Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949
Spanish-American War
McKinley and his secretary of war were accused of negligence and corruption in the conflict, including forcing soldiers to eat "embalmed beef."
On September 8, 1898, Secretary of War Russell A. Alger formally petitioned President William McKinley for an investigation into the War Department's conduct of the war with Spain.
Although his flamboyant successor, Theodore Roosevelt, largely overshadowed him, William McKinney deserves credit for establishing the U.S. as a global power, acquiring Hawaii and Puerto Rico, establishing the “fair trade” doctrine, and paving the way for TR’s accomplishments.
As a Rough Rider in the Spanish-American War, Theodore Roosevelt’s attention to nature and love of animals were much in evidence, characteristics that would later help form his strong conservationist platform as president
ON JUNE 3, 1898, 39 days into the Spanish-American War, Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders arrived in Florida by train, assigned to the U.S. transport Yucatan. But the departure date from Tampa Bay for Cuba kept changing.
WHAT HAPPENED WHEN WE DELIVERED THE PHILIPPINES FROM TYRANNY A CENTURY AGO
The White Man’s Burden
When an armistice ended the Spanish-American War on August 12, the United States found itself with three major new territories obtained in three different ways. The first was Hawaii, annexed on July 7 with the President’s signature on a joint congressional resolution.
Our war with Spain marked the first year of the American Century
Don’t You Know There’s a War On?
After America declared war on Spain in late April, heroic acts filled the newspapers almost daily.
Sexy and melancholy, festive and forlorn, the island has always heated the Yankee imagination. The author visits there in the late afternoon of a straitened era and looks back on four centuries of passionate misunderstandings.
In those days, back in the thirties, the forties, the fifties of this century, Cuba was Havana, and Havana was a dream.
Giving the men who died aboard America’s first battleship a decent funeral took fourteen years, three-quarters of a million dollars, and some hair-raising engineering. But in the end, they did it right.
On the evening of February 15, 1898, the U.S. battleship Maine rode peacefully at her mooring in Havana Harbor.
As I write, the earnest image of Marine lieutenant colonel Oliver North has faded from our television screens, but a volume of his complete testimony in the Iran-contra hearings still tops the nonfiction paperback best-seller list, a video cassette of the highlights of his appe
His reward for heroism was to become “the most kissed man in America”
Not so long ago, indeed well within a lifetime, there was no “dearth of heroes” in this country, to quote the title of our opening article a little out of context.
He had vivid memories of fighting in Cuba with Theodore Roosevelt. “We’d have gone to hell with him.”
“In strict confidence, I should welcome any w
A Negro cavalry regiment was John J. Pershing’s “home” in the service. From it came his nickname, and he never lost his affection for—or failed to champion—the valorous colored troopers he led.
To the question of acquiring new territories overseas, and owning colonies, one group of Americans answered with a resounding “No!”
In the wily, elusive leader of the Philippine Insurrection a bedeviled Uncle Sam almost met his match.
"The current was too strong, the demagogues too numerous, the fall elections too near"
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