[Music] major funding for Crucible of empire was provided by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding was also provided by the National Endowment for the [Music] Humanities the annual financial support of viewers like you and the John D and kathern T MacArthur [Music] Foundation McKinley did not want war the idea of Cuban Independence had taken hold on the other hand he wanted things that only War could give him the Spanish were not going to get out and they were not on the Run he wanted a peaceful Cuba he wanted us control of the Caribbean he wanted a naval base in the Spanish colony of the [Music] Philippines ainley called for volunteers then I got my gun first Spaniard I saw coming I shot him on the run it was all about that battle ship of M I should welcome almost any War for I think think this country needs one assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt thought that a war with Spain over Cuba would make us a world power at war with that great nation Spain when I get through with Spain I will haveon it all about that of the Americans always felt the deep in his heart the Cuban wanted to be a part of the United States the Filipino he had been led to believe that the Americans were their liberators but when the soldiers came in then the Filipinos became suspicious of American motives it was all about that Battleship of [Music] me singing in the car what a jolly crowd they are J long sings a song Johnny Ray plays the guitar May 1890s America the nation headed full speed into a new Industrial Age at the world's Colombian Exposition in Chicago Millions gathered to celebrate the innovations that powered American productivity incandescent lights efficient farming methods modern Railways a faster printing PR visitors could even taste the promise of The Next Century Cracker Jacks diet soda and the hamburger made their American debut I cherish the thought that America stands on the threshold of a Great Awakening the impulse with which this Phantom City could rise in our midst is proof that the spirit is with US president Grover Cleveland opening day May 1st 1893 only a few days after the fair opened the nation was hit by the worst financial crisis in its history stocks plummeted businesses went bankrupt and millions of Americans lost their jobs in a lecture at the exposition the young historian Frederick Jackson Turner suggested that the solution for the United States could be found Beyond its borders the colonization of the great web did indeed furnish a new field of opportunity but never again will such Gifts of free lands offer themselves the frontier has gone and with its going has closed the first period of American [Music] history in the frontier gone there was something in can to a panic among people geez if American institutions can't expand they're going to shrink we had to find some new outlet for our energy for our Dynamic nature for this coiled spring that was the United States so there was a intellectual justification rationalization would be a better way to put it for let's get our power overseas at the same time there was an imperial race taking off in the world great Brit France Russia Germany and a new Japan that was just emerging as a world power at this time were all uh engaged in in colonial Enterprises Spain once ruled a great Global Empire it encompassed most of Central and South America and a large portion of North America as civil wars crippled Spanish Authority many colonies Broke Free in the 1890s all that remained of Spain's possessions were Cuba and Puerto Rico and in the Pacific the Philippines Guam and a few scattered [Music] Islands by the 1890s Spain was considered very low in the estimation of many many Americans Spaniards had been looming around our country through our formation years and somehow we always felt a threat from them they were not part of either the Anglo-Saxon culture or French culture and so we always saw Spain as being almost a subhuman European peoples through most of the 19th century Spain's dwindling Colonial Revenue flowed from Cuba's sugar and slave trade us politicians since John Quincy Adams had eyed Spain's prize possession if an apple severed by a tempest from its native tree cannot choose but fall to the ground Cuba forcibly disjoined from Spain can gravitate only towards the nor North American Union that's where I'm going you that's where I st in 1868 Cuban sugar Planters oppressed by increasing Spanish taxes took up arms to win their independence They seized much of Eastern Cuba freeing the slaves and destroying in the sugar Mills that had profited Spain the commander of the Rebel Army was General Maximo Gomez maxico Gomez was born in the Dominican Republic and he came to Cuba as a Spanish soldier that is the irony of the situation because as soon as he arrived in Cuba he defected and started organizing the Cubans he tried to get them to use tactics and to train things which were Nova to the insurgents at the time the revolt known as the 10 years war failed to win the Cubans their independence but the struggle for Kuba Liberty a free Cuba continued as Spanish promises for reform were never fulfilled Gomez withdrew to his native Dominican Republic leaving the Spanish with a depressed sugar industry Spain could not afford to lend money to Cuban Planters many turned to the United States way down in CU where skies are clear where it is summer all of the year they have the 1895 As Americans visited and invested in Cuba Cubans moved to the United States to study and work it is in these years that we see the first significant Cuban immigration setting up first in Florida and then New York City in Philadelphia in Boston and Washington this period is a critical to the formation of Cuban national identity the the means by which Cubans begin to articulate to discontent uh their uh they were angst with the Spanish Colonial system baseball soon became a national Obsession in Cuba the North American sport provided a welcome alternative to traditional Spanish entertainment and so we have this Counterpoint on between baseball and bull fighting and bull fighting represents the colonial regime it's it's bloody it's individual it's singular it seems to attract into the Havana Bing mostly [Music] Spaniards to to play baseball is to be modern to be to be Progressive it is not to be Spanish coincidentally some of the most important leaders of the Cuban insurrectionary movement are ball players who leave the ball field to take to the field of an armed [Music] struggle the revolution began a new in 1895 under the Visionary leadership of Jose Marti a Cuban poet and journalist living in New York Marti visited Cuban communities across the United States to promote and raise funds for Cuban Independence his ideas reshaped Kuba Liber Marty realizes that the weakness of the previous attempt at Independence was that Cuba was not United it was divided by class it was divided by race and so he decides to mobilize the Exile community and to tell them that the cause of Cuba is one of all Cubans wherever they are either the Republic is founded upon the integral character of every one of its Sons or the Republic is not worth one of our mother's tears or a single drop of Our Hero's blood will we fear the Negro the black man has drawn his Noble body to its full height and is becoming a solid column for his native Liberties Others May fear him I love him Jose Marti he basically argues that black Cubans and white Cubans had come together that going back to the 10 years war their blood had joined in the fields of battle and that because of that history race had been superseded it had been transcended it no longer divided Cubans which for the 1890s it's remarkable [Music] statement in April 1895 Marti joined 60-year-old General Maximo Gomez in the Dominican Republic they hitched a ride aboard a German Banana Boat then rode to the Rocky shores of Southeast Cuba to lead the Rebellion The Travelers hacked their way through dense jungle to make contact with Insurgent forces Marti was radiant with pride and satisfaction because he was able to hold his own in all this with five rugged men General Maximo Gomez a month later despite warnings from General Gomez Marti rode ahead of his troops and was killed in his first battle Cuban insurgents gathered strength from his martyrdom they reclaimed the Eastern provinces that they had occupied during the 10 years war Gomez now knew that the Insurrection against Spain would only succeed if taken to Cuba's wealthiest provinces Gomez pushed Westward his objective Havana all Plantation shall be totally destroyed their cane and out buildings burned laborers who shall Aid the Sugar Factory shall be considered traitors to their country and shall be shot General Maximo Gomez a new Spanish Colonial governor general valano Wier was sent to Havana to stop General Gomez Wier faced a rebel Army that operated with the support of peasant Farmers he forcibly reconcentrated the rural population the aim of the policy is to gather people not involved in the Army who were living in the countryside and put them into towns where their services would not be available to the Cuban Rebels a lot of people go into these towns and the towns are notoriously like concentration [Music] camps nobody really knows how many people died but they rained from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands images of wier's camps were supplied to us newspapers by Rebel sympathizers in New York Americans needed somebody to personify the perfidious uh Spanish and um it they couldn't look to the king of Spain at this time Alfonso the 13th because he was a 14-year-old kid his mother who was the queen regent was an Austrian princess not very Spanish but here was this U Wier General Wier was the perfect villain he was portrayed brutally in cartoons and editorials and news stories as a Savage inhumane brute as the most bloodthirsty butcher that had ever entered this hemisphere Wier is a fish desperate a brute a Devastator of henda's pitiless cold and exterminator of men there is nothing to prevent his carnal brain from inventing torture and infamies of bloody debauchery the New York Journal February 1896 the journal's