46 THE POLITICS OF INTERVENTION
For the elections of 1901, the political factions realigned
themselves over the issue of the presidential nomination. The
Nationalists wanted to run Maximo Gomez, still a national
hero despite his difference with the veterans over bonuses.
He rejeoted the proposal, saying, "Men of war, for war, and
those of peace, for peace."^48
The Nationalists then turned to Tomas Estrada Palma,
former head of the revolutionary junta. Estrada Palma had
been a major figure in the independence movement for thirty
years. Born in Oriente in 1835, educated in Spain, he was
chosen president of the revolutionary government in 1877.
Captured and exiled the same year, he did not return to Cuba
until his election as president. After the Peace of Zanjon
(1878) he went to Honduras where he married the daughter
of the President, served as postmaster-general, and saw his
father-in-law assassinated. Emigrating to the United States,
he founded a school for Cuban children at Central Valley,
New York. A firm patriot and friend of Jose Marti, Estrada
Palma became the central figure in the revolutionary junta
when the insurrection began again in 1895. He raised funds,
arms, munitions, and men for the Army of Liberation and
served as the insurgent government's delegate in Washington.
Undeniably, he played an important role in the movement,
but, outside of the insurgent leadership, he was virtually
unknown to Cubans. He was so closely identified with the
United States that he seemed the American candidate. He
was openly sympathetic to American democracy and to com
mercial ties with the United States, and apparently never
completely dismissed the possibility of union with the United
States. His critics later interpreted his statements that political
independence would not automatically serve the welfare
of the Cuban people to mean that he was an agent of
American expansionism.
Estrada Palma's personal life was exemplary; he was honest,
kindly, and modest. A slight, elderly man with a drooping
white mustache and carefully combed hair, he looked the
perfect grandfather. Age, however, had made him rigid in his