The Path to War

Interest in Latin America extended beyond Venezuela to Cuba, a colony of Spain.   During the antebellum period, America had attempted to annex the island through both legal and illegal means.  In 1868, a ten-year war broke out between the Cubans and their Spanish imperial rulers.  By 1878, the Spanish government, in order to end the conflict, promised to implement various reforms and grant the people of Cuba limited autonomy within the Spanish empire.  But Spain’s promise of reform, which included the abolition of slavery, proved at best to be slow or at worst empty.  

In 1895, conflict again erupted in Cuba.  Under the Cleveland Administration, the United States government attempted to pursue a policy of neutrality.  This course proved difficult because the American public backed the Cuban cause.  It appeared to most Americans that the Cubans were freedom fighters attempting to establish a republic and resist an autocratic Spain, not unlike the American colonies in 1776.  Additionally, the American “yellow” press reported on supposed atrocities committed by the Spanish against the Cubans.  In particular, the newspaper articles focused on the actions of the Spanish governor of Cuba, General Valeriano Weyler.  Newspapers reported that Weyler had placed many Cubans into concentration camps in an attempt to separate the civilian population from the insurgents.  The actions of Weyler outraged the sensibilities of the American public.  American sugar producers, who had invested heavily in Cuban sugar cane crops, paid close attention to the news coming out of the Spanish colony.  Taken together these factors would influence the course of American foreign policy.

The election of William McKinley to the presidency in 1896 signaled a shift in policy toward Cuba.  The Republican McKinley came to the White House determined to protect American business investments while also expressing concern for the plight of the Cuban people.  A veteran of the Union Army during the Civil War, McKinley understood well the human costs that war would bring to the United States.  As a result, the president offered to mediate the dispute between the Spanish and the Cubans.  He counseled patience and attempted to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Cuba.  The Spanish government, led by ambassador to the United States Dupuy de Lome, disparaged McKinley as a weak chief executive who courted American public opinion only to increase his personal popularity.  The president’s own assistant secretary of the navy, Theodore Roosevelt, described McKinley as having a backbone made of “chocolate éclair.”  Despite these charges of executive weakness the Spanish government, fearing American intervention, attempted to make policy changes in Cuba. 

Remember the Maine

In 1897, a new Spanish government recalled Weyler from Cuba and reversed its policy concerning the use of concentration camps.  De Lome resigned as minister to the United States and left Washington for Spain.  In spite of these actions, Spain failed to deliver on its promises of reform and autonomy, which led to an outbreak of anti-Spanish riots in the Cuban capital of Havana.  In response, President McKinley dispatched the American battleship Maine to Havana in January 1898 in an effort to provide protection to United States citizens who resided on the island.

On February 15, 1898, the question of whether or not to intervene was suddenly answered.  The battleship Maineexploded and sank in Havana Harbor.  Millions of Americans, outraged over the death of the 260 servicemen on board, demanded that McKinley take retaliatory action against the Spanish.  Despite the public outcry, McKinley waited for a formal investigation of the incident before pursuing a course.  A commission charged with investigating the sinking of the battleship claimed that the Maine had struck a Spanish mine.  This conclusion gained widespread acceptance among the American public, despite a lack of evidence.