new editor was William Randolph Hurst the 33-year-old son of a successful California Gold Miner Hurst had purchased the failing journal in 1895 he quickly made it the most influential newspaper in New York everyone expected he would just be another rich man's son he was a rich man's son he was also one of the most brilliant newspaper men this country has ever seen I think Hurst truly truly believed that he could establish himself as a power not only in New York and in journalistic circles but maybe nationally if he could play the Cuba Story the way he wanted to play it I think Hurst took up the Cuban Independence Movement as a jingoistic way to bring America together we were a nation in that period that was at each other's throats North was still angry at South populous Farmers didn't like East Coast Bankers we had economic depression which created a panic and Hurst saw that the way to pull everybody together was with some War now you go to war it pulls the country together and it gets everybody fascinated we all glue to the tube nowadays to watch CNN if the war is coming on well they got the the heurst papers us businessmen saw War as a threat to their investments in Cuba and to economic recovery at home their concerns were shared by Republican president elect William McKinley as governor of Ohio McKinley had pushed for a stronger tariff to restore the nation's Prosperity he declared his stands on Cuba in his 1897 inaugural address we must avoid the temptation of territorial aggression War should never be entered upon until every agency of Peace has failed M Kinley served as a 19-year-old Sergeant during the Battle of antium in 1862 he was the last American president to have served in the Civil War and he knew what war was like at one point he said I've been through one war I've seen the body stacked like cordwood and I don't want to go through that sort of thing again I should welcome almost any War for I think this country needs one if we lose our viral manly qualities and sink into a nation of mere husters then we shall indeed reach a condition worse than that of the ancient civilizations in the years of their Decay assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt from his boxing dat in Harvard to his term as New York City's Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt was a fighter unlike President McKinley Roosevelt advocated a war with Spain I think this reflected the fact that Roosevelt's generation had not fought a war it the generation of its parents had fought the Civil War and demonstrated its bravery and its Valor then Roosevelt's generation still had to prove its worth it's something that I feel myself I was born in 1935 and I grew up listening to World War II stories and I feel cheated that I wasn't a part of that and so there was a feeling of it's our turn we want to get out there and be heroes assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt was a tremendous admirer of Admiral Alfred theer Mahan the president of the naval war College mahan's books and articles pushed for a stronger Navy as a nation launch forth the need is soon felt for a foothold in a foreign land a new outlet for what it has to sell a new Sphere for its shipping the ships that thus sail must have secure ports and the protection of a Navy now his cap with the peak is as glossy and Sleek as a cap could ever be and it sits on his hair with a jti air of a naval ncity and his collar so tight and his trousers of white and the shoes that rival glass he's a chap so smart that he Congress authorized funds to modernize the Navy which had hardly been updated since the Civil [Music] War the idea was our Navy's an Antiquated joke we've got to do something about it and the something was the Industrial Revolution steel cities like Pittsburgh and Chicago had steel and to make if not the largest Navy in the world at least a new Navy to not only defend both parts of American Shore but to defend American economic interest around the globe the United States needed such a policy that we were a two ocean country that we had to have a fleet that could patol both oceans that this was going to require coing stations and outpost out there and if America wanted to take her place as one of the great nations of the world she had to get into the imperialist race and had to acquire colonies and this had a tremendous appeal to young men like theore Roosevelt theore Roosevelt and other people in the Navy Department understood that although the cause of war was the situation in Cuba the war would be against Spain and anything Spain could bring to bear in that war would be something that American forces should attack the Spanish fleet was located in the Philippines the Philippines had Harbors that were worthwhile the Philippines commanded the water routes between China and Southeast Asia so to the few people the Philippines meant something for the B of all Manila my Philippina Queen she's with brightness [Music] ofile Spain had ruled the Philippines since the early 1500s while over a thousand islands in the Philippines were inhabited the capital of Manila dominated culture and commerce sugar hemp and tobacco were shipped through Manila to the markets of China but unlike Cuba whose sugar industry created great wealth for Spain the Philippines produced little Revenue Spanish missionaries forced the Filipinos to convert to Catholicism and collected taxes on their most fertile lands Filipinos who press for reforms and ended up in dungeons or executed under the flag of the karip punan or Society of the sons of the people 20,000 Filipinos staged an uprising in 1896 they had had too much of Spanish oppression too much of Spanish control they had lost virtually their rights and they were living as second class citizens and therefore Filipinos who had held sporadic revolts before 1896 uh culminated and got together to launch a major Nationwide Revolution against the Spanish 27-year-old Emilio aguinaldo the son of a wealthy landowner Rose through the ranks of the Revolutionary movement aguinaldo became president of the kapunan in the spring of 1897 Filipino citizens let us follow the example of European and American nations let us March under the flag of Liberty equality and fraternity with 200,000 troops fighting in Cuba Spain could not afford a war in the Philippines Spanish officials approached aalo with a bid for peace and one of the conditions was for the revolutionaries uh the leadership anyway to be exiled to H Hong Kong and to be paid a sum of money and then certain reforms should be instituted in the Philippines though aguinaldo did not believe that the Spanish would implement the reforms he needed the money for food and supplies aguinaldo agreed to Embark for Hong Kong there he would purchase arms for shipment back to the Philippines to the extent that Americans knew that there was an Insurgency in the Philippines there was a vague sympathy in support Americans have been at least rhetorically supportive of anti-colonialist anti-imperial movements from the time of the American Revolution compared to the Insurgency in Cuba which Americans knew all about the Philippines were really a blank spot in the American public's [Music] perception through 1897 the New York newspapers portrayed Cuba as a damsel in distress Uncle Sam as her Gallant Savior and Spain as the villain in an intriguing Romance of war and every romance has its trador her firsts was Richard Harding Davis Richard Harding Davis was a brilliant writer but more than that he was an incredible character Hurst paid him $3,000 a month plus expenses which was absolutely phenomenal as the international correspondent for Harbor's weekly Davis had journeyed through the Middle East and Central America for the New York Journal Davis cabled Back stories from Cuba that FL his readers imaginations one story described the young Adolfo Rodriguez sentenced to die for joining the Cuban Rebellion the officer of the firing squad whipped up his sword the men leveled their rifles the sword dropped and the man fired the Cuban sank on his side without a struggle or sound and did not move again at that moment the sun shot up Suddenly from behind the and the whole world seemed to wake to welcome the day but the figure of the young Cuban was asleep in the wet grass his arms still tightly bound behind him and the blood from his breast sinking into the soil that he had tried to free Richard Harding [Music] Davis President McKinley read a dozen newspapers a day like millions of Americans he was touched by her portrayal of Evangelina ceros a Convent educated Cuban teenager imprisoned by the Spanish in Havana Hurst set up a international campaign to get prominent women all over the world to send telegrams to Spain demanding the release of M SOS Julia Ward how the author of the battle him of the Republic wrote an impassion letter to the pope we implore you Holy Father to induce the Spanish government to abstain from this act of military Vengeance president McKinley's mother added her name to the cause all this continued to sell newspapers but it didn't affect cisneros's release she continued to languish in this Cuban prison they arranged an escape attempt uh This was done by William Randolph Hurst who got a uh hunk of a man named Carl Decker to arrange this escape and he rented the house next door and put a plank across to the window of the prison where she was and walked across and broke in that way and rescued her she reached out her hands to us with many little glad cries Rippling out in whispered Spanish benedictions for our efforts to save her they brought her out of Cuba sailed her Triumph L into New York Harbor and Hurst arranged one of the most triumphant series of events she was fatted at balls at the Waldorf at dinners at Del Monaco brought to Washington in the company of William Randolph first I thought over what I would say to the president that the women and children of Cuba must look to the great United States for protection then he came in my poor speech for Cuba was forgotten but I looked into the kind face of the president and what I thought I saw there made me content Evangelina SOS American men had rescued one Cuban woman and the question that