October 29, 2025 • 17 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, at the turn of the twentieth century, the United States stood at a crossroads. A nation once defined by independence and internal expansion—from “sea to shining sea”—began to face the pull of empire. Territories overseas raised questions about the very ideals we claimed to uphold. Could a republic built on liberty hold colonies of its own? In the 37th episode of our ongoing Story of America series, Dr. Bill McClay, author of Land of Hope, explores how America’s ideals collided with the realities of global power. Through “The March of the Flag,” he traces the moment the country began to look outward and the truth that expansion was never just a European idea.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories.
The show where America is the star and the American
people coming to you from the city where the West.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Begins, Fort Worth, Texas up next.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
To another installment of the Story of Us, the Story
of America series with Hillsdale College professor and author of
Land of Hope Bill McLay. For most of its existence,
America's aspirations and concerns had been confined to the mass
of land between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, in other words, continentally,
(00:50):
in other words, internally. That all of that is about
to change. Let's get into the story. Take it away, Bill.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
All of that being said, it was a time marked
by an absence of any real dispute or involvements in
any kind of foreign war, or even deep or not
so deep controversies. Some even came to believe that this
was the natural state of affairs. America was a massive
country spanning a great continent, with two great and natural
(01:22):
buffers between us and the rest of the.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
World, the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
This view of ourselves goes back to our very founding,
the idea of being a city on a hill, the
idea of steering clear of foreign entanglements. Both were a
fundamental part of our cultural dna. So to speak, one
need only look back to America's indispensable Man, George Washington
(01:56):
and his farewell addressed.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
So far as we've already formed.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
But here let us stop.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Europe has a set of primary interests which to us
have none or a very remote relation.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Hence, therefore it.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial
ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics. It is
our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with
any portion.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Of the foreign world.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
An even more profound take on Washington's worldview was articulated
by John Quincy Adams, James Monrose, Secretary of State, and
an address delivered to Congress on July fourth, eighteen twenty one,
in celebration of America's independence, Adams made the case for
America as the torch of liberty for all the world
(03:00):
to emulate. Here are adams words, which start by asking
a rhetorical question about the nation that his father.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Helped to birth.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
And now, friends and countrymen, if the wives and learned
philosophers of the elder world, the discoverers of maddening ether
and invisible planets, should find their hearts disposed to inquire,
What has America done for the benefit of mankind? Let
our answer be this, America, with the same voice which
(03:42):
spoke herself into existence, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable rights
of human nature and the only lawful foundations of government.
She has, in the lapse of nearly half a century,
without a single exception, respected the independence of other nations
while asserting and maintaining her own. She's abstained from interference
(04:05):
in the concerns of others, even when conflict has been
for principles to which she clings as to the last vital.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Drop that visits the heart.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or
shall be unfurled, there will.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Her heart, her benedictions, and her prayers be.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to
destroy her. America's glory is not dominion but liberty. Her
march is the march of the mind. She has a
spear and a shield, but the motto upon her shield
(04:45):
is freedom, independence, Peace. Though the speech was elegant and beautiful.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
There was the real world we still had to deal with.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
A mere Two years later, Adams would pen what the
world would come to know as the Monroe Doctrine, and
in it his position shifted a bit. The doctrine declared
that America would not tolerate or accept any further colonization
of the Western Hemisphere by the old powers of Europe,
and further that America now saw our country as the
(05:26):
pre eminent power of our hemisphere.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
This seemed to be an abrupt turn.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
If we were to be the dominant power in the
Western hemisphere, how could we do it without foreign entanglements?
