(HOST) This morning, teacher and historian Vic Henningsen reflects on an anniversary that calls to mind Mark Twain’s observation that "History may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme."
(HENNINGSEN) At 5:22 on the morning of May 1st, 1898 battleships of the American Asiatic Squadron opened fire on Spanish warships at Manila Bay in the Philippines. Five hours later the United States was on its way to becoming an imperial power.
Americans were thrilled . . . and confused. Admiral Dewey’s victory seemed to signal that America’s conflict with Spain would be what Secretary of State John Hay later called it: "A splendid little war."
But the war was supposedly about Cuba. What was our navy doing in the Philippines?
Though Spanish, the Philippines weren’t a formal American war aim. Dewey’s squadron had been dispatched there by Assistant Navy Secretary Theodore Roosevelt, one of a small group of policy "hawks" in the McKinley administration hoping to use war with Spain to catapult the U.S. to the front rank of world powers.
For a moment, it looked like "Mission Accomplished." But as American troops landed to aid Filipino revolutionaries in taking control of the islands, tensions developed between the supposed allies – tensions that increased as squadrons from other European nations appeared in Manila Bay. Would, say, Germany, seek control of the islands if America left?
In the end, the McKinley administration decided to annex the archipelago, to, in the president’s words, "uplift and civilize" the Filipinos and, not incidentally, give the U.S. a major base for increasing its Far Eastern trade.
Not surprisingly, Filipinos resisted. As the U.S. made peace with Spain in 1899, war broke out in the islands. Filipinos fighting for freedom from their new colonial masters were deemed "insurgents". Those captured were denied prisoner of war status, which made it easier for American troops to employ torture – most notably the now-familiar technique of water-boarding – no kidding – during searches for information or hidden weapons.
The war inspired massive protest at home, led by prominent Americans like Mark Twain and Andrew Carnegie, but now-President Theodore Roosevelt didn’t want to hear about atrocities. He condemned critics of his administration’s policies as "aiding the enemy."
The so-called "Philippine Insurrection" lasted four years, cost $400 million and over 6000 American casualties. 18,000 Filipinos died in combat; another 200,000 died of disease or starvation during American pacification campaigns. The U.S. found itself saddled with an expensive colony that never repaid our investment. The Philippines finally achieved independence in 1946, after a bloody American campaign to recapture them from the Japanese during World War II.
To his credit, President McKinley came to regret what the U.S. had started in the Philippines. As controversy over annexation mounted, he said to a friend: "If only old Dewey had just sailed away when he smashed that Spanish fleet. What a lot of trouble he would have saved us."
By then, of course, it was too late.