Presidential postcard - McKinley's trip to Los Angeles, 1901

Postcard published by M. Rieder, Los Angeles. Photo copyrighted by J.T. Pollock, 1901.

President William McKinley had just been inaugurated for a second term in 1901 when he embarked on a train trip across the United States. He became the first U.S. president to visit California. The image on this postcard shows him with his wife, Ida, in a carriage surrounded by 20,000 roses. They are riding in the La Fiesta De Las Flores parade in Los Angeles on May 9, 1901. Mrs. McKinley became ill during the stay in Los Angeles and had to be treated and rest in a home in California before resuming the trip. They arrived back in Washington on May 30, and three months later President McKinley visited the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. It was at this fair, while giving a speech, that he was shot by an assassin on September 6, 1901. He died from gangrene on September 14, 1901. 

The photo below shows a different view of the carriage in the parade. The First Lady is not visible in the carriage. It is possible she was feeling ill and did not ride with her husband for the entire route of the parade. 

Photo from LA Times archives, published in LA Times on May 10, 1901. Source: L A Times website.

(Resources for information about President McKinley and the cross-country trip: Wikipedia and The McKinley Birthplace Museum. Resource for postcard photo: J.T. Pollock, In and About Los Angeles.