On April 29, 1901, newly re-elected President William McKinley began a cross country victory tour by train. San Francisco was to be one of the many stops he made. The President was accompanied by his wife, three stenographers, a telegraph technician, a cable technician, two railroad officials, a wire-service reporter, two newspaper syndicate reporters, three magazine reporters, three Washington paper reporters, and a photographer. The huge media pool was meant to document the President’s every move. But it was Ida McKinley, a woman who struggled with fragile health, who ultimately took the spotlight. On May 6th, while traveling through Southern California, she acquired a small cut on her thumb that became infected and would not heal. By the time the McKinleys reached San Francisco on May 12th, Ida had developed dysentery and a fever.  

The couple stayed at a private residence next to Lafayette Park as Ida’s health deteriorated. The President refused to leave her side, and that large media pool, with nothing else to report on, began relaying the seriousness of Ida’s condition. The eyes of the world became focused on San Francisco, and residents did not want the City to be remembered as the place where a president’s wife died. Everything came to a standstill for five days as Ida’s life hung in the balance.

On May 18^th Ida’s health had improved enough that President McKinley went to launch the battleship Ohio in Oakland. Telegraph lines connected the President to the residence, keeping him updated on Ida’s health. In the following days McKinley was able to make up some of the engagements and appointments he had missed.

On May 25th, when Ida was well enough to travel but still not fully recovered, the President cancelled the remainder of his tour and the couple returned to Washington DC.  Six months later, the McKinleys would travel to Buffalo, New York for a rescheduled tour event, and it was there that the President was assassinated. Ida was not present for the shooting itself, but was so griefstricken that she could not attend her husband’s funeral. She returned to her hometown of Canton, Ohio, where she lived with a younger sister for the rest of her life. She died in 1907 at the age of 59.