Yellow Journalism And The Cuban Revolution

Some believed that this was beneficial and took the war attention away from America until we then began offering the USSR our lend-lease supplies. Then, some Americans thought the government was crazy for lending to the Soviet Union’s communism.              The Hearst press agreed that this strategy was crazy. In an article to all American citizens, they began by asking if

This event in U.S. history regarding the USS Maine was unfamiliar to me. I knew of the Spanish American War, but never

On February 15, 1898, 266 American Sailors were killed in the explosion of the USS Maine, an American battleship docked in the Havana Harbor in Cuba. Through recent investigations the source as to what caused the explosion is said to have been by five tons of powder stored within the ship’s forward magazines. The explosion caused immense damage to the ship, leaving what was left to sink to the bottom of the harbor. Just days after the incident many begun to speculate if the explosion was purely accidental or if it was an attack by the Spanish. We at The New York World have reviewed and examined the incident to a point where we can theorize exactly who and what cause this tragedy.

We notice that in the expansion to the west coast there was conflict whilst trying to obtain simple objectives driven by the motive of Manifest Destiny. This book shows the simple facts of the ideas of wanting to achieve something can lead to more aggressive outcomes which leads to a bigger effect on future events and

In the late nineteenth century, yellow journalism, exaggeration of news in order to sell papers, was coined by Erwin Wardman, editor of the New York Press. The term originated during the American Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century with the circulation battles between Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William randolph Hearst’s New York Journal. Both papers were accused by critics of sensationalizing the news in order to drive up circulation, although the newspapers did serious reporting as well. In 1898, the United States assisted Cuba in its fight for independence against Spain in order to protect its citizens and businesses in Cuba, and the war became known as the Spanish American War. The United States declared war on Spain after the U.S. warship, the Maine, exploded and sank on February 15, 1898 while visiting Havana, Cuba.

Hearst was competing with Joseph Pulitzer in New York, and Hearst had to sell more papers in order to make money. Hearst and Pulitzer were in a vicious competition to sell more and more newspapers. In the late 19th century, there were high tensions between America and Spain. Cuba revolted against Spain for independence, and Spain brutally crushed the revolt. Hearst knew that the American people bought his papers when they were on something interesting.

Hearst continued to drop the prices of his papers making him the cheapest paper. Hearst offered higher pay to his workers and gave them better job positions, he made sure he was the best newspaper and that no one would be able to match him, especially his huge rival Pulitzer. When Pulitzer fought back at Hearst, Hearst hit him hard with stealing Pulitzers World workers and hiring them for his own paper. Hearst started to become more of a political newspaper, where he took the side of republican, but his paper was democrat. Hearst and his yellow journalistic writing style was

Spanish-American war of 1896, Cuba was the last remaining colony of Spain in the new world. Cuban sugar cane workers were rebelling because of poverty and bad conditions. William Randolph Hearst, a sensationalist reporter who was investigating the war, sent an artist to Cuba to sketch the action. Unfortunately for him, nothing violent was happening, so Hearst exaggerated the truth. Pressured into war the president sends the Maine to harbor, but it suddenly exploded.

The imperialistic mentality of the American government after the Civil War, led to some degree to the Spanish-American war that would render a great acquisition of land for the United States. However, imperialism would not be the sole factor that led to the war against Spain, but also the sympathy felt by the American government towards Cuba’s efforts in fighting for their independence; additionally, the United States would seek to protect its commercial interests (sugar) in the island. Therefore, after invoking the Spanish to secede from their brutal practices towards Cuban rebels and attain a peaceful end to the situation, the United States arbitrarily sent a navy ship, “The USS Maine” to monitor the area.

Hearst and Pulitzer manipulated public opinion in order to have the American people intervene. The U.S.S. Maine was located in the Havana harbor two hundred and sixty sailors died due to the explosion. This gave the American government exactly what they needed in order to go into cube. They came up with the slogan “Remember the Maine to Hell with Spain.”

Americans learned more about what happened during the Spanish American War through articles that exposed the violent tensions in Cuba. The Americans then felt the need that we should help Cuba against Spain. The Americans in power wanted to remain neutral, while the public wanted to go to war. The U.S. Maine was a battleship that was sent to Cuba to spy on them and understand the situation in person. While the ship was there, it mysteriously blew up, the blame was put on Spain for the explosion.

Yellow journalism played its part in making the war happen because the newspaper companies wanted to sell more newspapers so they stretched the truth for example with the headlines (doc c) “Main Blown Up by Spanish”,” Main Sinks do to Spanish Mines” it was these kind of headlines that

the United States used propaganda targeting humanitarian concerns to incite the public to declare war. As Americans were interested in the Cuban Revolution, sensational journalism only raised tensions between the United States and the Spanish monarchy, which would help cause the war. While General Weyler

To start off, publishers did not tell the public what they did not want them to know, and they also persuaded opinions. From an article titled, “Joseph Pulitzer,” it reads, “Yellow journalism on the part of both papers helped inflame public opinion in favor of war against Spain in 1898” (McGuire and Leslie). This is a demonstration of how yellow journalism persuaded the public to all think the same way. By doing this, the publishers hoped they could lead everyone to think the way powerful people thought.

This is evident in Editha through the characterization of George and Editha, both representing an opposing view on imperialism. Americans had sympathies for the Cubans, they struggled under Spanish rule. But American sympathy was not the sole reason for America getting involved in the Cuban revolution. American business had about $50 million invested in Cuba and these investments were at risk because of the revolution taking place in Cuba (Kennedy-Cohen 610). The Teller Amendment also proves that America went to war with Spain for the wrong reasons.