Today in History: September 6, President McKinley fatally shot

Today in History

Today is Sunday, Sept. 6, the 249th day of 2026. There are 116 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 6, 1901, President William McKinley was shot and mortally wounded by anarchist Leon Czolgosz (CHAWL’-gawsh) at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. (McKinley died eight days later and was succeeded by his vice president, Theodore Roosevelt.)

Also on this date:

In 1522, the Victoria, commanded by Juan Sebastian de Elcano, arrived in Spain, completing the first circumnavigation of the globe on an expedition launched in 1519 by Ferdinand Magellan; Elcano and 21 others were the only survivors of the expedition, which set out with five ships and 270 men (Magellan was killed in the Philippines a year earlier.)

In 1781, British Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, a onetime American officer, ordered British forces to burn New London, Connecticut.

In 1914, in World War I, the first Battle of the Marne began as French and British troops attacked advancing German forces, stopping the advance and avoiding the capture of Paris.

In 1949, Howard Unruh, a resident of Camden, New Jersey, shot and killed 13 of his neighbors. (Unruh, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was incarcerated for 60 years until his death in 2009.)

In 1972, the Summer Olympics resumed in Munich, West Germany, a day after the deadly hostage crisis that left 11 Israelis, five Arab abductors and a West German police officer dead.

In 1975, 18-year-old tennis star Martina Navratilova of Czechoslovakia, in New York for the U.S. Open, requested political asylum in the United States.

In 1995, Baltimore Oriole Cal Ripken Jr. played in his 2,131st consecutive game, breaking Lou Gehrig’s 56 year-old MLB record; Ripken’s streak would ultimately reach a still-record 2,632 games.

In 1997, a public funeral was held for Princess Diana at Westminster Abbey in London, six days after her death in a car crash in Paris.

In 2006, President George W. Bush acknowledged for the first time that the CIA was running secret prisons overseas and said “tough” interrogation techniques had forced terrorist leaders to reveal plots to attack the United States and its allies.

In 2018, the Supreme Court of India decriminalized consensual sex between adults, legalizing homosexuality in the country.

In 2022, Liz Truss began her tenure as U.K. prime minister; she would resign just 49 days later.

Today’s Birthdays: Comedian JoAnne Worley is 89. Cartoonist Sergio Aragonés is 89. Rock singer-musician Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) is 83. Comedian-actor Jane Curtin is 79. Actor-comedian Jeff Foxworthy is 68. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is 64. Country singer-songwriter Mark Chesnutt is 63. Actor Rosie Perez is 62. R&B singer Macy Gray is 59. Actor Idris Elba is 54. Actor Justina Machado is 54. Actor Anika Noni Rose is 54. Actor Naomie Harris is 50. Rapper Foxy Brown is 48. Actor/singer Deborah Joy Winans is 43. Actor-comedian Lauren Lapkus is 41. Actor Asher Angel is 24. Actor Pearce Joza is 24.