15 February 1898 (a day late)
Not a lot of good stuff happening on 16 February, so let's do yesterday, especially since Blogger crapped out on me last night and I didn't get to post anything:
The battleship Maine exploded in Havana harbor.
About 9 in the evening of 15 February 1898, the Maine, which McKinley had sent to Cuba to reassure Americans living there that they were safe in the continuing revolt by Cubans against Spanish rule, exploded. 260 of the 350 men on board died when it sank. Nobody knew why the ship exploded (in 1976 the Navy determined the ship's coalbunker blew up by accident), but in fine sensationalistic journalistic fashion (we can imagine FOX or CNN doing exactly the same thing today), William Randolph Hearst, who wanted to sell newspapers, blamed the Spanish and called for war. Yes, this is where we get the famous line: "You furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war." The government, spurred on by a patriotic fervor of the populace, demanded that Spain withdraw from Cuba, and by April the Spanish-American War had begun. This is direct contrast to today's government, which carefully considers all the evidence for a crime and doesn't allow itself to be swayed by crazed emotion before it goes to war. Spain was a pretty pathetic country by this time, and eight months later the Americans forced a treaty on them by which we took Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. U! S! A!
What a stupid war. As you know, I'm opposed to war in general, but this was really, really stupid. Thank God we don't arbitrarily go to war simply for the sake of natural resources or territory anymore.
The battleship Maine exploded in Havana harbor.
About 9 in the evening of 15 February 1898, the Maine, which McKinley had sent to Cuba to reassure Americans living there that they were safe in the continuing revolt by Cubans against Spanish rule, exploded. 260 of the 350 men on board died when it sank. Nobody knew why the ship exploded (in 1976 the Navy determined the ship's coalbunker blew up by accident), but in fine sensationalistic journalistic fashion (we can imagine FOX or CNN doing exactly the same thing today), William Randolph Hearst, who wanted to sell newspapers, blamed the Spanish and called for war. Yes, this is where we get the famous line: "You furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war." The government, spurred on by a patriotic fervor of the populace, demanded that Spain withdraw from Cuba, and by April the Spanish-American War had begun. This is direct contrast to today's government, which carefully considers all the evidence for a crime and doesn't allow itself to be swayed by crazed emotion before it goes to war. Spain was a pretty pathetic country by this time, and eight months later the Americans forced a treaty on them by which we took Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. U! S! A!
What a stupid war. As you know, I'm opposed to war in general, but this was really, really stupid. Thank God we don't arbitrarily go to war simply for the sake of natural resources or territory anymore.
posted by Greg | 9:49 AM
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