State funeral held for President William McKinley in U.S. Capitol rotunda 120 years ago this hour (Sep 17 1901)


Video: 'President McKinleys Funeral, 1901, Part 1' (Sept. 17, 1901, at 0:06-6:28)

(Tuesday, September 17, 1901, funeral procession from White House to Capitol began at 9:10 a.m. EST; during the Assassination of William McKinley) — A state funeral was held today in Washington for President William McKinley who died three days before in Buffalo, New York, from complications of gunshot wounds received Sept. 6, 1901.

The services were brief and simple. The limited space for spectators was filled by an assemblage of distinguished people, including Theodore Roosevelt, who succeeded to the presidency upon McKinley’s death, and former President Grover Cleveland, occupying central positions side by side.

Mrs. Ida Saxton McKinley, upon the advice of her friends and physician, did not attend the services. In her enfeebled condition, it was deemed unwise to subject her to the trying ordeal.

After the service, Mrs. McKinley followed the flag-draped coffin down the long east steps of the Capitol and joined a funeral procession to the train depot. McKinley’s remains would be taken to Canton, Ohio, for burial on Sept. 19, 1901.

McKinley was the third U.S. President to be assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and James A. Garfield in 1881.