now faced the nation was when would the United States free Cuba President McKinley appealed to the Spanish government to restore peace in Cuba and reviewed his military options he invited assistant Secretary of the Navy theater Roosevelt on a carriage ride through Washington McKinley had been very reluctant to appoint roselt because uh he knew that roselt was a hawk and uh was was possibly likely to get us involved in a war but Rosevelt took the opportunity to convey the fact that the US Navy was very well prepared if they had to fight Spain over Cuba I heard getting our main Fleet on the Cuban Coast after war is declared and at the same time throwing an expeditionary Force into Cuba I doubted if the war would last 6 weeks meanwhile our Asiatic Squadron should blockade and if possible take Manila assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt two weeks later the Spanish responded to president McKinley's demand for peace with what he considered significant concessions they do offer that if the Cubans will end the war they will get the same political status of associated free state within the Empire that Puerto Rico had that is they would have their own government but limited autonomy was unacceptable to Cuban insurgents General khiko Garcia Gomez's second in command rallied his troops to keep up the fight I regard autonomy only as a sign of Spain's weakening power and an indication that the end is not far off the Cubans were indeed within Striking Distance of defeating Spain the Cubans almost control the entire Countryside certainly in the east of the island in significant pockets of Western Cuba the Spanish have now retreated from the small towns to the larger provincial cities and the coastal points one more rainy season one more summer campaign would be enough to EXP SP the Spanish from the island my own view is that the Spanish were not going to get out and they were not on the run the Cuban Revolution been going on since 1868 this is 30 years later and they don't appear to have been any closer to achieving the goal of getting the Spanish to March out of Havana and get on ships and go on home and say you guys figure out how you want to run your lives we're out of here and Spain was not even close to that [Music] Spanish officers in Havana bed at their government's willingness to negotiate in January 1898 they took to the [Music] streets I believe that my government will reduce army officers to obedience I want your president to keep America from helping the Rebellion until the new plan of autonomy has had a fair chance Maria Christina queen regent of Spain on January 24th President McKinley ordered the battleship Maine to Havana to protect us interests on the island Spain's ambassador to Washington Enrique dup delom was unimpressed with McKinley a letter dup delom had written to a friend in Havana was intercepted by Cuban revolutionaries and offered to the New York Herald McKinley is weak in catering to the Rabel and besides a low politician who desires to leave a door open to the jingos of his party the New York Herald needed a day at least to authenticate the letter the Cubans said you don't have a day they took it to Hurst Hurst published it immediately with huge huge headlines greatest insult ever to America Spanish insult our president and the Hurst papers now demand it and other papers as well that war was the only [Music] recourse before the M went down mothers and matrons and sweethearts in Hamlet and Village and prayed for and roote to their Darlings before the M down on February 15th 1898 the main had been moed for 3 weeks in Havana Harbor without incident the crew was anxious to return to the United States Captain sigsby who was the commander of the main later recalled that the the marine sergeant who played Taps on the bugle was was achieving some very elaborate flourishes with it that night but uh the sense was Tranquility peaceful as Sailors aboard the main began falling asleep an explosion rocked the front end of the ship at 11:00 p.m. Captain 6p wired Washington Lane blown up in aan Harbor at 9:40 tonight and destroyed many wounded and doubtless more killed or drown the explosion aboard the main killed 266 US Sailors the dead would be given a hero's burial in Arlington National Cemetery the McKinley Administration appointed a naval committee to investigate the cause of the tragedy many Americans had already made up their minds Hurst and the other papers blamed the Spanish for mining the ship and blowing it up there was some evidence that that had happened but whether that evidence was overwhelming or not this was going to lead to the war that Hurst wanted in Cuba hurst's Journal proposed a regiment of athletes that would overawe the Spanish army with their mere physical presence the New York World reported that an army of Indians under Buffalo Bill Cody would clear Spain out of Cuba in 60 days Jesse James's brother Frank volunteered to lead a company of cowboys every day brought new editorials claiming that the Americans had no choice now but to go to war not only to avenge the Maine but to save the Cubans from the treachery The Butchery of Spanish colonization people were supporting Independence were defending Cuban Independence were buying bonds for Cuban Independence the church pulpits in this country had come out in favor of Cuban Independence the proposition of freedom for the island had now seized the public [Music] imagination I don't propose to be swept off my feet by the catastrophe we must learn the truth and Endeavor if possible to fix the respons possibility the administration will go on preparing for war but still hoping to avert it President William McKinley Secretary of the Navy John Long shared McKinley's measured approach long made special efforts to meet with congressmen to discuss alternatives to war one afternoon in late February long took time off and left assistant Secretary of the Navy theore Roosevelt in charge Roosevelt cabled Commodore George dwey to gather his Asiatic Squadron in Hong Kong only 600 mil from the Philippine islands that came very close to the assistant Secretary of the Navy making the decision that we're going to take the Philippines as a part of this war against Spain not necessarily against the president's wishes but without the president's knowledge and so TR put it into action because his Superior didn't want to take the initiative nor did the president want to take the initiative but when it was done they let it stay which was sort of a Vindication that it was the wise thing President McKinley solicited from Congress $50 million for National Defense it was reported in the Press both in this country and in Spain and the queen regent was really impressed by the fact that uh McKinley could get $50 million to fight Spain simply by asking for it Vermont Senator Redfield Proctor an affluent businessman and respected legislator visited Cuba to evaluate the situation for himself because it was known that he was close to mckenley uh reporters uh began following Proctor around asking him what his conclusions were from his trip to Cuba and he refused to say anything by the time he was ready to speak on March 17th 1898 there was tremendous interest in what he'd have to say I went to Cuba with a strong conviction that the picture had been overdrawn what I saw I cannot tell so that others can see it to me the strongest appeal is not the loss of the man but the spectacle of a million and a half people struggling for deliverance from the worst government of which I ever had [Music] knowledge after Senator Proctor's speech the business Community came around so McKinley now had the military better prepared he had the Pacific Fleet ready to go he had a United business Community behind him and once he had those things coming together McKinley was changing and was moving towards War the final push came on March 25th when the naval committee investigating the main explosion reported its findings the explosion had been caused by a submerged mine though the report never fixed responsibility few doubted that the Spanish were to blame on April 11th President McKinley addressed Congress in the name of Humanity on behalf of endangered American interests I ask Congress to authorize the president to take measures to secure a final termination of hostilities and a stable government not in behalf of Cuban Independence but basically to end to reping claims of sovereignty the Spanish claim of sovereignty and the Cuban claim of sovereignty and by implication clearly establish a third claim of sovereignty by Force of Arms Cuban Rebel sympathizers in New York were enraged this is nothing less than a declaration of war by the United States against the Cuban revolutionaries we would resist with Force of Arms as bitterly and tenaciously as we have fought the armies of Spain Cuban representative Horatio Rubin Senator Henry teller proposed an amendment that would appease Cuban Rebels the United States disclaims any intention to exercise control over Cuba except for pacification and asserts when that is accomplished to leave the island to its people it is true that they have not entered into an accord with our government but they have recognized our right to be free and independent and that is enough for me General kixo Garcia on April 22nd President McKinley ordered rear Admiral Samson to blockade H Spain responded to US Naval Maneuvers with a declaration of war Congress immediately followed suit Halfway Around the World in Hong Kong Commodore dwey received a dispatch from Secretary of the Navy long proceed at once to the Philippine Islands commence operations against the Spanish Fleet use utmost [Music] Endeavors a squad lay at break of day with enemy in view each boat and tire had sailed AAR a glorious deed to do at Canon's mouth our tires will shout Avenge the main today it's dewi Fleet the foe will meet down at vanilla just after midnight on May 1st 1898 commodor Dewey's Flagship Olympia entered Manila Bay Dewey's nine ships modernized to compete with the Navies of Europe had yet to be tested in battle daylight came out behind Manila and revealed gray fortifications the binocular showed a cluster of black hulls 16 Spanish