How could we not do so without challenging foreign powers
or monsters as Adams had written? How was any of
this newly announced American position compatible, let alone consistent with
our founding father's guiding principle of self rule. The fact is,
(06:02):
this small window of relative distance from world affairs would
have to come to an end.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
We were no longer a start up nation.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
We were a nation of scale, scope and consequence, with
an economy and with the dynamic businesses looking for markets.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
All over the world to sell to markets to conquer.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Inevitably, it was America's destiny because free markets, rule of law,
property rights, and the development of the modern corporation made
it all but inevitable that America would become the world's.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Most powerful country.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
And you've been listening to Professor Bill McLay tell the
story of America at a time when all of its
focus was on itself. Washington's desire to steer clear of
foreign entanglements in foreign wars was made well, absolutely clear
in his farewell address, and Adams picked up that mantle
(07:01):
America should be concerned for first and foremost and only
with America.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
When we come back, what comes next?
Speaker 1 (07:10):
The changes everything here on our American Stories. Our Story
of Us series continues after these messages, Leehabib here, as
(07:31):
we approach our nation's two hundred and fiftieth anniversary. I'd
like to remind you that all the history stories you
hear on this show brought to you by the great
folks at Hillsdale College, and Hillsdale isn't just a great
school for your kids or grandkids to attend, but for
you as well. Go to Hillsdale dot edu to find
out about their terrific free online courses. Their series on
Communism is one of the finest I've ever seen again.
(07:53):
Go to Hillsdale dot edu and sign up for their
free and terrific online courses. And we continue with our
American Stories and the Story of Us the Story of
America series with doctor Bill McLay, author of Land of Hope.
(08:17):
When we last left off, doctor McLay was explaining America's
evolving vision of its place on the world stage.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Let's return to the story.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Ambition for world dominance trace us back as far as
time itself, to the empires of ancient Greece and Persia.
But what made romes fall inevitable and imperialism itself difficult
to maintain by any power were the many governing and
administrative issues that revolved around empire. It was a problem
(08:47):
even for the British as it related to America, all
that distance and all the problems of logistics before the
Industrial Revolution. But with that revolution came major breakthroughs in
communications and transportation, and those distances closed. Empire building was
(09:09):
not a uniquely American desire. Great Britain, Italy, Germany, and Spain,
among others, were all actively seeking to encroach and carve
out more space for themselves. Power also accompanied such ambitions. Tragically,
these ambitions of Western powers put us on a crash
(09:30):
course with the very notions of liberty and equality. Some
imperial nations simply ignored these principles. Some even managed to
convince themselves that certain races were simply not capable of
exercising self It was insidious, it was wrong, But the
(09:51):
thinking that some races were meant to lead and rule
and others to follow and be ruled was pervasive. One
idea approach tried to thread the needle culturally and work
through the inherent contradictions of such thinking about racial superiority,
and that was the idea that empire and imperial rule
(10:13):
was a mission to civilize the locals, to lift them
up once it could be established that these uncivilized societies
were capable of self governance. One of the leading thinkers
of the day promoting the new brand of imperialism was
Alfred Thayer Mahan, a Navy officer who believed deeply in
(10:33):
the connection between.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Power in the world with power on the high seas.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
But it was the Indiana attorney Albert Beveridge who best
summarized this movement in a Senate campaign speech he gave
in eighteen ninety eight. The speech was called appropriately the
March of the Flag an exhaustive case for imperialism American style.
(11:00):
The speech started by laying down the terms of the
argument in Staric language. The opposition tells us that we
ought not to govern a people without their consent. I answered,
the rule of liberty that all just government derives its
authority from the consent of the government, applies only to
(11:22):
those who are capable of self government. We govern the
Indians without their consent. We govern our children without their consent.
In seventeen eighty nine, the flag of the Republic waived
over four million souls in thirteen states. The timid minds
of that day said that no new territory was needed,
and for the hour they were right. But Jefferson, through
(11:44):
his intellect the centuries marched. Jefferson, the first imperialist of
the Republic. Jefferson acquired that imperial territory, which swept from
the Mississippi to the mountains, and the March of the
Flag began. Today, we're making more than we can use.
