William McKinley, Jr.  was the25th President of the United States ( 1897 – 1901),
and the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected to that office. He was
the last President of the 19th century and the first of 20th. His second term came 
to a tragic end. On September 5, 1901, President  McKinley who had just delivered
a speech at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, was standing in a receiving line when a deranged anarchist shot him twice. He died eight days later. 

President McKinley delivering his last address at the Pan-American Exposition

 
An artists depiction of the shooting of President McKinley shows the assassin,
Leon Czolgosz, with a concealed revolver.

             Marker at the McKinley Memorial Mausoleum in Canton, Ohio