Doctorate Jurist

President McKinley was assassinated by an Anarchist at the PanAm Exposition, in Buffalo, on a lovely afternoon, September 6th, 1901. In the beautiful Temple of Music, he moved along the reception line, smiling, extending his hand to all, without a thought that anyone would want to kill him.

Two Conservatives Compared

McKinley was the Ronald Reagan of his day, beloved of all who loved him, noble figurehead, representing American power and might. Yet behind him ruled, also, malevolent forces, business, military and industrial giants who had established his net worth and swept him into the Presidency. These forces McKinley (like Reagan) had repainted as the forces of democracy, because he believed it. Thus, the hope of the country rested in those who saw American in terms of growth of capital, a virtue wholeheartedly endorsed by the President.

President Reagan’s assassin was found not guilty by reason of insanity, but Czolgosz was not. Several factors contributed to the successful insanity defense of John Hinckley. First, of course, was that the miracle of modern medicine permitted Reagan to survive his attack. Secondly, the wealth of the assassin’s parents for the first time showed the American public the power of first class defense attorneys. Third, the legal test for insanity in Washington, D.C., contained more gray area than New York’s law in 1901.

Yet observing either Hinckley or Czolgosz in respective police stations following the shootings, it might be remarked how similar they were. The stress now off, because destiny had spoken and they had done its bidding, the young men proved amiable. Both had different goals, one to pre-empt the Academy Awards on that evening’s television and the other to do away with settled government in the United States, but in terms of the mental health community, they appeared equally delusional.

Defining Insanity

Whether Czolgosz should have been found “not guilty by reason of insanity” has been tossed about ever since. In 1965 Dr. Donald Hastings, Department head of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota, wrote a series in the Journal-Lancet on the “Psychiatry of Presidential Assassination.” He concluded Czolgosz was clearly insane and wondered why his attorneys did not see fit to so plead in order to save his life.

First, he is assuming that the insanity defense would have saved his life.Dr. Channing, a Progressive alienist (as psychiatrists were then called) points out, not that many years before, Guiteau, nutty as a fruitcake, had been found sane by a jury heavily influenced by public opinion. Successful assassins were executed; Czolgosz would have been sound sane.

Secondly, Hastings assumes that Czolgosz ‘s attorneys wanted to save his life. Apparently the doctor’s review of literature did not include the two comprehensive articles on the trial,in the Yale Law Review of 1901 and the 1902 American Journal of Insanity (cited below), or he might better have understood the nature of Czolgosz’s defense.

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Syllabus. NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued.