Yellow Journalism
 Sensational style of reporting the news to lure
readers
 Used by William Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer in
NYC newspapers
 “You furnish the pictures. I’ll furnish the war.”
 Fanned war fever and caused US public opinion
to turn in favor of the Cuban independence
movement
The Yellow Kid
De Lome Letter
In early 1898 the DeLome letter called Pres. William
McKinley weak
The contents of the letter seen as a serious insult to our
national pride
Written by Spanish diplomat Enrique Dupuy de Lome
The letter was stolen by a Cuban rebel and “leaked” to
newspapers
USS Maine Explodes
• Pres. McKinley orders USS Maine to Cuba to pick up
US citizens in danger from fight between Spanish and
Cuban rebels
• 2/15/1898 USS Maine blows up in Havana harbor;
260 die
• Yellow journalists say Spanish mine or torpedo was
to blame
• True? No. An accidental boiler explosion detonated
gunpowder on the Maine
• “Remember the Maine” becomes rallying cry for
war!
• Hearst offers $50K reward for capture of Spanish
culprits
The Philippines
• First battle of the Spanish-American War
• Spanish thought US would attack Cuba first
• Admiral George Dewey , US Naval Commander, and
Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipino rebel leader are main
characters
• Dewey sails w/US fleet from Hong Kong to
Philippines
• In Manila harbor Dewey destroys Spanish w/in hours
• US troops land on mainland
US Forces Invade Cuba
(War in the Caribbean)
• US navy blockades Cuba
• Spanish fleet bottled up in Santiago harbor
What’s wrong with our troops?
• Not enough supplies
• Not enough guns
• Heavy woolen uniforms in tropical climate
• Not enough effective leaders-most officers Civil War vets; too
old and uninspired
Outcome?
• 125,000 Americans volunteer to fight the Spanish
• Took longer than Philippines
• Spanish fleet destroyed
Rough Riders
• Volunteer cavalry unit sent to Cuba in June of
1898
• Led by Teddy Roosevelt and Leonard Wood
• Rough Riders dramatic uphill charge on (Kettle
Hill) led way for infantry attack and capture of
strategic San Juan Hill
• US now able get to Santiago harbor and
destroy Spanish fleet
• This victory gave US confidence to next attack
Puerto Rico
Treaty of Paris
December 10, 1898
• Terms of the Treaty of Paris
• 1. Spain frees Cuba
• 2. Puerto Rico and Guam acquired
by US
• 3. US pays $20M for annexation of
Philippines
Annexation of the Philippines
• Annex- to incorporate territory into an
existing country or state
• Pres. McKinley prayed for guidance on
what to do with Philippines
• He said, “We must take the Philippines
and educate and Christianize the people”
• US Senate approves treaty to annex
Philippines on February 6. 1899
Debate over US Imperialism in the
Philippines
•
•
•
•
Does the US have the right to annex the Philippines? Is
Imperialism moral?
Most Filipinos were Catholic Christians under Spanish rule for
centuries!
Treaty of Paris violated the Declaration of Independence;
denied Filipino self-government
Booker T. Washington- famous African-American fighter for
Civil Rights says, “settle and fix racial inequality at home
before taking on social problems overseas”
Samuel Gompers (remember him?) feared Filipino
immigrants would compete for American jobs
End of the Spanish-American War
• The war lasted only 16 weeks!
• 5,400 Americans died from heat
exhaustion, disease, and combat
• John Hay, US Secretary of State,
called it “the splendid little war”.
• US emerges as a world power
It’s Alive! The Creation of the World’s Baddest Super Power
(or How Uncle Sam Got His Swag)
The Spanish-American War revealed that industrialization in the late 19th
century had made the US a great power. Now, as the frontier in the
American West disappeared, the nation sought new room to grow: world
markets, protected by a worldwide Navy based on island territories
throughout the world. Also, new ideas of "Social Darwinism" in the period
said to many Americans that international relations was a nasty contest in
which the "fittest" nations would do what they had to in order to survive.
Regardless of the reasons behind annexation, the Spanish-American War
and the colonies it brought to the US marked, for better or worse, the
beginning of the modern era of US intervention in world affairs. This
emergence of the US onto the international stage as a world power also
symbolized to many that the US had finally emerged, whole and healthy,
from the era of the Civil War and Reconstruction.