ships were counted a shell soared toward our line the plunge of the projectile was followed by the Roar of the [Music] gun Commodore dwey Squadron made five devastating passes at the Spanish Fleet by noon the Spanish had surrendered their naval base in Manila Bay 10 Spanish ships were destroyed one US Sailor was killed that American forces could win a great Victory clear on the far side of the world render dy's victory in the Philippines more amazing and more noteworthy and when the news got back to the us Americans rejoice as they hadn't since the Civil [Music] War Earth Dewey was the most famous man of the United States Spanish American war was not only the war that probably got the greatest coverage in the newspapers but it was also the first film War every voeville theater tried to show what were called actualities of the war most of them were faked most of the first films of the war were shot on the roof of New York buildings with toy boats and bathtubs blowing cigar smoke to simulate the smoke of [Music] battle dwey promoted Durer Admiral was ordered to wait in Manila Bay for the US Army to secure the aid of Filipino insurgents dwey sent a ship from his Fleet to Hong Kong to pick up Emilio aguinaldo the Exile leader of the Philippine Revolution Dy welcomed aalo aboard his Flagship in Manila Bay do we gave him the honors of a general of the uh Revolution uh they met in the battleship Olympia and I think aginaldo had developed the idea that while the Filipinos would like to be independent they needed the protection of the United States because at that time you have the German interest in the area French interests also United Kingdom later on again Aldo wrote in his Memoir that D we made promises to support the revolution but there was one thing wrong and that was there was no written promise made aginaldo wanted to get the promise but dwey said my word is stronger than the most strongly written statement there is I think if I were going to put myself in the shoes of aginaldo being really naive you know he was just a simple General in the Philippines so he took the word of these Americans as you know accepted it as true aguinaldo returned to his family's mansion in Cavite just Southwest of Manila to devise with his generals a strategy to defeat the Spanish compatriots Divine Providence is about to Place Independence within our reach the Americans have extended their protecting mantle to our Beloved Country now that they have severed relations with Spain owing to the Tyranny that nation is exercising in Cuba the American Fleet will prevent any reinforcements coming from Spain there where you see the American flag flying assemble in numbers they are our redeemers when President McKinley called for 200,000 volunteers more than a million Americans responded the entire male body of Lafayette College in Pennsylvania volunteered in Mass to fight the Spanish in Cuba The Faculty met at Cornell University and decided that anybody who fought in the War would essentially receive credit for it and that they would not be penalized for going off to war instead of staying back and taking their courses there is no division in any part of the land north and south east and west all alike cheerfully respond from Captain campaign there comes magic healing which has closed ancient wounds President William McKinley McKinley was fully aware of the divisiveness of the civil War he also was aware of the need to include ex-confederates in the war effort and so he took particular pains to appoint Veterans of the Civil War to top positions during the Spanish American War President McKinley appointed 61-year-old Confederate veteran fighting Joe Wheeler a major general of volunteers and 330 lb Union Officer William shaer commander of the Cuban Invasion Force theater Roosevelt resigned as assistant Secretary of the Navy when he received his commission to fighting Cuba his first call was to Brook's Brothers one ordinary Cavalry uniform for lieutenant colonel with blue cette he' advocated going into the war and he was uh still a young man he therefore felt he had to put his body where his mouth had been and so that he better live up to his own ideals so that's why he resigned Secretary of the Navy John Davis long wrote in his diary that this was a big mistake and of course Roosevelt would come out as a big war leader if he stayed in Washington with the Navy Department because there'd be so much focus on the Navy department and of course if rosabel had been killed it certainly would have been a bad career move wouldn't [Music] it Roosevelt joined the first United States volunteer Cavalry nicknamed the Ruff Riders the Ruff Rider regiment summed up a great deal about TR the regiment was largely composed of Northeastern Aristocrats ivy league athletes and of course that was tr's own background he was a nickach Aristocrat from New York City and then the regiment was composed also of cowboys and Indians largely from the west and from the south West now what did these guys have in common this they didn't need to learn how to shoot or to ride they didn't need that training because all rich people you know had guns and went hunting and had horses and of course Cowboys and Indians knew how to ride and shoot so that's what they had in common they were ready to go in seven camps from from Texas to Florida new recruits drilled for Action in Cuba with few experienced officers to train them the volunteers were unprepared for what lay ahead there was a correspondent named Poley Bigalow who decided he was going to write an article exposing how unready the American troops really were for combat and he did and he was ostracized for this uh quite severely um and denounced as unpatriotic and so forth but but in private The Correspondents really understood that uh he was correct here we are 30 days after the declaration of war and not one regiment is yet equipped with uniforms suitable for hot weather troops sweat day and night in their cowhide boots thick flannel shirts and winter trousers the poor men have to sleep on the ground in the heavy dirty sand troops are supplied with only greasy pork and beans the result is that already Camp doctors are busy with men and officers suffering from various degrees of dissenter we hush this up as well as we can but to do so alt together is impossible PNE Bigalow hoers weekly other reporters struggled with how best to serve their country whether to continue their coverage of the war or enlist in the military Richard Harding Davis refused in Army commission his boss William Randolph Hurst yearned to join the Navy unfort Ely Hurst was a huge opponent of McKinley so there was no way he was going to get a commission he had to try to find a way in he wrote McKinley and he offered to volunteer to give McKinley his fully equipped Yachts if only he could be allowed to sign on board as a naval officer nothing happened finally at the last minute it was becoming more and more embarrassing he commissioned himself as a foreign correspondent and outfitted a fully equipped steamer with dark room supplies enough champagne for two weeks to cover the war on his own on the second floor of the White House President McKinley set up his own war room it was the prototype for the modern military command center there were 25 Telegraph lines coming into the White House there were three telephone lines and mckenley exploited them all he was the first president who understood how you use these new Communications especially the telephone the War Room learned on May 19th that a Spanish Fleet under Admiral Pasqual Sera had landed in Santiago Bay on the Southeast coast of Cuba the Bay's entrance was just 400 ft wide and easily [Music] blockaded secretary car of the Navy long sent seven warships to bottle up ca's Fleet the expeditionary Force Under General shaer would attack Santiago by land forcing the Spanish Fleet to either surrender or run the blockade 25,000 Soldiers made their way to Tampa Florida chosen as the staging point for The Invasion officers lounged and gossiped outside their new headquarters the extravagantly Moorish Tampa Bay Hotel officers who had not met in years who had been classmates at West Point who had fought together and against each other in the last war were left to dangle and dawle under the electric lights in silver minettes Richard Harding Davis it was quite a scene I mean some of these generals had indeed fought in the Civil War they were elderly L men sitting in their rocking chairs on the hotel porch and Tampa meanwhile there was only a Narrow Gauge Railroad one track coming into Tampa bringing all this material and Men down there there was a tremendous pile up of box cars on all the sidings clear up into Georgia to help General shaer untangle the mess Commanding General of the army Nelson miles went to Tampa miles had warned President McKinley against a summer campaign in Cuba yellow fever and other tropical diseases would decimate US forces rather than delay The Invasion the war department enlisted 10,000 volunteers thought to be resistant to Yellow Fever tropical ancestry was a qualification they were called immunes almost half were black when those Brave Black Knights are so bold come prancing down the street with swords of Cl gold BL dark looking F sh marching as a black KP the Negro has no reason to fight for Cuba's IND Independence he is opposed at home he is as much in need of Independence as Cuba is the African American Washington B legal segregation in the Army reflected that of the broader Society so many African-Americans opposed black participation in the war believing that African-Americans would be foolish to participate in war abroad uh when their rights were being trampled upon at home you go I'll go with you open your mou I'll speak for you Lord if I go tell me what say they won believe shall the Negro go to war and fight for the country's flag yes yes for every reason of true patriotism he will have an opportunity of proving to the world his real bravery worth and manhood the Los Angeles Freeman four regular black regiments were among the first to arrive in Tampa they were not received hospitably if you can imagine within a Jim Crow social order predicated