official information was received by me that the latest decree of the Queen Regent of Spain directs General Blanco, in order to prepare and facilitate peace, to proclaim a suspension of hostilities, the duration and details of which have not been communicated to me.
This fact, with every other pertinent consideration, will, I am sure, have your just and careful attention in the solemn deliberations upon which you are about to enter. If this measure attains a successful result, then our aspirations as a Christian, peace-loving people will be realized. If it fails, it will be only another justification for our contemplated action.2831
On April 20, 1898, President William McKinley approved the Joint Resolution of Congress, which stated:
Whereas the abhorrent conditions which have existed for more than three years in the island of Cuba, so near our own borders, have shocked the moral sense of the people of the United States, have been a disgrace to Christian civilization, culminating, as they have, in the destruction of a United States battle ship [U.S.S. Maine], with 266 of its officers and crew, while on a friendly visit in the harbor of Havana, and can not longer be endured, as has been set forth by the President of the United States in his message to Congress of April 11, 1898, upon which the action of Congress was invited:
Therefore, Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, First. That the people of the island of Cuba are and of a right ought to be free.2832
In 1898, while deliberating the decision to annex the Philippine Islands, President William McKinley recorded:
I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight, and I am not ashamed to tell you … that I went down no my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night. And one night late it came to me … that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift them and civilize and Christianize them.2833
On May 9, 1898, in a message to Congress, President William McKinley stated:
The 4th of May Commodore Dewey had taken possession of the naval station at Cavite [Manila, Philippine Islands], destroying the [Spanish] fortifications there and at the entrance of the bay and paroling their garrisons. The waters of the bay are under his complete control. He has established hospitals within the American lines, where 250 of the Spanish sick and wounded are assisted and protected.
The magnitude of this victory can hardly be measured by the ordinary standard of naval warfare. Outweighing any material advantage is the moral effect of this initial success. At this unsurpassed achievement the great heart of our nation throbs, not with boasting or with greed of conquest, but with deep gratitude that this triumph has come in a just cause and that by the grace of God an effective step has thus been taken toward the attainment of the wished-for peace.2834
On July 6, 1898, President William McKinley issued a Proclamation of a National Day of Thanksgiving:
At a time, when to the yet fresh remembrance of the unprecedented success which attended the operations of the United States fleet in the bay of Manila on the 1st day of May last are added the tidings of the no less glorious achievements of the naval and military arms of our beloved country at Santiago de Cuba, it is fitting that we should pause and, staying the feeling of exultation that too naturally attends great deeds wrought by our countrymen in our country’s cause, should reverently bow before the throne of divine grace and give devout praise to God, who holdeth the nations in the hollow of His hands and worketh upon them the marvels of His high will, and who has thus far vouchsafed to us the light of His face and led our brave soldiers and seamen to victory.
I therefore ask the people of the United States, upon next assembling for divine worship in their respective places of meeting, to offer thanksgiving to Almighty God, who in His inscrutable ways, now leading our hosts upon the waters to unscathed triumph; now guiding them in a strange land, through the dread shadows of death, to success, even though at a fearful cost; now bearing them, without accident or loss, to far distant climes, has watched over our cause and brought nearer the success of the right and the attainment of just and honorable peace.
With the nation’s thanks let there be mingled the nation’s prayers that our gallant sons may be shielded from harm alike on the battlefield and in the clash of fleets, and be spared the scourge of suffering and disease while they are striving to uphold their country’s honor; and withal let the nation’s heart be stilled with holy awe at the thought of the noble men who have perished as heroes die, and be filled with compassionate sympathy for all those who suffer bereavement or endure sickness, wounds, and bonds by reason of the awful struggle. And above all, let us pray with earnest fervor that He, the Dispenser of All Good, may speedily remove from us the untold afflictions of war and bring to our dear land the blessings of restored peace and to all the domain now ravaged by the cruel strife the priceless boon of security and tranquillity.2835
On July 13, 1898, in a message to the Secretary of War, President William McKinley stated:
It will therefore be the duty of the commander of the army of occupation to announce and proclaim in the most public manner that we come not to make war upon the inhabitants of Cuba, nor upon any party or faction among them, but to protect them in their homes, in their employments, and in their personal and religious rights. … All churches and buildings devoted to religious worship and to the arts and sciences, all schoolhouses, are, so far as possible, to be protected.2836
On July 16, 1898, President William McKinley wrote from Washington, D.C., to General Shafer, Commander of the U.S. Forces in Santiago, Playa, Cuba:
The President of the United States sends you and your brave army the profound thanks of the American people for the brilliant achievements at Santiago. … One and all have displayed the most conspicuous gallantry and earned the gratitude of the nation. The hearts of the people turn with tender sympathy to the sick and wounded. May the Father of Mercies protect and comfort them.2837
On October 28, 1898, President William McKinley issued a Proclamation of a National Day of Thanksgiving:
The approaching November brings to mind the custom of our ancestors, hallowed by time and rooted in our most sacred traditions, of giving thanks to Almighty God for all the blessings He has vouchsafed to us during the year.
