Essay about The Impact Media has During War

In the mid-1800s, Spain ruled the island of Cuba. the United States, at that time, received most of Cuba's exports, and they supported the Cuban independence movement; if Cuba was independent, then the United States would benefit from the country. Soon, the big U.S. presses, such as The New York Journal and The New York World, knew that the event was in the people's feelings. They sensationalized their headlines and graphic features to attract readers, which soon was known as "yellow journalism". The press also knew a lot of the reader's interests, and they exaggerated their news. During the January of 1898, the United States sent the USS Maine, which is a battleship, to Havana, which is the capital of Cuba, in order to halt the riots between

The Cuban people were in need of dire help, their citizens dying on the streets and in concentration camps. The U.S looked from afar, debating whether it was the right thing to do to get involved in a foreign conflict. Despite the majority of Americans wanting to go to war and defend the rights of the Cuban people, whether it was opinion conceived from yellow journalism, political influences or just a humanitarian responsibility, McKinley did not want any part in this war and he fought barrier after barrier to resolve the matter peacefully. When the extensive negotiations failed with the prideful Spanish, and after the Maine sinking, the De Lôme Letter, and increasing political and social pressure, McKinley finally saw no other way to resolve this matter than by war. Kagan believes that McKinley entered this war on an agenda of helping the Cuban people with their independence from Spain and stopping the brutal concentration camps and cruel policies of Weyler and the Spanish. Although I agree with this, I also believe that a secondary motive of wanting to get involved was because Cuba had many “negro” leaders and people living on the island. Politicians didn’t want colored people taking charge of the country so they deemed them unfit to govern themselves as Kagan puts it “[Cuban people] were unfit for democracy and incapable of establishing a stable and reliable

America was very eager to go in this war because they noticed how countries in Europe were becoming imperialists. America thought in order to become a world power, they had to do the same. They saw the opportunity to do so with Cuba. Although Spain was controlling Cuba at the time. The United States found the perfect “excuse” to go to war with Spain at the time.

     Cuba had been rebelling against Spanish rule for decades and the United States never intruded. America claimed that the reason for their involvement in 1895 was to assist Cuba against Spanish slaughter, but they hadn’t thought about involving themselves until their trade for sugar with Cuba was cut off. The Wilson-Gorman Tariff of 1894 placed high taxes on sugar, destructing Cuba’s sugar market and causing the discontinuation of trade with the United States. Cuba had acted as America’s primary sugar market. President Cleveland and successor, McKinley, desired to stay neutral, but the revealing of the Spanish De Lome letter and the sinking of the Maine in 1898 presented no other option.

The subsequent bombing of the ship was blamed on the Spanish with virtually no evidence; however, yellow journalists Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst sensationalized Spanish “atrocities” in Cuba fanning the flames for war. McKinley sought support for a military campaign against the Spanish in Cuba on April 11, 1898 in his Message to Congress Requesing a Declaration of War. The address highlights four justifications for intervention in the region. McKinley’s third reason for intervention was “justified by the very serious injury to the commerce, trade, and business of our people” and fourth justification “…which is of the utmost importance. The present condition of affairs in Cuba is a constant menace to our peace and entails upon this Government an enormous expense” resonate with a sense of American imperialism. The primary concerns of the nation dealt with trade and business implications for American markets instead of the safety and security of the Cuban people. The Platform of the American Anti-Imperialist League supported the “immediate cessation of the war against liberty, begun by Spain.”

On April 19th, 1898, the United States declared war on Spain. Over the next three months the United States, along with Cuban Rebels waged war against the Spanish forces in hopes of returning the Cuban lands back to its people. President McKinley who was pressured into war by yellow press, sent American forces into battle which ultimately led to the birth of a western hemispheric super power, the United States. The sinking of the USS Maine, the use of yellow press journalism, and the national uproar and motivation is what drove the Americans to victory.

In the early months of 1898, fundamental events took place in fairly rapid succession that led up to the Spanish American War and in turn the Battle for San Juan Heights. Together, these events solidified U.S. public opinion towards the U.S. involvement in a war to liberate Cuba from Spanish rule. A war some saw as a necessity to end the appalling conditions on an island so close to the American mainland. Some American officials including the U.S. Consul-general in Havana, Fitzhugh Lee, believed that it was only a matter of time before Cuba would be annexed by United States. (The Spanish-American War: American Wars and the Media in Primary Document, W. Joseph Campbell 2005).

