Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 3, 1901

Mr. Hay to Señor del Viso, Chargé d’Affaires^a

Department of State,
Washington, September 14, 1901.

Sir: It is my painful duty to announce to you the death of William McKinley, President of the United States, in the city of Buffalo, at fifteen minutes past 2 in the morning of to-day, September 14.

Laid low by the act of an assassin, the week-long struggle to save his life has been watched with keen solicitude, not alone by the people of this country, who raised him from their own ranks to the high office he filled, but by the people of all friendly nations, whose messages of sympathy and of hope while hope was possible have been most consolatory in this time of sore trial.

Now that the end has come, I request you, sir, to be the medium of communicating the sad tidings to the Government of the honored nation you so worthily represent, and to announce that in obedience to the prescriptions of the Constitution, the office of President has devolved upon Theodore Roosevelt, Vice-President of the United States.

Accept, etc.,

John Hay.

1. Same announcement to all foreign representatives in the United States.