Few years in our history have afforded such cause for thanksgiving as this. We have been blessed by abundant harvests; our trade and commerce have wonderfully increased; public credit has been improved and strengthened; all sections of our common country have been brought together and knitted into closer bonds of national purpose and unity.
The skies have been for a time darkened by the cloud of war, but as we were compelled to take up the sword in the cause of humanity we are permitted to rejoice that the conflict has been of brief duration and the losses we have had to mourn, though grievous and important, have been so few, considering the great results accomplished, as to inspire us with gratitude and praise to the Lord of Hosts. We may laud and magnify His holy name that the cessation of hostilities came so soon as to spare both sides the countless sorrows and disasters that attend protracted war.
I do therefore invite all my fellow-citizens, as well those who may be at sea or sojourning in foreign lands as those at home, to set apart and observe Thursday, the 24th day of November, as a day of national thanksgiving, to come together in their several places of worship for a service of praise and thanks to Almighty God for all the blessings of the year, for the mildness of the seasons and the fruitfulness of the soil, for the continued prosperity of the people, for the devotion and valor of our countrymen, for the glory of our victory and the hope of a righteous peace, and to pray that the divine guidance which has brought us heretofore to safety and honor may be graciously continued in the years to come.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 28th day of October, A.D. 1898, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-third. William McKinley.
By the President: John Hay, Secretary of State.2838
On December 5, 1898, in his Second Annual Message to Congress, President William McKinley stated:
It is a pleasure for me to mention in terms of cordial appreciation the timely and useful work of the American National Red Cross, both in relief measures preparatory to the campaigns, in sanitary assistance at several of the camps of assemblage, and later, under the able and experienced leadership of the president of the society, Miss Clara Barton, on the fields of battle and in the hospitals at the front in Cuba. Working in conjunction with the governmental authorities and under their sanction and approval, and with the enthusiastic cooperation of many patriotic women and societies in the various States, the Red Cross has fully maintained its already high reputation for intense earnestness and ability to exercise the noble purposes of its international organization, thus justifying the confidence and support which it has received at the hands of the American people. To the members and officers of this society and all who aided them in their philanthropic work the sincere and lasting gratitude of the soldiers and the public is due and is freely accorded.
In tracing these events we are constantly reminded of our obligations to the Divine Master for His watchful care over us and His safe guidance, for which the nation makes reverent acknowledgment and offers humble prayer for the continuance of His favor. …
The newly accredited envoy of the United States to the Ottoman Porte carries instructions looking to the disposal of matters in controversy with Turkey for a number of years. He is especially charged to press for a just settlement of our claims for indemnity by reason of the destruction of the property of American missionaries resident in that country during the Armenian troubles of 1895.2839
On May 26, 1899, President William McKinley wrote a brief note in his letter book:
My belief embraces the Divinity of Christ and a recognition of Christianity as the mightiest factor in the world’s civilization.2840
On October 25, 1899, President William McKinley issued a Proclamation of a National Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer:
A national custom dear to the hearts of the people calls for the setting of one day in each year as an occasion of special thanksgiving to Almighty God for the blessings of the preceding year. This honored observance acquires with time a tenderer significance. It enriches domestic life. It summons under the family roof the absent children to glad reunion with those they love.
Seldom has this nation had greater cause for profound thanksgiving. No great pestilence has invaded our shores. Liberal employment waits upon labor. Abundant crops have rewarded the efforts of the husbandmen. Increased comforts have come to the home. The national finances have been strengthened, and public credit has been sustained and made firmer. In all branches of industry and trade there has been an unequaled degree of prosperity, while there has been a steady gain in the moral and educational growth of national character. Churches and schools have flourished. American patriotism has been exalted. Those engaged in maintaining the honor of the flag with such signal success have been in a large degree spared from disaster and disease. An honorable peace has been ratified with a foreign nation with which we were at war, and we are now on friendly relations with every power of earth.
The trust which we have assumed for the benefit of the people of Cuba has been faithfully advanced. There is marked progress toward the restoration of healthy industrial conditions, and under wise sanitary regulations the island has enjoyed unusual exemption from the scourge of fever. The hurricane which swept over our new possession of Puerto Rico, destroying the homes and property of the inhabitants, called forth the instant sympathy of the people of the United States, who were swift to respond with generous aid to the sufferers. While the insurrection still continues in the island of Luzon, business is resuming its activity, and confidence in the good purposes of the United States is being rapidly established throughout the archipelago.
