POD---President William McKinley is spared assassination in the following way.
September 5, 1901
President McKinley arrives at the Buffalo after a short visit to Niagara Falls and heads for the Pan-American Exposition for a public reception. McKinley's secretary George B. Cortelyou asks the president to skip the event because he sees it as a security risk. Mckinley says that he will not be governed by fear and will go.
As the McKinley stands shaking hands, Leon Czolgosz, an out-of-work anarchist, stood with his right hand in a bandage, inside the bandage was a .32 caliber revolver with which Czolgosz planned to kill McKinley. As Czolgosz passed Secret Serviceman George Foster who noted Czolgosz's bandaged hand as suspicious. Foster stopped Czolgosz and wanted to see his hand. Czolgosz panicked and shoot Foster in the side (which did him no harm as it deflected off his side arm) and ran for McKinley. James Benjamin "Big Ben" Parker, a six-foot six-inch black waiter was standing behind Czolgosz saw the shooting and without a moments hesitation, followed Czolgosz with the hope of stopping him. Czolgosz knocked down several people before coming within six feet of McKinley. Czolgosz had a clear shot and took aim for McKinley's heart. Just as he pulled the trigger, Parker leapt in in front of McKinley taking two shoots in his side. Czolgosz hesitated and Parker (in spite of two serious wounds) lept to his feet and struck Czolgosz several blows in the face and knocked the gun from his hand. Parker and fellow agent Albert Gallagher grabbed the gun and with the help of fellow security agents pulled Czolgosz from the scene. McKinley walked over to Parker who had sunk to his knees and offered his handkerchief and asked Parker name and thanked him for saving his life. Parker would recover and become a member of McKinley's security detail.
The events of September 6, would set in motion a chain of events that neither McKinley, Parker, Foster, or Czolgosz could even imagine.