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Succeeds to the Presidency
Theodore Roosevelt became President
of the United States on Saturday, September 14, 1901. The oath of
office was administered by Judge John R. Hazel, of the United States
District Court, at 3:32 , in Buffalo,
New York, in the residence of Mr. Ansley Wilcox, a personal friend
of the Vice-President, who had been his host earlier in the week
when the physicians thought President McKinley would recover from
the wounds inflicted by the assassin.
When the President was shot Colonel
Roosevelt was at Isle La Motte, near Burlington, Vermont. He had
just finished an address when he was informed of the dreadful tragedy.
He hastened at once to the side of his wounded chief, where he remained
until the physicians, deceived [369][370]
as to the deadly nature of the wounds, gave him assurance that the
President would live. Then, worn by the terrible strain of the situation,
he retired to the solitude of the mountains, praying that the prediction
might be fulfilled.
To no one of all the hosts of President
McKinley’s warmest admirers was the shock of the nation’s tragedy
so severe as to him who was nearest in honor and counsel. During
all his later years of public life Mr. Roosevelt had been in the
confidence of President McKinley. During the preceding campaign
they had been drawn closer and closer together and a friendship
had grown up between them that was closer than any that ever existed
between two men similarly situated. The President found in this
strong, energetic man a comrade he could trust in every particular.
He admired his fearless espousal of practical reforms and seconded
his efforts in that direction on every possible occasion. On the
other hand, Mr. Roosevelt saw in President McKinley what many of
his closest friends failed to recognize: the expansive mind that
led the people onward toward the heights of civil government, but
in such a gentle way and with such marked deference to their wishes
that [370][371] they often believed
they themselves were leading him. Colonel Roosevelt recognized the
true greatness of William McKinley almost from their first introduction,
and loved him always as a younger brother might have done. The attempt
upon the life of the President unnerved him as nothing else had
ever done. When he was told of it he turned white, and, strong man
as he is, would have fallen had he not been supported. When urged
to speak he said: “I am so inexpressibly grieved and shocked, and
horrified, that I can say nothing.”
How great was the strain on the minds
of every one during those first hours immediately following the
shooting is beyond description. Some who had never looked upon the
wounded President lost their reason under the stress of it. Then
came the assurance of the physicians that the President would live
and the pendulum swung the other way. There was praise and thanksgiving
everywhere.
In full confidence that the President
would recover, Vice-President Roosevelt retired into the solitude
of the forests to add his supplications to those that were being
offered up to the Author of All from every pulpit, as well as from
every fire- [371][372] side in the
land, for the President’s recovery. Nature is his cathedral, and
in her solitudes he felt himself nearer to Him who holds the fate
of all nations and all peoples in the hollow of His hand.
When the relapse came and the physicians
were forced reluctantly to inform the world that the President could
live but a few hours, a message was sent to inform the Vice-President.
He was in the Adirondacks, the nearest telegraph station being North
Creek, New York. As soon as the message arrived at the station a
number of guides were secured, and, having been given copies of
the dispatch, were hurried away in search of the Vice-President.
One of them found him a little before sundown at the top of Mount
Marcy and delivered the sorrowful summons. The Vice-President immediately
started for the Tahawas Club, some miles distant. From the club-house
to North Creek station it is thirty-five miles. He reached there
at 5:21 the following morning and went at once aboard a special
train that was being held in readiness for him. At seven o’clock
the party was in Albany, where Vice-President Roosevelt was officially
informed by Secretary of State Hay of the death of President McKinley.
[372][373]
The journey from Albany was continued
over the New York Central Railroad. The special train was rushed
across the State, arriving in Buffalo at 1:35
Instead of alighting at the Union station, where there was sure
to be a crowd assembled, Mr. Roosevelt left the train at the Terrace
station, where he was met by Mr. Ansley Wilcox and Mr. George Williams,
with Mr. Williams’ carriage, together with a detachment of the Fourth
Signal Corps and a squad of twenty mounted police. With the police
and the military moving at a rapid trot in front of the carriage
and behind it, Mr. Roosevelt drove swiftly up Delaware avenue to
the house No. 641, which has now become one of the historic mansions
of the country.
It is a brick house, painted white,
with a row of six stately pillars in front of a deep veranda, in
the old-fashioned style of a hundred years ago. It is in one of
the most beautiful parts of beautiful Delaware avenue, and is surrounded
by tall, overbranching trees, which throw a deep shade upon the
handsome lawn all the way down to the terrace, five or six feet
high, which rises from the sidewalk, and upon which elevation above
the street the house stands. [373][374]
Away back in the early part of last
century the house was used by the United States officers in command
of the military post at Buffalo, and stood in a large park or square
that was a part of the military reservation.