There are more workers than there is work. There's more
(12:06):
capital than there is investment. We do not need more money,
we need more circulation. Therefore, we must find new markets
for our produce. The commercial empire of the Republic that
is the greatest fact of the future. The commercial supremacy
of the Republic means that this nation is to be
(12:27):
the sovereign factor in the peace of the world. Fellow Americans,
we are God's chosen people. Yonder at Bunker Hill in Yorktown,
his providence was above us and New Orleans, and ensanguine
sees his hand sustained us. Abraham Lincoln was his minister.
His great purposes are revealed in the progress of the flag,
(12:50):
which surpasses the intentions of congresses and cabinets, and leads us,
like a holier pillar of cloud by day and pillar
of fire night, into situations unforeseen by finite wisdom, and
duties unexpected by the unprophetic heart of selfishness. We cannot
retreat from any soil where Providence has unfurled our banner.
(13:14):
It is ours to save that soil for liberty and civilization.
The flag must henceforth be the symbol and the sign
to all mankind. The deep cultural arrogance and even racist attitudes.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Of beverage a stay We're clear for all to see
and hear.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
With empire comes opportunity and problems, as history teaches anyone
who follows the lessons of the past and history and
our own founding ideals set by Washington did not stop
America from our expansion westward.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
The first acquisition was the territory.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Of Alaska, which was acquired from Russia in eighteen sixty
seven thanks to President Johnson's Secretary of War, William Seward,
and for the bargain basement price of.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
Seven point two million dollars.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
There were many critics of the deal at the time,
given the territories distance from Mainland and its.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Harsh long winners.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Mocked by the nickname Seward's Folly, it would turn out
to be a superb deal, one that became obvious fairly quickly.
The next big move of Americans happens in Cuba, which
was a Spanish colony extremely close to the shores of Florida.
Always there had been the desire to simply acquire Cuban,
(14:42):
but the biggest reason for our sympathies was Cuba's deep
desire for independence, much as we longed for the same
from England a century or so earlier. In early eighteen
ninety five, and the insurrection broke out in Cuba, and
the Spanish government retaliated. Partly, this outraged the American public,
(15:06):
with many Americans viewing the news in Cuba as a
humanitarian crisis, and all because the mass medium of the
day was experiencing the benefits of technological progress. Newspapers could
print fixed daily editions a day and could be delivered
and transmitted to the fursest reaches of the country. It's
hard for elected officials to ignore big stories. Even today,
(15:31):
all of that public attention on Cuba would have political implications.
When the Republican William McKinley was elected in eighteen ninety six,
the tone and tenor of American foreign policy was about
to change. While negotiating with Spanish governing officials, he sent
an American battleship, the Maine, to Havana Harbor as a
(15:52):
symbol of America's concern.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
For our interests.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
In the late evening of February fifteenth, eighteen ninety eight,
the Maane suddenly exploded and the ship quickly sank.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
To the bottom of Helena Harbor.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Two hundred and sixty sailors would lose their lives, almost
two thirds of the ship's crew and many other survivors
were severely injured.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
So who was really responsible for the explosion. There was an.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Inquire at the time that credited a submarine mind, which
would make the government of Spain responsible, but later looks
that the evidence are less clear, even suggesting that the
blast may indeed have been the product of an internal
explosion started.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
By a fire.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
No one knows for sure, but looking back dispassionately at
the event, it would seem highly improbable the Spanish government
would have perpetrated such an act. McKinley soon found himself
in a bund. The American public was outraged. It didn't
help matters that rivals like Teddy Roosevelt were accusing McKinley
of having no backbone. His own VP Garrett Hobart even
(17:00):
Warren McKinley that Congress just might declare war on Cuba
on its own without him. That would have been a
disastrous turn of events from McKinley. He had little choice
in the matter, go ahead with it or get run
over by the events of the day. McKinley did what
he had to do. On April twenty second, McKinley announced
the blockade of Cuba. That act of war prompted a
(17:24):
retaliatory active war, but the Spanish.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Shad respired.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Monty Montgomery, and you can go to
our Americanstories dot com to hear the entire Story of
America series Again, go to our Americanstories dot com. A
special thanks to Bill McLay and to the folks at
Hillsdale College the Story of America series.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Here on our American Story
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories.