on the subordination of blacks the appearance of masses of black soldiers in uniform was a direct threat to white supremacy so there were numerous altercations some of them quite violent in Tampa on June 6th drunken white Ohio volunteers seized the local black child they came up with a contest the winner was a soldier who sent a bullet through the sleeve of the boy's shirt though the child survived the incident enraged black troops they stormed the streets of Tampa wrecking the saloons and cafes that had refused them service there was no need to send negro troops to Cuba now to send them after this event is Criminal the Atlanta Constitution from Santiago Bay rear Admiral Samson sent a dispatch to Washington bombarded forts at Santiago today June 6th if 10,000 men were here we could take the city and Fleet within 48 hours hours every consideration demands immediate Army movement in Tampa General schaer announced the embarcation for Cuba a free-for-all ensued the scene in Tampa was just chaotic with people fighting to get on board ships and elbowing other guys aside to get on board ships and no staff officers there to help and no plan or Rhyme or Reason to it this was all brand new and they were just terrible at it chapter was handling problems that no American army officer had before ever had to handle this was a general staff that had been built to fight the Indian Wars and all of a sudden they're going to undertake the most difficult of all military operations an amphibious offensive against the defended Shoreline the Rough Riders became an infantry regiment because there wasn't sufficient space on the ships to bring these horses over TR just moved ahead very aggressively to make sure that his boys got a place on the boats as it was not all the Rough Riders did get on transports and many of them were left behind with the horses in Tampa [Music] Florida 10,000 troops and much of the ammunition and medical supplies never made it aboard for the 15,000 soldiers who departed for Cuba on June 14th the confusion in temp seemed far behind today we are steaming Southward through a sapphire sea wind rippled under an almost cloudless Sky if we are allowed to succeed we have scored the first Triumph in what will be a world movement Colonel Theodore Roosevelt a week later the treacherous Shoreline was a sobering site for US troops General shaer directed his ships to Dair 22 Mi east of Santiago where his soldiers could disembark onto a small dock Cuban insurgents had driven Spanish forces from the area so that the US Army could land unopposed so you get this scene in the D-Day for 1898 the guys come down off the ships into the rowboats pretty heavy sea and they're coming in into a Warf and when they get on a rise they have to throw their weapons up onto the warf and then down they go again and then they rise again and they grab up for guys that are up there on top to help them to get out and of course this didn't do any good with their horses and mules you couldn't take them in on Robo what what are you going to do with it well you throw them overboard and they'll swim to Shore and then you gather them up tiar had two horses for his own use which had been put on the ships one horse was named rain in the face face and one was Texas they lowered rain in the face into the water rain in the face died drowned in place before the harnesses got off the same point Little Texas went right into the drink his head came up he looked around and he started swimming out to sea on the shore the bugler saw this and began blowing and Texas heard the bugle call and turned around and started swimming in the shore the next day the US Landing continued at siun a beach head 7 miles west of Dair the Cowboys and Indians couldn't swim they'd never really seen water the Cowboys kept referring to the to the uh to the ocean as the creck and uh when they got ashore of course their uniforms were wool they were hot and the Dy started coming off and most of them stripped down and just wore their sombreros so by the end of the day you had all these new rough riders with cowboy hats on working in the surf trying to get stuff in a thousand naked men were assisting and impeding the progress shoreward of their comrades an army was being landed with more cheers and shrieks and laughter than rise from bathers in the surf at Coney Island Richard Harding Davis once a Shore US troops encountered Cuban Rebels for the first time wellam American soldiers had been reading stories about Cuba in the press and they were completely unprepared for the reality of it these Rebel soldiers didn't have uniforms often they didn't have guns they were dirt poor starving men in rags and also they were largely black I thought from their appearance that they would prove useful as guides and Scouts but that we would have to do practically all the fighting Captain John Bigalow Jr 10th Cavalry and so the immediate effect of the US arrival is to appropriate the conduct of the war and so we now begin what becomes known as the Spanish American war in which the very title of it signifies the absence of Cubans images of US soldiers preparing their Advance were captured by cameraman sent to Cuba by Thomas Edison the size of early cameras prevented the filming of actual battles so Edison shot reenactments in New [Music] [Applause] Jersey in reality US soldiers were unready for their first encounter with the Spanish 27-year-old author Steven crane a reporter for the New York World marched alongside Colonel Theodore Rosevelt and his Rough Riders they reached Las guasimas 3 Mi north of Sion on June 24th Theodore Roosevelt was rather typical in some ways of these leaders who had very little combat experience Steven crane happened to notice that he kept hearing these uh sounds of a dove this co co co and he thought he recognized that as the signal used by the Spanish Scouts Roosevelt wouldn't listen to this when the Cubans warned him that the Spanish were around and uh they did walk right into a terrible Ambush and so the potential asset of the Cuban Rebels was not exploited to anywhere near the degree that it could have been Rebels can supply our intelligence they're there on the scene they can say there's a Spanish company over here and they got some artillery over here and that bridge isn't defended and you can count on that intelligence it's the best intelligence of all I saw it the Spanish killed and wounded 16 US soldiers before withdrawing to the sanan heights just east of Santiago from a top The Ridge of Las guasimas General schaer and his Aid surveyed the terrain I don't think there was any great debate about what had to be done they decided to mount a two-prong attack pack one on the San Juan Heights which stood between them and sanago and the other on El can where the Spanish had amassed a sizable military force which would be on the Americans right flank as they had fought in the San Juan [Music] Hills General shapter ordered his commanders to attack both El can and the sanan heights at dawn on July 1st first at El can 5,000 US troops faced 500 well entrenched Spanish Defenders the American Battery kept up a leisurely fire on the Stone Fort eliciting no reply and so little disturbing the Spanish that someone suggested they were dummies Captain Arthur Lee British military [Music] atache the Spaniards then aimed their valleys on our attacking line we dropped to the ground and fired at will men fell in front of me to my right and left private Edward Henry 21st infantry it was not until late afternoon that US forces had taken El can among those wounded was New York Journal reporter James krelman who had tried to recover the Spanish flag from a top the Stone Fort James kman got carried away and he he had his pistol he drew his pistol and started shooting and ran up the hill and took a bullet in the back and fell over thought he was dying and the next thing he knew was he woke from his days and there was heurst leaning over him uh wearing a straw hat with a nice ribbon in it and he said well I'm sorry you're shot but wasn't it a splendid fight we beat all the other [Music] newspapers this was just wonderful for the newspapers coming out of depression all the news had been bad news here came a war and it was a glorious War to cover exotic place an enemy that it was easy to despise real heroes all the color of the Rough Riders that same day the Rough Riders and 9,000 other US troops including three black regiments formed Southwest of elcan to take the San Juan Heights us commanders plan first to cross the San Juan River at the base of the heights then to take Kettle Hill just west of the San Juan River and last to seize the block housee at top San Juan Hill Spain's final strong hold before Santiago we piled up all our extra baggage nothing but our arms ammunition and canteens being needed and Advance with our Colonel down into the San Juan River and there it was terrible just one continual Roar of small arms Cannon and bursting shells Corporal John Khan 24th Infantry I had the Troopers taking advantage of every scrap of cover but the Spanish swept the whole edge of the river and man after man in our ranks fell dead or wounded Colonel Theodore Roosevelt it soon became apparent to Roosevelt that it wouldn't be any more dangerous for them to charge up the hill than it would be for them to stay where they were so they charged up the hill the hill by the way was not San Juan Hill it was part of the San Juan Ridge but it was Kettle Hill no sooner were we on the crest than we had a splendid view of the charge on the San Juan Block House to our left where the Infantry were climb in the hill suddenly above the cracking of the carbines row A peculiar drumming sound it's the gatlings men our gatlings colel Theodore Roosevelt the Spanish had never seen this kind of weapon before it scared them because it was hundreds of rounds a minute pouring into their positions and it it didn't take long before they they just turned tail and and ran down the other side of San Juan Hill US forces captured the San Juan Heights at the cost of 140 American men but history would assign the glory to only one the number one image of the Spanish American war in the minds of the