🎧 The Ides of April
The Handshake Line: The Assassination of William McKinley
Episode Two: The Strenuous Life
Two shots.
Eight days.
A century set in motion.
Episode Two begins in the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt—inside the Temple of Music as chaos erupts, and follows the slow, agonizing decline of a president who, for a moment, seemed like he might survive.
He didn’t.
And the reasons why still raise questions more than a century later.
From the failed surgical response to the now-infamous decision not to use a nearby X-ray machine that could have located the fatal bullet, we explore the medical catastrophe that may have sealed McKinley’s fate.
But the real story unfolds in what came next.
When Theodore Roosevelt takes the oath of office in a private home in Buffalo, the presidency—and the trajectory of the United States—changes overnight. What follows is one of the most consequential transformations in American history: the rise of executive power, the expansion of global influence, and the beginning of what would become the American century.
From the Panama Canal to trust-busting, from the Great White Fleet to the Roosevelt Corollary, this episode explores not just how McKinley died…
But what his death built.
🔥 On This Episode:
• The shooting and McKinley’s final words
• The eight-day medical crisis and unanswered questions
• The rapid trial and execution of Czolgosz
• Roosevelt’s sudden rise—and political earthquake
• The global consequences of a single bullet
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And remember…
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But it leaves patterns.
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