For these reasons and countless others, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, do hereby name Thursday, the thirtieth day of November next, as a day of general thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed as such by all our people on this continent and in our newly acquired islands, as well as those who may be at sea or sojourning in foreign lands; and I advise that on this day religious exercises shall be conducted in the churches or meeting-places of all denominations, in order that the social features of the day its real significance may not be lost sight of, but fervent prayers may be offered to the Most High for a continuance of the Divine Guidance without which man’s efforts are vain, and for Divine consolation to those whose kindred and friends have sacrificed their lives for country.
I recommend also that on this day so far as may be found practicable labor shall cease from its accustomed toil and charity abound toward the sick, the needy and the poor.
In witness whereof I have set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington this 25th day of October, A.D. 1899, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-fourth. William McKinley.
By the President: John Hay, Secretary of State.2841
On December 5, 1899, in a message to Congress, President William McKinley stated:
From the earliest moment no opportunity was lost of assuring the people of the islands of our ardent desire for their welfare and of the intention of this Government to do everything possible to advance their interests. In my order of the 19th of May, 1898, the commander of the military expedition dispatched to the Philippines was instructed to declare that we came not to make war upon the people of that country, “nor upon any party or faction among them, but to protect them in their homes, in their employments, and in their personal and religious rights.” …
On the 21st of December, after the treaty was signed, the commander of the forces of occupation was instructed “to announce and proclaim in the most public manner that we come, not as invaders and conquerors, but as friends to protect the natives in their homes, in their employments, and in their personal and religious rights.” …
Everything indicates that with the speedy suppression of the Tagalo rebellion life in the archipelago will soon resume its ordinary course under the protection of our sovereignty, and the people of those favored islands will enjoy a prosperity and a freedom which they have never before known. Already hundreds of schools are open and filled with children. Religious freedom is sacredly assured and enjoyed. …
No effort will be spared to build up the waste places desolated by war and by long years of misgovernment. We shall not wait for the end of strife to begin the beneficent work. We shall continue, as we have begun, to open the schools and the churches, to set the courts in operation, to foster industry and trade and agriculture, and in every way in our power to make these people whom Providence has brought within our jurisdiction feel that it is their liberty and not our power, their welfare and not our gain, we are seeking to enhance. …
A right interpretation of the people’s will and of duty cannot fail to insure wise measures for the welfare of the islands which have come under the authority of the United States, and inure to the common interest and lasting honor of our country. Never has this Nation had more abundant cause than during the past year for thankfulness to God for manifold blessings and mercies, for which we make reverent acknowledgment.2842
On April 7, 1900, in his instructions addressed to the Secretary of War, President William McKinley stated:
Upon every division and branch of the government of the Philippines, therefore, must be imposed these inviolable rules: … that no law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, and that the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship without discrimination or preference shall forever be allowed. …
That no form of religion and no minister of religion shall be forced upon any community or upon any citizen of the islands; that, upon the other hand, no minister of religion shall be interfered with or molested in following his calling. …
The articles of capitulation of the city of Manila on the 13th of August, 1898, concluded with these words: “This city, its inhabitants, its churches and religious worship, its educational establishments, and its private property of all descriptions, are placed under the special safeguard of the faith and honor of the American Army.”
I believe that this pledge has been faithfully kept. As high and sacred an obligation rests upon the Government of the United States to give protection for property and life, civil and religious freedom, and wise, firm, and unselfish guidance in the paths of peace and prosperity to all the people of the Philippine Islands. I charge this Commission to labor for the full performance of this obligation, which concerns the honor and conscience of their country, in the firm hope that through their labors all the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands may come to look back with gratitude to the day when God gave victory to American arms at Manila and set their land under the sovereignty and the protection of the people of the United States.2843
On Monday, October 29, 1900, President William McKinley issued a Proclamation of a National Day of Thanksgiving and Praise:
It has pleased the Almighty God to bring our nation in safety and honor through another year. The works of religion and charity have everywhere been manifest. Our country through all its extent has been blessed with abundant harvests. Labor and the great industries of the people have prospered beyond all precedent. Our commerce has spread over the world. Our power and influence in the cause of freedom and enlightenment have extended over distant seas and lands. The lives of our official representatives and many of our people in China have been marvelously preserved. We have been generally exempt from pestilence and other great calamities; and even the tragic visitation which overwhelmed the city of Galveston made evident the sentiments of sympathy and Christian charity by virtue of which we are one united people.
Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, do hereby appoint and set apart Thursday, the 29th of November next, to be observed by all the people of the United States, at home or abroad, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to Him who holds the nations in the hollow of His hand. I recommend that they gather in their several places of worship and devoutly give Him thanks for the prosperity wherewith He has endowed us, for seed-time and harvest, for the valor, devotion and humanity of our armies and navies, and for all His benefits to us as individuals and as a nation; and that they humbly pray for the continuance of His Divine favor, for concord and amity with other nations, and for righteousness and peace in all our ways.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington this 29th day of October, A.D. 1900, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-fifth. William McKinley.