American people is Teddy Roosevelt on his horse standing out there all by himself Spanish Sharpshooters up there shooting at him obviously the most visible Target by far on the battlefield telling his guys not charge follow me in the course of battle Roosevelt combined elements of six separate regiments including the African-American 9th and 10th calvaries now at that point most of the black soldiers had become separated from their officers Roosevelt went up and told the black soldiers that you know he was taking over that he was the ranking officer and they were to to follow him and he announced at the time that um if any man went to the rear retreated or ran he'd shoot him this was the end of the trouble with the smoked Yankees as the Spaniards called the colored soldiers who flashed their white teeth at one another as they broke into broad grins seeming to accept me as one of their own officers occasionally the colored Troops can take initiative precisely like the best class of whites Colonel Theodore Roosevelt his statement was uncalled for and uncharitable considering the effect the 10th Cavalry had in weakening the forces opposed to the Colonel's regiment I will say that when our soldiers tell what they saw the public will learn that not every company of colored soldiers was led or urged forward by its white officer Presley holiday 10 Cavalry entrenched 600 yard from Santiago the US Army awaited orders to proceed the defenses of San dieago were constructed with commandable skill to take the City by assault would cost us at least 3,000 men General fighting Joe Wheeler but Spain's unwillingness to surrender its Fleet would spare American soldiers the Bloodshed on July 3rd less than 2 weeks after the US Army had landed in Cuba the Spanish Admiral CA confronted rear Admiral Samson's blockade of Santiago Bay we saw what probably has not been witnessed since since the days of the Armada Ships coming out for deadly battle but dressed as for a Regal parade they bespoke luxury and chivalry and a proud Defiance George Graham Associated Press Admiral ca's Fleet swung Westward but could not sail beyond the firing range of the US Navy within 3 hours all Spanish ships but one were destroyed the or commenced to gain on us and soon after open fire with her heavy bow guns I decided to run ashore and lose the ship rather than sacrifice in vain the lives of all these men Spanish Captain Jose De Paredes I think it's probably symbolic maybe even significant at The Last Ship the very last ship to be sunk which signals the end of the Spanish Empire in many ways in the new world is the uh is the Columbus that's the final ship that goes down in the Battle of [Music] Santiago N9 Days Later under the shade of a great siba tree General shaer began negotiations for the surrender of Santiago as Commanding General of the army Nelson miles had warned President McKinley disease struck US soldiers he knew and it was certain and in fact it did happen that virtually all the American troops are going to get malaria and as many as 25% of them would be down at any one time and by down I mean flat on the back unable to operate at all and then in July the L fever was going to start the growing death toll convinced General schaer to accept the conditional surrender of Santiago Spain could not afford to ship its own Army back from Cuba sh after agreed to send home 23,000 Spanish soldiers at us expense disease would take the lives of more than 2,000 US troops nearly five times the number of fatalities from [Music] combat each morning we would hear bugles blowing Taps very shortly after Raby first the burial detail then the bugle the sickness was striking and harder one bugle followed another throughout the day almost as if they were but Echoes among the hills private Charles post 71st [Music] Infantry [Music] [Music] on July 17th in Santiago's main Square us and Spanish generals assembled for the formal surrender of the city when the cathedral's Clock Struck noon the Spanish flag which had flown over Santiago for nearly 400 100 years was replaced by the Stars and Stripes not the flag of Kuba Li Cuban insurgents were not invited to attend the reasons given for the denial to ENT the city was that that they would plunder and they would pillage and that they would Loot and they would sack and so um in addition to the sentimental uh uh dimension of of this decision the Cubans felt that they were slandered we are a poor ragged Army as poor as was the army of your forefathers in their Noble war for independence but like the heroes of Saratoga and Yorktown we respect our cause too deeply to disgrace it with barbarism and cowardice General Kalisto Garcia the Cubans are now characterized as slouchers as people who really had no understanding of uh of freedom of Liberty that these were people who themselves those were fundamentally unfit for self-government self-government why those people are no more fit for self-government than gunpowder is for hell as I view it we have taken Spain's War upon ourselves General William schaer in a little rustic Cottage in the far off Philippines sits a little black-faced maiden or all alone Spain's Army in the Philippines was trapped in intramuros a walled City within Manila built by Spanish conquerors 300 years earlier aguinaldo's insurgents had besieged the stronghold for nearly 2 months they had gotten Manila almost completely surrounded to the extent that the Spaniards were running low on water and food and aginaldo at this point asked the Spanish Commander to surrender Manila to his forces but the Spaniards with their sense of Pride refused to do that they feared that the Filipinos would take Vengeance on them that Philippines would murder them and rape their women aguinaldo hoped their rear Admiral dy's Fleet would bombard intramuros and force the Spanish to surrender to the Filipinos but dwey had been waiting for us land troops who began arriving in July the Filipinos had been led to believe that the Americans were their redeemers their liberators and so for as long as dwey fleet was there it was all right but when the soldiers came in then the Filipinos began to have their doubts and became suspicious about American motives the American soldiers on the other hand arrived thinking that they were really going to educate these people and a lot of them equated the filipinos with blacks Negroes and they looked down on many of them the Filipinos were portrayed by the press in a very different way from say the way that the Cubans had been portrayed prior to the US intervention what was more common was to portray the Filipinos as children so that Uncle Sam would have to come in and establish a kindergarten and would educate the Filipinos for [Music] self-government the Spanish proposed surrendering to the United States in a mock battle for Manila few soldiers would be harmed and the Spanish would maintain their military honor Filipinos would be kept out of intramuros by the US Army the Battle of Manila was another one of these things where the Spanish did not want to Simply raise their hands in the air and come out surrendering it was almost like the reenactments that you you see today of Civil War battles everybody knew who was going to win the Spaniards raised the White Flag the Americans rushed into the city as planned and the Filipinos were left holding an empty bag before they knew what had hit them they were still surrounding Manila but Manila had changed hands into the [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Americans on August 14th in the Church of San Austine the Spanish handed over formal possession of Manila to the United States and like General Garcia at Santiago aguinaldo and his insurgents were barred from entering the city Filipino leaders retreated to a monastery north of Manila to organize a government independent of the United States the people struggle for their independence absolutely convinced that the time has come when they can and should govern themselves Emilio [Music] aguinaldo country they h on to fight for Freedom's cause for victory of our country's flag for are just and rightous [Music] laws peace negotiations between the United States and Spain began in Paris on October 1st 1898 no Filipinos or Cubans had been consulted or invited to attend their fate lay in the hands of 10 American and Spanish delegates I think at this point m was not sure in his own mind exactly what he would ask of the Spanish he was sure that he would ask them to give up Cuba the real question was what to do with the Philippines and he decided that he needed the port of Manila in the Philippines in order to have a naval base in the Western Pacific the question was how much more than Manila should we have in order to protect Manila Congressional elections were just a month away as president McKinley toured the Midwest to campaign for Republicans he gauged public opinion on overseas expansion we have good money we have ample revenues we have unquestioned national credit but we want new markets and as trade follows the flag it looks very much as if we are going to have new markets he made speeches in which he would pose the problem something like this uh we have esta lished American interest in the flag in the Philippines should we take the flag down and of course the audience would Roar back no should we keep the Philippines as an overseas base the audience would Roar its approval and McKinley would say well I guess they want the Philippines the Republicans maintained their majority in Congress theer Roosevelt was elected governor of New York 5 days later us treaty negotiators in Paris were cabled president McKinley's terms insist upon the session of the whole of the Philippines if necessary pay to Spain $20 million Secretary of State John Hay Spain accepted the offer and gave up the Philippines in Cuba in addition to Guam in Puerto Rico the 400-year-old Spanish Empire which once included most of the Western Hemisphere ended with the stroke of a pen the Treaty of Paris signed on December 10th 1898 required ratification by at least 2/3 of the US Senate the US Senate has historically build itself as the most deliberative body in the world and often it doesn't live