The August Revolution 79letter to Gonzalo de Quesada, the Cuban minister in Wash
ington, a letter concurrently delivered to Estrada Palma and
the Cuban press, the President made his last attempt to avoid
a military intervention.^73 He first reviewed for the Cubans
his own sincere interest in their welfare and the last seven
years "of profound peace and of steadily growing prosperity."
Now "the evil of anarchy" menaced Cuba's "peace, prosperity
and independence. ... " Whoever was responsible for the
revolt, all Cubans must now recognize the danger to their
sovereignty. But if Cuba continued to show that she had
"fallen into the insurrectionary habit," then the United
States had no other choice but to intervene. All Cuban
patriots were therefore adjured to find a peaceful solution
to their differences.
Roosevelt emphasized, however, that he could not ignore
the obligations imposed on both nations by Article III of
the Platt Amendment, and, since he had information that
American lives and property were endangered, he was con
strained to act. In his judgment, it was imperative that hos
tilities cease immediately and that "some arrangement" for
"the permanent pacification" of the island be established. To
achieve these ends, he was sending Secretary of War Taft
and Assistant Secretary of State Bacon to Havana to reconcile
the warring factions.
Although the negotiations of the Taft-Bacon Peace Mission
were far more publicized, praised, and criticized than Roose
velt's acts up to September 14, the character of the American
intervention was shaped by the events leading up to the dis
patch of the Peace Mission. By the time it arrived in Havana,
occupation was virtually inevitable. The most important fac
tor was that both the Estrada Palma government and the
Liberal insurgents calculated on forcing American interven
tion in their support. Roosevelt's reactions to the Cuban civil
war left both parties in doubt as to his final position. Estrada
Palma first received quick presidential attention on his request
for ammunition and an equally prompt response to his request