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(Saturday, September 14, 1901, 3:25 p.m. EST; during the Assassination of William McKinley and the First inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt) — U.S. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, 42, took the oath of office today as the 26th President of the United States at the home of his friend Ansley Wilcox (641 Delaware Ave.) in Buffalo, New York, some 13 hours after the death of President William McKinley, who was shot by an assassin eight days earlier.
About 50 VIPs, family members and Cabinet officials gathered in the home’s library for Roosevelt’s inauguration. John R. Hazel, a federal judge, administered the oath.
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Roosevelt had arrived in Buffalo at 1:30 p.m., having rushed 375 miles from his family’s cabin near Mount Marcy, located in the high-peaks region of the Adirondacks.
Six weeks away from his 43rd birthday, Roosevelt remains the youngest man ever to hold the office of President.
On Sept. 16, 1901, Roosevelt and the cabinet members would ride along with President William McKinley’s casket on a train from Buffalo, New York to Washington, D.C. He would hold his first cabinet meeting as President of the United States on Sept. 20, 1901, and pledge to continue the policies of the McKinley administration.
