REMEMBER THE MAINE!

In February of 1898, an American ship named the U.S.S. Maine sailed into Havana harbor and exploded.

Whether by a Spanish mine, by accident, or by deliberate sabotage, the explosion of the Maine gave Americans the justification they were looking for to go to war with Spain.

Pro-War owners of newspapers, Hearst and Pulitzer, published accounts that embellished the facts, stating that there is no doubt that Spanish mines were responsible for the deaths of all the passengers aboard the Maine.

Their headlines exclaimed, "REMEMBER THE MAINE!" This was a call to war. As a result, the United States committed troops to Cuba to assist in the Cuban war for independence. This was an echo of the chant, "REMEMBER THE ALAMO" which led to Anti-Mexican venom after 1836.

Investigations conducted by the Spanish determined, unequivocally, that the explosion was NOT the result of a mine.

Many other investigations by various forensic scientists have been inconclusive.

As a result of the United States intervention, the Spanish were quickly and indisputably conquered in the war in Cuba. The Spanish surrendered before they risked losing further territories. Nonetheless, the terms of their surrender required that they forfeit to the United States the Islands of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. In addition, the United States were given control of a coastal portion of Cuba called "Guantanamo Bay," which remains in United States hands today.

Another important consequence of the Spanish American War was the emergence of Teddy Roosevelt as an American War hero, resulting in his appointment as Vice President, and then President when McKinley is killed.

In the end, liberating Cuba did not place it in the control of the United States for long. Sixty years later, a group of Cuban rebels took over the nation and made it a Communist dictatorship under Fidel Castro.

RETURN to the decisions.