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Why did McKinley favor war over other alternatives during the Spanish-American War in 1898?
Quick answer:
President McKinley favored war during the Spanish-American War to quickly establish the United States as a world power, despite alternative options like diplomacy. Public opinion was swayed by sensationalized media reports about Spanish actions in Cuba, and the U.S.S. Maine explosion, wrongly attributed to Spain, fueled calls for war. Diplomacy or investigations could have been pursued, but war offered a faster path to gaining overseas colonies and expanding U.S. influence.
The Spanish-American War was not really necessary. This war was one that the United States wanted to fight in order to gain colonies overseas. There were several avenues President McKinley could have taken to avoid the conflict.
American newspaper reporters were over-exaggerating the harsh treatment of the Cuban people by the Spanish. If, for instance, President McKinley would have sent a team of investigators to Cuba, they could have determined whether what the American people were reading in the newspapers was accurate. A little more research could have gone a long way to determine the truth about the reporting.
When the U.S.S. Maine exploded, the American people immediately blamed the Spanish. Instead of jumping to conclusions and bowing to public opinion, the President could have waited until a thorough, official report was completed to determine what actually caused the explosion. Many years later, it was determined that the explosion was most likely not caused by the actions of Spain.
President McKinley could have used diplomacy to resolve the issue, regarding the alleged, harsh treatment of the Cuban people. He could have had the American ambassador to Spain meet with Spanish leaders to try to work out an agreement that would have eased some of the harsh conditions that the people of Cuba faced.
While going to war certainly was viewed as the popular thing to do in the eyes of the American people, there were other actions President McKinley had available to him to use to prevent the outbreak of this war. However, the real goal was to make the United States a world power, and going to war could accomplish it fairly quickly. When the Spanish-American War ended, the United States had control over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, allowing the United States to begin to build a worldwide empire.
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