Uss Maine

U.S.S. Maine

Captain Charles Sigsbee of the USS Maine, a battleship of the United State’s Atlantic Fleet, was writing a letter to his wife about his hopefulness for the success of his mission in this foreign possession (Chidsey 54). Then it happened. Just as he sealed the envelope a small explosion shook the ship followed by a mammoth detonation that rocked her and the surrounding areas (Chidsey 57). Sigsbee ran for his life, collected what he could of his detachment and the rest of the crew, and moved to organize the ensuing chaos. The ship couldn’t have been saved. Sigsbee was the last off as per naval tradition. He looked back as the ruined mass settled on the harbor floor (Chidsey 57). The call for war had arrived; now those who controlled the flow of information, the media, to have their way with it.

Empire had been the word of the day. Germany, Italy, and Japan were working to catch up to the British and their two-hundred-year head start. Military theory and technology was changing. It introduced a new view of international geopolitics: the flags and politics of nations followed the economy of a nation, not the other way around, which had long been the accepted European idea (Reeder 29). Control of the sea was considered vital to all national interest: for the sake of communication to territorial possessions and for, most importantly of all, trade. But technology had also advanced. Coaling stations were now required at various intervals all over the world to keep the steam navies of the day going (Chidsey 15).

For the United States an obvious coaling station would be on the Spanish colony/island of Cuba, just miles south of Florida and Key West. Cuba had long been a thorn in the side of both Spain and the United States. President Polk had made offers to buy the island and surrounding territories outright in the 1840s, offering the ridiculous sum of $100,000,000 (this being three times what President Jefferson paid for Louisiana, a territory over a hundred times the size of Cuba, just forty years earlier) (Reeder 9). Spain refused. But the problems weren’t solved. President Grant, hoping for an important historical accomplishment in an otherwise lackluster performance in foreign policy, attempted to buy the island as well and failed (Chidsey 16). Once again Spain refused American overtures, building on a great feeling on national pride and honor for what little was left of their once world-spanning empire (Chidsey 17).

The United States and Spain had not been getting along in Cuba for many years. The island had just finished the bloody and exhaustive Ten Years’ War from 1868-1878 between Spanish nationalist forces and Cuban insurrectionists. The American mass media, which was just now past its infantile stage and was ready to show its national power, had just learned that scandal and vivaciousness sold papers, said Irwin. The New York Journal ran headlines like “300 Women Butchered!” (Reeder 3). It also ran a cover story of a Cuban woman being stripped naked and “inspected” by Spanish officials (Reeder 4). The Spanish military commander of Cuba, General Anthony Weyler, was labeled “The Butcher” by the press; and history has remembered him as Butcher Weyler (Haydock).

With the media’s attention, Cuba was quickly becoming one of the central issues of the political situation of the day. From this issue a new class of Republicans in the Senate was about to begin flexing their political muscles. They were very pro-American and very pro-business. The most notable of these was Henry Cabot Lodge (the same who led the rejection of the Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations twenty years in the future) (Haydock). Business interests had invested a lot of capital in sugar plantations in Cuba and were determined to see a return on their investments, and Senators like Lodge saw it their way (Haydock). But both parties made Cuban independence part of their 1896 platforms (the memorable election between William Jennings Bryant and his “cross of gold” versus the front-porch campaign of stoic William McKinley, who eventually won) (Chidsey 46). The previous president, Grover Cleveland, had decided to consider Cuba a non-issue, which would not be the case with the incoming administration (Chidsey 29). The country as a whole and the newly elected President McKinley considered Cuban independence a national priority (Cavendish). The USS Maine was sent as a deterrent to Cuba to continuing hostilities with revolutionaries.

At this time a young and upcoming New York Republican who garnered national fame and position with his assistance in the election victory of William McKinley a few years previously was running the navy. This was, of course, none other than the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt (Reeder 7). According to Irwin, Roosevelt was the man in charge of the entire navy,