The show where America is the star and the American
people coming to you from the city where the West.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Begins, Fort Worth, Texas up next.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
To another installment of the Story of Us, the Story
of America series with Hillsdale College professor and author of
Land of Hope Bill McLay. For most of its existence,
America's aspirations and concerns had been confined to the mass
of land between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, in other words, continentally,
(00:50):
in other words, internally. That all of that is about
to change. Let's get into the story. Take it away, Bill.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
All of that being said, it was a time marked
by an absence of any real dispute or involvements in
any kind of foreign war, or even deep or not
so deep controversies. Some even came to believe that this
was the natural state of affairs. America was a massive
country spanning a great continent, with two great and natural
(01:22):
buffers between us and the rest of the.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
World, the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
This view of ourselves goes back to our very founding,
the idea of being a city on a hill, the
idea of steering clear of foreign entanglements. Both were a
fundamental part of our cultural dna. So to speak, one
need only look back to America's indispensable Man, George Washington
(01:56):
and his farewell addressed.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
So far as we've already formed.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
But here let us stop.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Europe has a set of primary interests which to us
have none or a very remote relation.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Hence, therefore it.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial
ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics. It is
our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with
any portion.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Of the foreign world.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
An even more profound take on Washington's worldview was articulated
by John Quincy Adams, James Monrose, Secretary of State, and
an address delivered to Congress on July fourth, eighteen twenty one,
in celebration of America's independence, Adams made the case for
America as the torch of liberty for all the world
(03:00):
to emulate. Here are adams words, which start by asking
a rhetorical question about the nation that his father.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Helped to birth.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
And now, friends and countrymen, if the wives and learned
philosophers of the elder world, the discoverers of maddening ether
and invisible planets, should find their hearts disposed to inquire,
What has America done for the benefit of mankind? Let
our answer be this, America, with the same voice which
(03:42):
spoke herself into existence, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable rights
of human nature and the only lawful foundations of government.
She has, in the lapse of nearly half a century,
without a single exception, respected the independence of other nations
while asserting and maintaining her own. She's abstained from interference
(04:05):
in the concerns of others, even when conflict has been
for principles to which she clings as to the last vital.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Drop that visits the heart.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or
shall be unfurled, there will.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Her heart, her benedictions, and her prayers be.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to
destroy her. America's glory is not dominion but liberty. Her
march is the march of the mind. She has a
spear and a shield, but the motto upon her shield
(04:45):
is freedom, independence, Peace. Though the speech was elegant and beautiful.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
There was the real world we still had to deal with.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
A mere Two years later, Adams would pen what the
world would come to know as the Monroe Doctrine, and
in it his position shifted a bit. The doctrine declared
that America would not tolerate or accept any further colonization
of the Western Hemisphere by the old powers of Europe,
and further that America now saw our country as the
(05:26):
pre eminent power of our hemisphere.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
This seemed to be an abrupt turn.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
If we were to be the dominant power in the
Western hemisphere, how could we do it without foreign entanglements?
How could we not do so without challenging foreign powers
or monsters as Adams had written? How was any of
this newly announced American position compatible, let alone consistent with
our founding father's guiding principle of self rule. The fact is,
(06:02):
this small window of relative distance from world affairs would
have to come to an end.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
We were no longer a start up nation.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
We were a nation of scale, scope and consequence, with
an economy and with the dynamic businesses looking for markets.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
All over the world to sell to markets to conquer.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Inevitably, it was America's destiny because free markets, rule of law,
property rights, and the development of the modern corporation made
it all but inevitable that America would become the world's.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Most powerful country.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
And you've been listening to Professor Bill McLay tell the
story of America at a time when all of its
focus was on itself. Washington's desire to steer clear of
foreign entanglements in foreign wars was made well, absolutely clear
in his farewell address, and Adams picked up that mantle
(07:01):
America should be concerned for first and foremost and only
with America.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
When we come back, what comes next?
