Theodore Roosevelt Sworn Into Office in The Wilcox Home
On September 6, 1901, while attending the Pan-American Exposition, anarchist Leon Czolgosz twice shot President William McKinley. Although early doctor's reports on the President's condition were positive, McKinley's condition soon worsened. Theodore Roosevelt, the vice president, assured that McKinley would recover, headed up to Vermont to give some speeches and to take a planned vacation. Roosevelt had thus gone on to a planned family camping and hiking trip to Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks when a runner finally caught up with him and told him that McKinley's condition had greatly worsened and that he was on his death bed. Not wanting to simply show up in Buffalo and wait on McKinley's death, Roosevelt was pondering with his wife, Edith, how best to respond to this turn of events, when additional news reached him that McKinley would soon die. Roosevelt was rushed by a series of stagecoaches to North Creek train station. At the station, Roosevelt was handed a telegram that said only that the President had died. Turning the telegram upside down and reading it again, Roosevelt expressed a sense of helplessness that the telegram contained no additional information and said only that McKinley had died at 2:30 AM on the morning of the 14th. Officially having learned that he was now President of the United States, Roosevelt continued by train from North Creek to Buffalo. Roosevelt arrived in Buffalo later that same day, accepting an invitation to stay Wilcox's home. He had known Wilcox since the early 1880s when they had both worked closely with New York State Governor Grover Cleveland on civil service reform. Wilcox would recall that "the family and most of the household were in the country, but he was offered a quiet place to sleep and eat, and accepted it." For the actual swearing in, the most appropriate site was determined to be the Wilcox home. Approximately 50 dignitaries, family members and cabinet officials gathered in the front library for the inauguration. Federal Judge John R. Hazel administered the oath. No photograph image exists of the ceremony itself, although the room was heavily photographed after the inauguration had concluded. Today this home is known as the Ansley Wilcox House at Buffalo, New York borrowing Wilcox's morning coat. Roosevelt did not swear on the Bible nor on any other book, making him unique among presidents. Mark Hanna lamented that "that damned cowboy is president now," giving expression to the fears of many old line Republicans.
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