The "progressive" reading of history focuses on two major
antecedents for the origins of the United States' 1898 war with
Spain: the 1896 presidential election and the Hearst-Pulitzer press
war that, reportedly, generated an irresistible clamor from an
"aroused public." Underlying those narratives are two very
different theoretical frameworks: a class-dominance view and that
of the mass society. Volume 1 of President McKinley, War and Empire
assesses the adequacy of those readings.
In the 1896 election the Republicans, led by William McKinley,
were challenged by William Jennings Bryan, a radical and an
inflationist, who had defeated the conservative leaders of the
Democratic Party. The Bryanites portrayed the 1896 election as a
struggle between "Wall Street" and "the people." McKinley was
portrayed as a docile, pliable figure whose campaign was directed
by an adept Ohio business magnate, Mark Hanna. The McKinley victory
meant that "big business" was now "in control."
The Cuban insurgency, begun in 1895, gained attention and
support from the American newspapers. This began with a circulation
war in New York City, with Hearst and Pulitzer publishing
"sensational" reports about the struggle in Cuba. The resulting
public clamor, it is said, overwhelmed the members of the
legislative and executive branches. McKinley and his advisors
fended off those demands as best they could but, following the
sinking of the Maine, he conceded and asked Congress to authorize
intervention.
This work provides an original assessment of those
long-standing claims, the basic elements of the progressive
history. It reviews McKinley's biography, principally the events
leading up to his election victory, including discussion of Hanna's
role. It then examines the events leading up to the war. Studies of
press content are reviewed and new material is introduced. The work
also argues that two other factors were decisive: the efforts of an
adept Cuban pressure group and partisan politics. The theoretical
implications are explored and an alternative framework, elitism, is
argued. The result is a different, a more complex view of the
origins of the war.
General
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