Speaker 1 (07:10):
The changes everything here on our American Stories. Our Story
of Us series continues after these messages, Leehabib here, as
(07:31):
we approach our nation's two hundred and fiftieth anniversary. I'd
like to remind you that all the history stories you
hear on this show brought to you by the great
folks at Hillsdale College, and Hillsdale isn't just a great
school for your kids or grandkids to attend, but for
you as well. Go to Hillsdale dot edu to find
out about their terrific free online courses. Their series on
Communism is one of the finest I've ever seen again.
(07:53):
Go to Hillsdale dot edu and sign up for their
free and terrific online courses. And we continue with our
American Stories and the Story of Us the Story of
America series with doctor Bill McLay, author of Land of Hope.
(08:17):
When we last left off, doctor McLay was explaining America's
evolving vision of its place on the world stage.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Let's return to the story.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Ambition for world dominance trace us back as far as
time itself, to the empires of ancient Greece and Persia.
But what made romes fall inevitable and imperialism itself difficult
to maintain by any power were the many governing and
administrative issues that revolved around empire. It was a problem
(08:47):
even for the British as it related to America, all
that distance and all the problems of logistics before the
Industrial Revolution. But with that revolution came major breakthroughs in
communications and transportation, and those distances closed. Empire building was
(09:09):
not a uniquely American desire. Great Britain, Italy, Germany, and Spain,
among others, were all actively seeking to encroach and carve
out more space for themselves. Power also accompanied such ambitions. Tragically,
these ambitions of Western powers put us on a crash
(09:30):
course with the very notions of liberty and equality. Some
imperial nations simply ignored these principles. Some even managed to
convince themselves that certain races were simply not capable of
exercising self It was insidious, it was wrong, But the
(09:51):
thinking that some races were meant to lead and rule
and others to follow and be ruled was pervasive. One
idea approach tried to thread the needle culturally and work
through the inherent contradictions of such thinking about racial superiority,
and that was the idea that empire and imperial rule
(10:13):
was a mission to civilize the locals, to lift them
up once it could be established that these uncivilized societies
were capable of self governance. One of the leading thinkers
of the day promoting the new brand of imperialism was
Alfred Thayer Mahan, a Navy officer who believed deeply in
(10:33):
the connection between.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Power in the world with power on the high seas.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
But it was the Indiana attorney Albert Beveridge who best
summarized this movement in a Senate campaign speech he gave
in eighteen ninety eight. The speech was called appropriately the
March of the Flag an exhaustive case for imperialism American style.
(11:00):
The speech started by laying down the terms of the
argument in Staric language. The opposition tells us that we
ought not to govern a people without their consent. I answered,
the rule of liberty that all just government derives its
authority from the consent of the government, applies only to
(11:22):
those who are capable of self government. We govern the
Indians without their consent. We govern our children without their consent.
In seventeen eighty nine, the flag of the Republic waived
over four million souls in thirteen states. The timid minds
of that day said that no new territory was needed,
and for the hour they were right. But Jefferson, through
(11:44):
his intellect the centuries marched. Jefferson, the first imperialist of
the Republic. Jefferson acquired that imperial territory, which swept from
the Mississippi to the mountains, and the March of the
Flag began. Today, we're making more than we can use.
There are more workers than there is work. There's more
(12:06):
capital than there is investment. We do not need more money,
we need more circulation. Therefore, we must find new markets
for our produce. The commercial empire of the Republic that
is the greatest fact of the future. The commercial supremacy
of the Republic means that this nation is to be
(12:27):
the sovereign factor in the peace of the world. Fellow Americans,
we are God's chosen people. Yonder at Bunker Hill in Yorktown,
his providence was above us and New Orleans, and ensanguine
sees his hand sustained us. Abraham Lincoln was his minister.