By the President: John Hay, Secretary of State.2844
On December 3, 1900, in a message to Congress, President William McKinley stated:
In November, 1800, the population of the United States was 5,308,483. It is now 76,304,799. Then we had sixteen States. Now we have forty-five. Then our territory consisted of 909,050 square miles. It is now 3,846,595 square miles. Education, religion, and morality have kept pace with our advancement in other directions, and while extending its power the Government has adhered to its foundation principles and abated none of them in dealing with our new peoples and possessions. A nation so preserved and blessed gives reverent thanks to God and invokes His guidance and the continuance of His care and favor. … 2845
On Monday, March 4, 1901, in his Second Inaugural Address, President William McKinley stated:
We are now at peace with the world, and it is my fervent prayer that if differences arise between us and other powers they may be settled by peaceful arbitration and that hereafter we may be spared the horrors of war.
Intrusted by the people for a second time with the office of President, I enter upon its administration appreciating the great responsibilities which attach to this renewed honor and commission, promising unreserved devotion on my part to their faithful discharge and reverently invoking for my guidance the direction and favor of Almighty God. …
“Hope maketh not ashamed.” The prophets of evil were not the builders of the Republic, nor in its crises since have they saved or served it. The faith of the fathers was a mighty force in its creation, and the faith of their descendants has wrought its progress and furnished its defenders. …
As hereunto, so hereafter will the nation demonstrate its fitness to administer any new estate which events devolve upon it, and in the fear of God will “take occasion by the hand and make the bounds of freedom wider yet.”
If there are those among us who would make our way more difficult, we must not be disheartened, but the more earnestly dedicate ourselves to the task upon which we have rightly entered. The path of progress is seldom smooth.
New things are often found hard to do. Our fathers found them so. We find them so. They are inconvenient. They cost us something. But are we not made better for the effort and sacrifice, and are not those we serve lifted up and blessed?2846
President William McKinley stated:
The Christian religion is no longer the badge of weaklings and enthusiasts, but of distinction, enforcing respect.2847
President William McKinley, who was a Methodist, stated concerning the Bible:
The more profoundly we study this wonderful Book, and the more closely we observe its divine precepts, the better citizens we will become and the higher will be our destiny as a nation.2848
On Thursday, September 5, 1901, at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, President William McKinley stated:
We travel greater distances in a shorter space of time and with more ease than was ever dreamed of by the fathers. Isolation is no longer possible or desirable. The same important news is read, though in different languages, the same day in all Christendom. …
At the beginning of the nineteenth century there was not a mile of steam railroad on the globe. Now there are enough miles to make its circuit many times. Then there was not a line of electric telegraph; now we have vast mileage traversing all lands and seas. God and man have linked the nations together. …
Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously vouchsafe prosperity, happiness and peace to all our neighbors, and like blessings to all the peoples and powers of earth.2849
On the day following this address, President McKinley held a public reception in the Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. As hundreds of people were in line to shake his hand, an anarchist, named Leon Czolgosz, shot President William McKinley in the stomach. As he was being put under anesthetic, he was praying the Lord’s Prayer. On September 14, 1901, infection from the wounds took its toll. From a near coma, President William McKinley spoke:
It is useless, gentlemen, I think we ought to have prayer. [Then, to his wife, he said], It is God’s will. His will, not ours, be done.2850
His last words, spoken to his wife, Ida Saxton Mckinley, were from the hymn:
Nearer My God to Thee.2851
On Saturday, September 14, 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt issued a Proclamation of a National Day of Mourning and Prayer:
A terrible bereavement has befallen our people. The President of the United States has been struck down; a crime not only against the Chief Magistrate, but against every law-abiding and liberty-loving citizen.
President McKinley crowned a life of largest love for his fellow men, of earnest endeavor for their welfare, by a death of Christian fortitude; and both the way in which he lived his life and the way in which, in the supreme hour of trial, he met death will remain forever a precious heritage of our people.
It is meet that we as a nation express our abiding love and reverence for his life, our deep sorrow for his untimely death.
Now, therefore, I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do appoint Thursday next, September 19, the day in which the body of the dead President will be laid in its last earthly resting place, as a day of mourning and prayer throughout the United States. I earnestly recommend all the people to assemble on that day in their respective places of divine worship, there to bow down in submission to the will of Almighty God, and to pay out of full hearts the homage of love and reverence to the memory of the great and good President, whose death has so sorely smitten the nation.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, the fourteenth day of September, A.D. 1901, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-sixth. Theodore Roosevelt.
By the President: John Hay, Secretary of State.2852