up to that reputation but in the debate over the ratification of the Treaty of Paris I think it did despite the overblown rhetoric on both sides there was a critical issue that was being debated should the United States become an imperial power this treaty will make us a vulgar commonplace Empire controlling subject races and vassal States in which one class must forever Rule and other classes must forever obey Providence has given the United States the duty of extending Christian civilization we come as ministering angels not desps every school boy knows that the Revolutionary War was fought against the colonial system of Europe no power is given to the federal government to acquire territory to be held as colonies suppose we reject the treaty we continue the state of War we repudiate the president we are branded as a people incapable of taking rank as one of the greatest of world powers the debate with was not confined to Senate chambers among those who spoke out against the treaty were leaders of the democratic opposition when the desire to steal becomes uncontrollable in an individual he is declared to be a kleptomaniac when the desire to grab land becomes uncontrollable in a nation we are told that the currents of Destiny are flowing in the hearts of men they don't think it's possible for a democracy to be an Empire that trying to rule an Empire thousands of Mile abroad they're convinced will corrupt American Democratic institutions but they also can't imagine absorbing the peoples of the Philippines in any form into the American Republic is the Republic to remain one homogeneous whole one United people or to become a scattered and disjointed aggregate of widely separated and alien races steel magnate Andrew carnegi part of the treaty terms with Spain included $20 million for the Philippines Carnegie apparently sincerely uh offered to pull out his checkbook and write a check to the United States government for $20 million and in return for which he wanted McKinley to give U the Philippines their independence Carnegie and former president Cleveland petitioned the Senate to reject the treaty still two votes shy of ratification the final vote was scheduled for February 6th 1899 in Manila us and Filipino soldiers eyed each other suspiciously across a neutral divide just two days before the final Senate vote a US Army private on patrol spotted two Filipino soldiers crossing the San Juan bridge to American lines he shouted for the soldiers to Halt a Filipino Soldier was not understand the word halt so ignoring that warning continued no uh he continued uh to move towards the American lines the Americans fired from their end and uh there was now a reply on the Filipino end there is a strong sentiment that flashes through the Senate that we have to support our boys in the Philippines I mean it's like there was a patriotism aroused instead of doubts I mean the fighting in the Philippines causes a lot of people to have doubts but in the Senate it has the impact of turning a number of people who were thinking of opposing the treaty into supporting it two Democrats switched sides and the Senate narrowly ratified the treaty the United States officially acquired its first colonies and its First Colonial Rebellion 60 US soldiers and 700 Filipinos had been killed one of the great sardonic writers of the time Ambrose beerus once wrote that taking an Empire is not like smoking a cigarette and the people who came to be known as anti-imperialists were of that view and one of them said Dewey took Manila with the loss of one man and all our institutions come home do we won't do a thing to you hero of the red and blue million people else to rear Admiral Dewey doubled his order of ammunition from Washington to help put a swift end to the Filipino Insurrection the insane attack of these people upon their liberators it is not likely that aguinaldo himself will exhibit much staying power after one or two collisions the Insurgent Army will break up the New York Times February 1899 to avoid an uprising in Cuba us officials appealed to General Gomez to demobilize his troops the Cuban Army cannot dissolve itself unless I receive the assurance that Independence will be given to Cuba General Maximo Gomez Cubans gained faith in the United States when it began extensive programs to improve public works on the island electricity was introduced the telegraph was expanded the railroads were repaired and cleaned up swamps were drained uh roads were paved so that you wouldn't have standing water and in fact this made a tremendous difference among the population of Cuba General Gomez agreed to disband the Cuban Army hoping that the United States would in turn honor the Teller Amendment passed before the war the Teller Amendment guaranteed the Cubans their independence in the Philippines aguinaldo's insurgents had no promises of Independence no Teller Amendment they continued to resist within two months they had killed and wounded 500 US soldiers why is it that the American Outlook is blacker now than it has been since the beginning of the war the whole population of the islands sympathizes with the insurgents the sooner the people of the United States find out that the people of the Philippines do not wish to be governed by us the better Harper's Weekly June 1899 the Anti-Imperialist League that had begun some months before grew in membership it's very interesting especially a number of American women got involved in this they did not yet have suffrage they saw the Filipinos essentially as having their problem that is to say they were being governed without they having anything to say about it among the most vocal of Anti-Imperialist women were members of the women's Christian Temperance Union again and again has my blood boiled at the hundreds of American saloons being established throughout our new possessions and shame of shames our military authorities in the Philippines have introduced the open and official sanction of prostitution Bessie Scoville wom's Christian Temperance Union what really upset wctu members were the reports of sexually transmitted diseases and they were just appalled to find out that boys who they described as pure boys had left their their homes and their loving mothers and their uh strong um values and went to the Philippines and instead came home sick diseased depraved founder of the Anti-Imperialist League Edward Atkinson published pamphlets on veneral disease and sent them to troops in the Philippines Atkinson believed that one of the consequences of going into the career of empire was that traditional American principles such as freedom of speech would no longer hold and sure enough the Postmaster General had the pamphlet seized and so they never reached the Philippines and Atkinson was able to go to the public then and say you see this is what happens if we seize the Philippines go and become an imperialist power we'll no longer have our freedoms in August 1899 the US Commander Manila requested 60,000 reinforcements quadrupling the size of US forces in the Philippines aguinaldo ordered his officers to begin a Guerilla War it involved men without uniforms so they would be able to fade into civilian populations very very quickly it involved surprise attacks raids uh without warning some of the Filipinos would even wear women's clothing at times to be able to get behind American lines and then hit from the back the way the fighting went on was just utterly alien to the American kids at the beginning of the 20th century in the Philippines just as it was to the American kids in the late 1960s in Vietnam and whenever you send an 18 or a 19yearold out into the world and give him a gun and tell them to go and kill the enemy and to hate the enemy you you're going to have problems you're going to have the kind of thing that happen at Wounded Knee or the kind of thing that happened in the Philippines with the American troops torturing their prisoners in in the most you don't want to ever even think about our ways American brutality in the Philippines brought an unexpected supporter to the Anti-Imperialist movement William Randolph Hurst letters that were sent to him from American soldiers talked about killing the Filipinos who they called Indians often times connecting it to the Indian wars in the United States and I think Hurst started seeing that that perhaps the whole Spanish American war was a misadventure that what possibly worked in Cuba getting Spain out was turning out to be disastrous um in the Pacific with the Philippines just break the news to mother she knows how dear I love her and tell her not to wait for me for I'm not coming home talk about dead indians are they're lying everywhere The Trenches are full of them Theodore connley a Kansas regiment last night one of our boys was found shot and his stomach cut open immediately orders were received to burn the town and kill every native in sight I am probably growing hard-hearted for I am in my glory when I can sight my gun on some dark skin and pull the trigger AA Barnes 3D US Artillery I don't believe the people in the United States understand the condition of things here even the Spanish are shocked I have seen enough to almost make me ashamed to call myself an American an anonymous Soldier the body count in the Philippines worried President McKinley 3,000 Americans and 15,000 Filipinos had been killed us Generals in Manila were ordered to censor reporters dispatches that contained any unfavorable news American reporters in the Philippines blamed the generals not the president for this censorship and their inability to get a lot of this news out so by the early part of 1900 McKinley was in much better shape politically than he should have been given the number of casualties and the amount of atrocities uh that were going on in the Philippine [Music] revolution in June 1900 the Republicans gathered in Philadelphia for their National Convention President McKinley was easily renominated largely because the nation prospered Teddy Roosevelt was selected as his running mate Roosevelt was nominated not because he was governor of New York state but because he was a war hero and therefore could add a lot of pizzazz to the