His great purposes are revealed in the progress of the flag,
(12:50):
which surpasses the intentions of congresses and cabinets, and leads us,
like a holier pillar of cloud by day and pillar
of fire night, into situations unforeseen by finite wisdom, and
duties unexpected by the unprophetic heart of selfishness. We cannot
retreat from any soil where Providence has unfurled our banner.
(13:14):
It is ours to save that soil for liberty and civilization.
The flag must henceforth be the symbol and the sign
to all mankind. The deep cultural arrogance and even racist attitudes.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Of beverage a stay We're clear for all to see
and hear.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
With empire comes opportunity and problems, as history teaches anyone
who follows the lessons of the past and history and
our own founding ideals set by Washington did not stop
America from our expansion westward.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
The first acquisition was the territory.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Of Alaska, which was acquired from Russia in eighteen sixty
seven thanks to President Johnson's Secretary of War, William Seward,
and for the bargain basement price of.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
Seven point two million dollars.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
There were many critics of the deal at the time,
given the territories distance from Mainland and its.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Harsh long winners.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Mocked by the nickname Seward's Folly, it would turn out
to be a superb deal, one that became obvious fairly quickly.
The next big move of Americans happens in Cuba, which
was a Spanish colony extremely close to the shores of Florida.
Always there had been the desire to simply acquire Cuban,
(14:42):
but the biggest reason for our sympathies was Cuba's deep
desire for independence, much as we longed for the same
from England a century or so earlier. In early eighteen
ninety five, and the insurrection broke out in Cuba, and
the Spanish government retaliated. Partly, this outraged the American public,
(15:06):
with many Americans viewing the news in Cuba as a
humanitarian crisis, and all because the mass medium of the
day was experiencing the benefits of technological progress. Newspapers could
print fixed daily editions a day and could be delivered
and transmitted to the fursest reaches of the country. It's
hard for elected officials to ignore big stories. Even today,
(15:31):
all of that public attention on Cuba would have political implications.
When the Republican William McKinley was elected in eighteen ninety six,
the tone and tenor of American foreign policy was about
to change. While negotiating with Spanish governing officials, he sent
an American battleship, the Maine, to Havana Harbor as a
(15:52):
symbol of America's concern.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
For our interests.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
In the late evening of February fifteenth, eighteen ninety eight,
the Maane suddenly exploded and the ship quickly sank.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
To the bottom of Helena Harbor.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Two hundred and sixty sailors would lose their lives, almost
two thirds of the ship's crew and many other survivors
were severely injured.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
So who was really responsible for the explosion. There was an.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Inquire at the time that credited a submarine mind, which
would make the government of Spain responsible, but later looks
that the evidence are less clear, even suggesting that the
blast may indeed have been the product of an internal
explosion started.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
By a fire.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
No one knows for sure, but looking back dispassionately at
the event, it would seem highly improbable the Spanish government
would have perpetrated such an act. McKinley soon found himself
in a bund. The American public was outraged. It didn't
help matters that rivals like Teddy Roosevelt were accusing McKinley
of having no backbone. His own VP Garrett Hobart even
(17:00):
Warren McKinley that Congress just might declare war on Cuba
on its own without him. That would have been a
disastrous turn of events from McKinley. He had little choice
in the matter, go ahead with it or get run
over by the events of the day. McKinley did what
he had to do. On April twenty second, McKinley announced
the blockade of Cuba. That act of war prompted a
(17:24):
retaliatory active war, but the Spanish.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Shad respired.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Monty Montgomery, and you can go to
our Americanstories dot com to hear the entire Story of
America series Again, go to our Americanstories dot com. A
special thanks to Bill McLay and to the folks at
Hillsdale College the Story of America series.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Here on our American Story
Host
Lee Habeeb
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