History lessons in American textbooks usually explain that the destruction of the American warship the USS Maine was the single most important reason the United States launched a military intervention in Cuba. There is no doubt that the Maine was one of the reasons. However, there was actually a multiplicity of factors that combined to push the United States into war with Spain. It is an area of United States foreign policy that still remains at issue in the historical debate. There is reason to contend that the United States wanted a reason to justify intervening in Cuba. One the scene in 1898, George Bryson noted that the main argument used by President William McKinley when he requested the power to declare war against Spain, was the destruction of the Maine. Among the other reasons, McKinley mentioned the need for the United States to “end the bloodshed, barbarities, and horrible miseries in Cuba” and that the destruction of the American warship was “patent and impressive proof of a state of things in Cuba that is intolerable.” Based on this evidence, it appears that there is another reason that prompted the United States to launch an invasion against the Spanish Territory. When Cuban nationalists demanded self-rule from Spain in 1895, the American Press began agitating for war thereby placing the United States government in a troublesome position. The American press began to fabricate events occurring in Cuba. Articles emphasized the strategic position of the island nation in relationship to the United States coastline. Reporters used sensationalism to inspire the sentiments of the American public. Soon people across the country began to rally behind the nationalists. Senior foreign affairs officials including President McKinley called on their Spanish counterparts. They attempted to quash the outbreak before the uprising became uncontainable. Many in the politicians on both sides predicted that if the Spaniards failed to quell the revolt, then public pressure would force the United States to intervene in the issue. American fascination with Cuba started earlier than the Maine crisis. Owing to it strategic proximity to the United States and the fact that Cuba was the world’s biggest producer of sugar at the time, Cuba was a highly attractive prospect for the United States to annex. In fact, there were numerous instances when the United States government did attempt to annex the country. Among the attempts were those under the administrations of John Quincy Adams (1825), James Polk (1847), Franklin Pierce (1854), and James Buchanan (1858). In one meeting between the British minister and Buchanan who at the time was still aspiring for the presidency, the 1854 Ostend Manifesto was established wherein the aims of the United States to annex Cuba was evinced noting that as long as Cuba was not a territory of the United States, the country will never be completely secure. Though Buchanan was not able to achieve this goal, various laws such as the 1871 Sugar Act were established that further linked the Cuban and Puerto Rican economies into that of the United States. The parties directly responsible for the United States media frenzy on the alleged misdeeds of Spanish officials in Cuba were members of the so-called “Cuban Junta” based in Washington and New York. The organization gave American newspapers with narratives regarding Spanish and forming the concept of Spanish tyranny that fueled the “yellow journalism” in the eastern United States. These initiatives led to a number of stalling activities that provided arms to Cuban revolutionaries. American as well as Spanish officials turned a blind eye to these actions, fearing that the nationalists will launch retaliatory attacks if these were suppressed or interdicted. Officially, the reason that the Maine was in Cuba was to safeguard American trade and commercial interests there. American executives had invested some $50 million in the highly profitable cigar businesses in the country. The actual reason that the Navy ordered the Maine into Cuban waters was to coerce the Spanish leadership into war and enforce its influence in the country. The destruction of the Maine allowed American publisher William Randolph Hurst to “cook his war” and provide the momentum for Theodore Roosevelt’s campaign for the United States presidency. Roosevelt used his influence as the Secretary of the Navy to stimulate the United States war hawks to plot out the invasion of Cuba. McKinley pounced upon a conflict with Spain to expand American global objectives and policies. At the same time, he was pushing a political philosophy deeply embedded in imperialist policy and colonialism. Colonialism and imperialism were part and parcel of early United States history. It had been one that had expanded across the continent and now sought to expand across the ocean. . It was also during this time that the international powers then-Japan, Spain, France, and Belgium-were expanding their “empires” and stocking up on their respective arsenals. The battle cry “Remember the Maine and to Hell with Spain” was a potent rallying point for American war hawks to intervene in Cuban affairs starting 1895. However, as this paper explains, many factors led to war. The war with Spain was another phase in United States geo-political and trade expansion. It was part of a history that would one day include Secretary of State John Hay’s open door notes. This would lead in turn to trade with China and Asia in general. What Roosevelt so blithely referred to as a “splendid little war” was part of a military adventure. The United States was able to plunder the biggest and wealthiest Caribbean island, and the intervention in Cuba was only the start of the expansionist policy the Unites States in the region, acquiring former colonies of the prevailing powers then and then annexing the same into the territorial United States.
References
Bryson, G. 1898. “Destruction of the war ship Maine was the work of an enemy.” The New York Journal.Miller, Bonnie M. 2011. From liberation to conquest: the visual and popular cultures of the Spanish-American War of 1898. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.Mirza, Rocky M., Ph. D. 2010. American invasions: Canada to Afghanistan, 1775 to 2010. [S.l.]: Trafford On Demand Pub.Nojeim, Michael J., and David P. Kilroy. 2011. Days of decision turning points in U.S. foreign policy. Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books. Wasniewski, Matthew A., Albin Kowalewski, Laura Turner O'Hara, and Terrance Rucker. 2013. Hispanic Americans in Congress, 1822-2012. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
