SEPTEMBER 6 — 1901 — President McKinley shot; 1921 Norman Woodland patents barcode; 1919 Happy BirthdayWilson Breatbatch, invented pacemaker and battery cell; 188 Happy Birthday Joe Kennedy; 1981 Bob Lemon named Yankees manager
SEPTEMBER 6
1901 – McKinley is shot.
…President William McKinley, the Liberator of Cuba, was at the Temple of Music at the Pan-American exposition, when anarchist Leon Czolgosz came up to him and fired two bullets. The first one grazed McKinley but the second one proved to be fatal and was never found. McKinley never was a big fan of security, despite the fact that previously two other presidents had been assassinated, Abraham Lincoln and James Garfield. In fact Wobbly Willie was often seen without security walking to church or riding in a carriage with his wife, Ida. Czolgosz had lost his job during the Panic of 1893 from a Cleveland factory during a labor dispute, and took it out on the president. He couldn’t understand why the economy was doing so poorly and began attending political and religious meetings.
This is how Czolgosz became an anarchist. McKinley was rushed to the hospital and began making a recovery. However, gangrene had set in and he made a quick decline to the other side, and died of his wounds on September 14. Vice President Theodore Rough Rider Roosevelt, took his place in office. McKinley’s first choice, by the way was actually Garret Hobart, but he died in 1899, and the 1900 Republican National Convention chose Roosevelt to run on McKinley’s ticket. Czolgosz went to trial nine days later, and after two days of prosecution testimony and a half hour of deliberation, he was found guilty and sentenced to death in the electric chair. He fried on October 29 and was buried in the prison graveyard. In 1906, the Secret Service was established to protect the president at all times, whether the president wants it or not.
1921 – Norman Joseph Woodland from Atlantic City, NJ. He invented the barcode at his grandfather’s place at the beaches of Florida. Wikis says he drew lines in the sand while coming up with the idea of a two-dimensional linear Morse Code.
1919 – Happy BD Wilson Greatbatch from Buffalo New York, he has over 350 patents, notably for the Greatbatch pacemaker and the Greatbatch Battery Cell.
1888 – Happy birthday Joseph Patrick Kennedy.
…He had a few kids you’ve probably heard of, like JFK, RFK, Teddy, and others. Joe made his riches through investments in the stock market and real estate, then later owned a Boston shipyard during World War 2, which is how be became friends with FDR, who was Assistant Secretary of the Navy at the time. He was appointed by president Franklin Roosevelt Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commissions and served as ambassador to England between 1938 and 1940. He had to quit at the beginning of World War Two, however, after the Battle of Britain when he mentioned that democracy was dead in England and would be here in the US. This caused controversy and Joe resigned under pressure. He stayed in the political scene, continued to build his riches, and passed away on 1969. Happy birthday Joe!
1981 – Bob Lemon named NY Yankee manager for the second time. He was also elected into the Hall of Fame in 1976.