Health and Medical History of President

William McKinley

McKinley had a remarkable memory for faces and names... Once, while waiting for ceremonies to begin at the dedication of a monument at the Antietam battlefield, he walked over to the edge of the platform and called down to an old veteran in blue, "Hello, comrade, I saw you in the crowd at Gettysburg last month when I spoke there, didn't I?" Astonished, the veteran exclaimed, "Yes, but how did you recognize me?" Queried about his memory afterward, McKinley shrugged it off: "Oh, I don't know, it just comes naturally."

Comment: This is a clear illustration that politics always has been, and always will be, a nasty business. McKinley's manhood should not have been open to challenge, given that he enlisted in the Army at age 17, just weeks after the Civil War began at Ft. Sumter, and that he served in the field virtually the entire war, including the battles of South Mountain, Antietam, Winchester, Cedar Creek, and countless others 4a.

He underwent surgery within hours. He survived the operation, but died on the ninth post-operative day. Both his post-operative course MORE 7a and his autopsy MORE 7b have been meticulously documented 8 9.

There was intense controversy about McKinley's medical care MORE. Some thought that McKinley could have been saved had renowned surgeon Roswell Park performed the operation MORE. More recent commentators believe, however, that McKinley died from pancreatic necrosis, a condition which is still difficult to treat today, and which the surgeons of McKinley's time could not have treated or prevented 1.