DESTRUCTION OF THE WAR SHIP MAINE WAS THE WORK OF AN ENEMY
The New York Journal reported the sinking of the USS Maine in February 1898, claiming that US Naval officers believed the sinking to be the result of a mine, and that it was clearly caused by enemy action. Maine was stationary in Havana harbor at the time of the sinking, lying at anchor, which would all but rule out a mine as the cause of its destruction. But an accidental sinking would not lead to war and New York Journal publisher William Randolph Hearst wanted a war against Spain. The sinking of the American armored cruiser was the best chance he would get and he made the most of it.
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt wanted war too, an opportunity for him to demonstrate the power of his new and modern fleet against the Spanish in both Cuba and the Philippines. Roosevelt fed the Hearst chain with information regarding the Spanish in Cuba and with the internal discussions in the Navy over the Maine loss. According to the Hearst newspapers the Navy was unanimous in agreement that the Maine had been sunk due to enemy activity. In fact the Navy was investigating the possibility of internal explosions of magazines and coal bunkers.
Under pressure from above the official Navy Board of Inquiry found that Maine was destroyed by the detonation of her forward magazines, probably caused by a mine. The shrill voice of the New York Journal convicted Spain in print long before the Navy finding was released and by April Hearst had his war. The United States Navy destroyed the Spanish squadrons in the Caribbean and Manila Bay and when the war ended the United States had acquired the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico and held temporary control of the island of Cuba. The United States also annexed Hawaii to provide a Naval coaling station to support the Pacific fleet.
The New York Journal spurred its reporting of the Maine affair and other Spanish “atrocities” leading up to the Spanish American war in several ways. It offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the identification of those responsible for the loss of the ship. It called the ship America’s newest and best, in fact Maine and ships of its design were obsolete at the time they were launched, thanks to British naval innovations. The Journal, and other newspapers which practiced what became known as yellow journalism, devoted a great deal of space to publish rumors and outright falsifications to incite anger against Spain and patriotic fervor.
Whether there would have been a war with Spain over Cuba and the Philippines had it not been for the practice of yellow journalism is questionable. Numerous politicians were looking to expand American influence and territory beyond the North American continent. A Pacific empire and trade with Asia beckoned. The Spanish American War was sold to the American people as a war to free the Cubans and Filipinos from Spanish oppression. It led to a protracted war between American troops and Filipinos who didn’t much care for American control of their islands either. The reporting of that war in the yellow journals was every bit as lurid as that which led up to the Spanish American War, except by then it was the Filipinos committing the atrocities.