Leon Czolgosz Biography
(American Steelworker and Anarchist Who Assassinated President William McKinley)
Birthday: May 5, 1873 (Taurus)
Born In: Detroit, Michigan, United States
Leon Czolgosz was a Polish-American anarchist who assassinated American President William McKinley. Born to first generation Polish immigrant parents, he was brought up in poverty and moved from place to place. He had only five years of formal education and started working while he was in his mid teens. However, he was an intelligent boy, who read a lot outside school. He first became interested in socialism when at the age nineteen he lost his job due to the prevailing depression. Very soon, he came to conclusion that it was the state machinery, which made the rich richer at the cost of the poor. He soon lost faith in the Church and moved towards anarchism. However, his odd behavior made the anarchist suspicious and he was thus left alone. He decided to kill President McKinley as a mark of his protest when he learned that the President would be visiting the Pan American Exposition, fatally wounding him with his newly bought revolver. After a speedy trial, he was killed by electrocution within 45 days of President William McKinley’s death. Czolgosz was then twenty-eight years old.