The newspapers didn’t want the people of America to know the real reason for war, so that’s why they always embellished their stories. The real reason for war against Spain was to take the land of Cuba. The United States used the sinking of the Maine, the “Butcher,” and the De Lome Letter to justify declaring war on Spain. The government knew all along that these things being said weren’t entirely true, but needed a reason to take down Spanish control over Cuba. The U.S. government knew that the newspapers were feeding the public false information, but did nothing to stop them.

At a time when Cuba fought to gain independence from Spanish rule, President William McKinley showed leadership by ending the feud between the rebels and Spanish forces and establishing a stable government. U.S. interest in purchasing Cuba had begun before 1898. Following the Ten Year War, American sugar interests bought up large amounts of land in Cuba. Alterations in the U.S. sugar tariff favoring homegrown beet sugar helped encourage the renewal of revolutionary passion in 1895. On April 23, President McKinley asked for 125,000 volunteers to fight against Spain. The following day, Spain issued a declaration of war. However, on the other side of the world, a Spanish fleet docked in Cuba’s Santiago harbor after racing across the Atlantic from Spain. The Spanish fleet destroyed off Santiago by U.S. warships under Admiral William Sampson, and the Spanish surrendered the city. In Puerto Rico, Spanish forces crumbled in the face of superior U.S. forces, and on August 12 an armistice was signed between Spain and the United States, ending the conflict.

To encourage a war, in the hopes of selling more newspapers, publishers wrote articles about Spain treating the Cubans bad even if they weren’t true stories. Americans wanted to support Cuban independence when Cuba rebelled against Spain. US declared war against Spain lasting only four months, American ships quickly defeated the Spanish Navy in the waters off of Cuba. American troops remained in Cuba after the war to insure Cuba’s independence from Spain while also simultaneously limiting its independence from the US. The United States had also declared the right to intervene with Cuban government.

The Spanish-American War was a disagreement between the United States and Spain. It all began in Cuba when they were seeking freedom, this was in the year of 1895. There were riots in Spain of drastic measure due to the prohibited of freedom, causing individuals to act out. The United States express concern for the rebels in the riots and became more involved after the ship Havana had sunk. The ship was protecting United States citizens and property after the rioting (cite).

On April 25, 1898, the United States announced war on Spain takes after the submerging of the warship Maine in Havana port on February 15, 1898.The American entered into this war because neither of the quest for freedom nor internal conflicts, but because it wanted to expand its territories and the need to spread American control in the Caribbean and Philippines. One of the reasons that forced the U.S to enter into this war was Yellow Journalism. According to (Mosse 167) William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, who were journalists and covered the atrocities that the Spanish people were doing to the Cubans, reported to the public the progress in Cuba. This action compelled the public to pressurize the government to make plans to free Cubans from this oppressive slavery. One of the stories that were conveyed in this their daily paper was the activities of General Weyler. He assembled rebels to the Spanish rule in Cuba by taking them to camps where they were starved, and others died of various diseases. This action angered the U.S government.

The war was first started with the Cuban people fighting for independence from the Spanish. This fight began in February of 1895. The U.S. used newspaper to publicly show the harshness that the Spanish were putting the Cuban rebels through and the American sympathy for the rebels rose. The demand for U.S. the help them became so large and it just got larger after the sinking of the battleship USS Maine in Havana harbor. This battleship had only been

The Spanish-American war was brought on by Cuba struggling to gain independence from Spain. U.S newspapers used propaganda to lead citizen’s sentiments to side with Cuba. Spain had been portrayed as brutal and repressive against the Cuban rebels with their use of concentration camps and such. American opinion of Spain was already low, and this further enhanced that opinion. To make matters worse, a letter written by Spanish Minister Enrique Dupuy de Lome that spoke of President McKinley in an unfavorable way was published in U.S Newspapers. These events swayed public opinion of Spain in a very bad direction. On February 15th, 1898, the U.S.S Maine was blown up in the Havana Harbor killing over 200 men. Though it was never determined what actually caused the sinking of the ship, blame was placed on the Spanish. Newspapers used stories and drawing to enrage the American public even

The Spanish-American war centers around many contributing elements. The first of these events was the reconcentration policy. General Weyler was put in charge to stop Cuban rebels from expanding. Such policy “was intended to protect the noncombatant peasantry of the island, but his sole object was to compel them to put themselves wholly in the power of the Spanish officials” (White). The policy forced all rural district civilians to move into cities and towns that were still under Weyler’s control. Moreover, Weyler concluded that this would prevent civilians from assisting rebels with information or food. He enforced the concentration