The people who gathered about the
house as the cavalcade came clattering up stood by in silence as
the Vice-President left the carriage, walked rapidly up the terrace
steps and entered the house. The people of Buffalo had stood silent
for so many days, as if listening for the heart-beats in that wounded
body of the martyred President lying in the Milburn house, that
the least word seemed an intrusion on the prayerful silence. There
was none spoken now as the man on whose shoulders had suddenly fallen
all the burdens of State passed among them. Only the uncovered heads,
bowed low, paid tribute to the dignity of his great office.
Vice-President Roosevelt remained
in the house but a few moments. His first thought was of the woman
whose ever-loving and gentle helpmate had been suddenly taken away,
and he started at once to pay his respects to her, and offer what
consolation lay in his power. As he returned to the carriage his
eye lighted on the [374][375] military
and police escort still drawn up in the street.
“Send them away,” he said quickly,
“I do not like the idea of a guard.”
As he turned to enter the carriage
the Vice-President saw that his wishes in reference to the escort
were being disregarded. The military was lining up behind the carriage.
“Halt,” he said. He spoke low and
quietly, but there was a military ring in the voice that commanded
obedience. “I will not have a military guard,” he said. “These two
policemen may go with us if you think best. No more.” The orders
were obeyed this time, and the carriage moved away with no other
escort than the two policemen, one riding on either side.
Nearly all the Cabinet ministers were
at the Milburn house when Vice-President Roosevelt arrived, but
he met them only as a private citizen mourning the loss of a very
dear friend. The hour was too full of grief for words and the Vice-President,
after a few moments, returned to the Wilcox residence. He was followed
soon after by the members of the Cabinet, and at their request took
the oath of office which made him President of the United States.
[375][376]
The new President assumed the duties
of the first magistrate of the land in the library of the Wilcox
home. The room was rather small, but picturesque, with heavy oak
trimmings, and massive bookcases lining the walls. Those present
when Mr. Roosevelt took the oath were: Elihu Root, Secretary of
War; Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Secretary of the Interior; John D. Long,
Secretary of the Navy; Charles Emory Smith, Postmaster-General;
Judge of the Court of Appeals Haight; Mr. John N. Scatcherd; Mr.
and Mrs. Ansley Wilcox; Miss Wilcox; Mr. George P. Sawyer; Doctors
Mann, Park and Stockton; Mr. and Mrs. Carleton Sprague; Mr. and
Mrs. John G. Milburn; Secretary to the President, Mr. William Loeb,
Jr.; Secretary to the deceased President, Mr. George B. Cortelyou;
Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Carey; Mr. R. C. Scatcherd; Mr. J. D. Sawyer,
and Mr. William Jeffers, official telegrapher, in addition to Judge
John R. Hazel, of the United States District Court, who administered
the oath.
The scene was a most affecting one.
Secretary Root, who, twenty years before, had been present at a
similar scene, when Vice-President Arthur took the oath after the
death of President Garfield, almost broke down when he requested
[376][377] Mr. Roosevelt, on behalf
of the members of the Cabinet, to take the prescribed oath. There
were tears in the eyes of all when Mr. Roosevelt, standing in the
pretty bay window, with its stained glass and heavy hangings forming
a soft background, lifted his hand to take the sublime obligation.
He was pale, and his eyes were dim with tears, but the uplifted
hand was as steady as though carved in marble. Then in low, but
firm tones, he repeated after Judge Hazel the constitutional oath
of office:
“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully
execute the office of President of the United States, and will,
to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution
of the United States.”
With the final words the hand of the
speaker dropped to his side and for an instant his head was bowed
as if for the Divine blessing. The impressive silence was broken
by Judge Hazel:
“Mr. President, please attach your
signature.” Turning to a small table he wrote “Theodore Roosevelt”
at the bottom of the prepared parchment. Then standing erect, the
solemn dignity of the great office upon him, he said slowly: [377][378]
“In this hour of deep and terrible
bereavement, I wish to state that it shall be my aim to continue
absolutely unbroken the policy of President McKinley for the peace
and prosperity and honor of our beloved country.”
The President then invited the members
of the Cabinet present to remain in office, urging upon them the
necessity of their doing so that he might the more fully carry out
his pledge. He said he had been assured that the absent members
of the Cabinet would retain their portfolios. After a moment’s consultation
among themselves the Secretaries informed the President that they
had decided to forego the usual custom of presenting their resignations
and would remain as he had requested.
Thus President Roosevelt, at the very
outset, paid the highest possible tribute to the late President
McKinley’s genius and worth by adopting his policy and expressing
his intention of carrying out all his plans of a public nature that
he had outlined in any way.
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