Today in History

February 15, 1898

Remember the Maine!

William Randolph Hearst, the notorious newspaper baron, needed a war. His paper, the New York Journal, was in a pitched circulation battle with other newspapers. When the USS Maine exploded at anchor in the harbor in Havana, Cuba, Hearst saw his opportunity.

Tensions were high between the United States and Spain. President William McKinley had ordered the ship there to protect American and national interests in the Spanish colony. The explosion late at night sent the ship to the bottom with 260 of the 350 men aboard. Hearst sent a reporter to Cuba to cover the "war". When the reporter wired Hearst with the news that no war existed, Hearst famously cabled back "Please remain. You furnish the pictures, I will furnish the war."

Hearst began to inflame the American public with stories of Spanish cruelty, blaming Spain for the sinking of the Maine. Soon, Congress declared war and in only eight months Spain signed a treaty withdrawing from Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippine Islands.

The navy later determined that the USS Maine sank when one of its coal fired furnaces exploded, probably as a result of poor operational maintenance.

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