Republican ticket the election of 1900 was a rematch between McKinley and William Jennings Brian the Democratic candidate in 1896 Brian hoped to win this election by making the Philippines a central issue on November 6th Brian carried only four states and not even his native Nebraska McKinley won by a landslide and became the first president of the 20th century almost never do foreign policy questions decide American elections McKinley was reelected on the prosperity that his administration had brought to the country after the horrible depression of the 1890s the fact that Brian had raised the Imperial question allowed the Republicans to claim their Victory as a victory for imperialism one of the first acts of McKinley's new Administration was to offer Cuba limited self-government the plat Amendment introduced by Connecticut Senator Orville Platt made Cuba a us protectorate the United States could intervene in Cuba's Affairs and establish a naval base at wano Bay the plat amendment was the American guarantee that Cuba would remain American it undermined any attempt on the Cubans to be autonomous the Cubans would to in explicit terms your choice is a republic with the plat Amendment or continued military occupation so was a terrible Dilemma to accommodate or to resist and at this point it was not clear what to do so much had change the Army had had been demobilized uh they had scattered to all into the island and and people like uh General Maximo gz were left with this very very bitter denan this is not the Republic we fought for it is not the independence we dreamed about but there is no gain in discussing that now we must save what remains of the Redemptive Revolution General Maximo [Music] Gomez the Cubans bowed to us pressure and narrowly voted the plat Amendment into their constitution in the Philippines US troops had posed as prisoners of War to infiltrate Rebel headquarters 3 weeks after president McKinley's March inauguration they captured Rebel leader Emilio aguinaldo there has been enough blood enough tears enough desolation by accepting the sovereignty of the United States I believe I am serving thee my beloved country Emilio agalo while War continued in the southern Philippines there were few skirmishes around Manila in the summer of 1901 President McKinley appointed William Howard Taft the first civilian governor of the Philippines Big Bill Taft called the Filipinos his little Brown Brothers McKinley described taff's Mission as want a benevolent assimilation what was established here very quickly were schools and the introduction of American methods of Education English language except that the American Administration in the Philippines passed a law which made illegal anything that was anti-American whether it was written spoken or even a picture the Philippine flag was banned although Filipinos found other ways to continue the struggle to see the pan can I went to Buffalo I saw the great exhibits that this nation had to show in Buffalo in Buffalo the Curiosities I saw they really made me smile you can see more sights on Sunday on the beach I on September 5th 1901 President McKinley visited the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo New York he spoke about the nation's New World role we have a vast and intricate business built up through years of toil and struggle in which every part of this country has its stake isolation is no longer possible or desirable he was the first president who had ever said this uh who had essentially told Americans they now had Global responsibilities and that they had to start learning foreign languages because they were now competing in a World Market the next afternoon President McKinley greeted visitors at a public reception he had been warned by his secret service detail that there was the danger of assassination Anarchist had assassinated several uh figures uh in Europe particularly European royalty and there had been uh threats made on McKinley's life mckin would not listen to these warnings and he insisted upon meeting people one by one as they came through the hall at the Buffalo Exposition a box Sonata murmured quietly from the reception hall broken Suddenly by Two Shots Leon zulos an anarchist had fired a revolver concealed by a handkerchief one bullet deflected harmlessly off a button on the president shirt the second lacerated his stomach President William McKinley died 8 Days Later vice president Theodore Roosevelt was sworn [Music] in her 10 days after president McKinley's death the residents of balangiga a tiny village 400 mes southeast of Manila attacked the local US Garrison while US soldiers ate breakfast the church bells rang a signal Filipinos brandishing machetes emerged from their hiding places 48 Americans 2third of the Garrison were butchered the Filipino this was seen as a Victor ious battle on the side of the Revolution but to the Americans it was seen as a atro an atrocity of the gravest proportions on the orders of General Jacob Smith US troops retaliated against the entire island of Samar where balangiga is located I want no prisoners I want all persons killed who are capable of bearing arms against the United States I'd like to know the limit of age to respect sir 10 years General Jacob Smith and his troops followed the order to the letter burning Villages killing men and actually even women and children and converting Samar into really a howling Wilderness in the Philippines they here know what it means I like the word fraternity but still I draw the line oh he may be a brother of Big Bill but he ain't no brother of mine in pangas a province south of Manila us officers hered all non insurgents into fortified zones everyone outside these zones was considered an enemy and captured or killed the similarities to Spanish methods in Cuba were unmistakable [Music] leading Anti-Imperialist Senator George hore insisted on public hearings to try those responsible for these atrocities three army officers including General Jacob Smith were Court marshalled you have sacrificed nearly 10,000 American lives you have slain uncounted thousands of the people you desired to benefit you have established reconcentration camps your statesmanship has succeeded in converting a grateful people into enemies possessed of a hatred which centuries cannot eradicate Senator George [Music] [ __ ] come back to me then we will part no more happy I'll be sweetheart with the [Music] war in April 1902 after more than 3 years of fighting Filipino insurgents surrendered to the United States by the end of the war Americans simply had no stomach for any more colonies even Roosevelt himself was was forced to conclude that the Americans were not an imperial people he said that the the Philippines had become America's Achilles heel he should have listened harder in 1898 to a lot of people who were saying at that time we're going to acquire these foreign people about whom we know very little or nothing who are way way far away who have a culture that is not a part of ours that sit just south of Japan they're good if we have those islands it's going to draw us into a war in the Pacific and it's going to be a very bloody and very tough war to fight in World War II Japan conquered the Philippines 60,000 Americans and more than a million Filipinos were killed driving the Japanese from the islands soon after the United States granted the Filipinos their [Music] independence [Music] the US military withdrew from Havana in 1902 while the Cubans could govern their day-to-day Affairs the plat amendment allowed the United States to intervene whenever its interests were threatened the first time was in 1906 there was political instability in Cuba and president the Roosevelt sent troops into the island and I think this was a major turn because at that point the Cubans began to see the United States as a kind of Big Brother who would only let them do certain things under certain [Music] limitations Cuba was given its independence in 1934 but the United States remained a powerful influence in the islands Affairs resentment in Cuba grew culminating in another nationalist Revolution Fidel Castro the son of a Spanish sugar planter overthrew us back dictator fenio Bautista in 1959 it is not coincidence that in the final hours of the fall of the Batista government Fel Castro on January 1st issues a proclamation talking about the fall of the regime and then makes this illusion makes this remarkable illusion that this time the Cuban Army will not be kept out of the city of Santiago a resonating reference to 1898 it is as if somehow Cuban history now and some sort of existential way has resumed to the main Memorial in Havana Castro's government added an inscription to the victims of the Maine who were sacrificed by imperialist greed in its mission to conquer the island of Cuba we have remembered the M wiped out the old flag stain and proudly once more as in the days of your it floats on the breeze again in 1911 a Navy decided that it was not what they wanted to have the main on the bottom of Havana Harbor with its super structure sticking up out of the water and they thought it would be more seamly to refloat the main and take it out the sea and sink it [Music] there and that's where things stayed until the 1970s when the late Admiral rickover came up with the conclusion that that it was not an external explosion but that it was probably set off by a spontaneous combustion fire in the coal bunker it's ironic because the explosion set off this series of events and changed us in ways that could never be reversed we have remember the to learn more about the Spanish American war visit PBS online at [Music] pbs.org mothers and matrons and sweethearts in Hamlet and Village [Music] and prayed for and wrote to their Darlings before the M letters came back from the ladies love laiden home Swift or the fo before the M went [Music] a production of South Carolina [Music] ETV major funding for Crucible of empire was provided by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding was also provided by the National Endowment for the humanities the annual financial support of viewers like you and the John D and Katherine T MacArthur [Music] Foundation