National Geographic History - 03.2019 - 04.2019

REMEMBER

THE MAINE

THENEWSOFTHESINKINGOFTHEMAINEIN HAVANA

INFLAMED AN ALREADY JITTERY AND JINGOISTIC AMERICA.

CAPITALIZING ON THE APPALLING LOSS OF YOUNG LIFE IN

THE EXPLOSION,THE EVER RESOURCEFUL YELLOW PRESS

MANIPULATEDEVIDENCETOTURNTHETRAGEDYINTOA

RALLYING CRY FOR WAR.

REMEMBER THE MAINE!To hell with

Spain!” Up went the cry, amplified by

the American press, after the sinking

of the armored cruiserMaineon the

evening of February 15, 1898. Some

260 sailors, most of them sleeping at

the time, perished when an explosion

near the ship’s powder magazine rent

the forward part of the vessel and sent

it to the bottom of Havana Harbor.

When informed of theMaine’s sink-

ing, Hearst told his editors to “spread

the story all over the page. This means

war.” Joseph Pulitzer’sWorldeditori-

alized that “Nobody outside a lunatic

asylum” would think Spain stupid

enough to do such a thing, but this did

not stop the newspaper from darkly

reporting “Spanish treachery.”

Along with the New York Journal,

theWorld published a so-called sup-

pressed cable from the Maine’s cap-

tain to Navy Secretary John D. Long

saying the explosion was not acci-

dental. The cable was a fake. Hearst

offered a $50,000 reward for solving

the mystery of the Maine’s sinking,

but made it clear whom he consid-

ered guilty. A front-page drawing

two days after the ship went down in

THE SHIP’S COMPANY

OF THE U.S.S.MAINEIN AN

1896 PHOTOGRAPH

OVER OF THE 1898 SHEET MUSICCALLS DOWN VENGEANCE ON SPAIN FOR THE TRAGEDY.

THE MAINE TRAGEDY,

DEPICTED IN A DRAMATIC

CHROMOLITHOGRAPH BY

THE KURZ AND ALLISON

STUDIO, CHICAGO

GRANGER/AGE FOTOSTOCK

DETROIT PUBLISHING/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

ALAMY/ACI