BANGOR, Maine — Exactly 114 years have passed since the battleship USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor, costing 254 sailors’ lives and touching off the Spanish-American War.
“Remember the Maine!” became a famous battle cry as the United States declared war on Spain and defeated the longtime European power, establishing itself as the world’s premiere naval presence.
And while the import of the battle cry may be lost on most U.S. students and citizens — more and more as the years pass on — it has retained its meaning for each new generation of U.S. soldiers, no matter which branch of the U.S. armed forces they serve in.
“Most Americans really don’t have the point of reference for this,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Adam Campbell, who was at Davenport Park on Wednesday to deliver a speech and take part in memorial services marking the anniversary of the 1898 loss of the Maine and three-quarters of its crew.
“Fewer than 1 percent of people in this country serve in the armed forces, so this type of event helps give them that reference and the idea that this is an important thing to remember because this is important work we do.”
Campbell, who is attached to the Navy Operational Support Center in Bangor, said historic events such as the destruction of the Maine and resulting actions resonate with him.
“Yes. I’ve been on those … watches that I mentioned in my speech,” Campbell said. “I’ve stood the watch, so I know what it’s like to be out there thinking in the back of your head that this could be the day.
“That’s part of the honor and duty entrusted to us as service members to go out and stand watch, no matter where it is.”
And you didn’t have to be a Navy sailor or veteran among the 100 people attending Wednesday’s ceremony to appreciate its significance.
“We have to go ahead and keep reminding people that the military is the backbone of the security of our country,” said retired 20-year Navy and Air Force veteran Ray Lupo, who is also a past state commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. “Once we go ahead, lose that and become complacent, it’s going to be like what happened at Pearl Harbor. We sat back on our cans and did nothing and then all of a sudden we had to rebuild our military.”
Lupo hosted the ceremony in place of longtime master of ceremonies Paul Colburn, a Bangor native and World War II veteran.
“I talked to him this morning and he said he just wasn’t feeling well,” said Lupo. “He has a bad cold and it must be really bad for him to miss this for the first time in more than 20 years.”
Lupo stressed the importance of remembering history’s lessons.
“They’re trying to go ahead and reduce the size of the military and the number of ships, aircraft and personnel. They don’t remember history,” said Lupo. “Right now the president’s and Department of Defense’s authorization act is proposing cutting back on the military retirement system, and this is all not good. You have to keep a strong military to keep security.”
Defeating Spain, by then a third rate world power, left us the premiere naval presence in the world??? Andrew Neff, go back to school and learn what you clearly didn’t the first time. The U.S. Navy wasn’t ANYTHING CLOSE to being the premiere naval presence in 1898.
On top of that, let’s talk about the Maine blowing up…and how Spain didn’t do it, nor was it an accident.
In 1890, U.S. Navy (then) Captain Alfred Mahan cranked out his book where he advised (among other things) the seizure of Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico (all then controlled by the Spanish).
By 1894, the U.S. Naval War College was actively planning out a war with Spain for control of these Spanish possessions.
In 1895, U.S. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge wrote, “…Once a canal from Atlantic to Pacific is built, the island of Cuba will become a necessity…”
By 1896, the U.S. Naval College plan for war with Spain for control of Cuba and the Philippines was finalized by Navy Lt. William W. Kimball. That same year, William McKinley is elected after a campaign financed almost entirely with money from John Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan. McKinley received $6 million in funding from corporate America while his opponent, William Jennings Bryan raised a mere $600,000. Of course, Bryan wasn’t a supporter of seizing areas of the world to be exploited by American corporations.
Rockefeller’s goon Mark Hanna was made McKinley’s top “advisor” while Morgan’s goon Garret Hobart found a place on McKinley’s ticket as VP. Have to make sure McKinley is well-coached by his benefactors. McKinley won, and one of his first acts was to name Theodore Roosevelt (another one of Morgan’s goons), as Asst. Sec. of the Navy.
In 1897, Then Asst. Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt commented, In strict confidence…I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one.”
That same year, Roosevelt sent a cable to Admiral of the U.S. Pacific fleet George Dewey telling him to prepare to attack the Spanish in the Philippines pending “developments” in Cuba. Roosevelt also sends a cable to his close buddy in Cuba, William Astor Chanler, telling him, “I earnestly hope that events will so shape themselves that we must interfere [in Cuba], some time not in the distant future.” All of this before the Maine is sent to Cuba, much less blows up.
In addition to all this, William Randolph Hearst (newspaper mogul and close buddy to Rockefeller and Morgan), sends illustrator Frederic Remington to Cuba to provide illustrations of the war (supposedly going to on between the Spanish and Cubans). Remington arrives and, not seeing any war, cables Hearst for permission to return home. The response he receives is, “Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.”
As if on cue, the USS Maine shows up in Havana Harbor…and then magically blew up. Hearst’s newspapers promptly blamed Spain despite one shred of evidence, with such level-headed headlines as “The Maine was Destroyed by Spanish Treachery” complete with drawings showing electrical wires leading from a mine to imaginary Spanish evil-doers on shore.
Six weeks later a U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry comes to the immediate conclusion that Spain was to blame. Of course the head of that court, Captain William Sampson is magically promoted to commander of the U.S. North Atlantic Fleet.
Of course, buried in this rush to pre-planned judgement is that 1) U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General Adolph Marix reported that his informants in Cuba placed the blame on cuban divers working for WIlliam Astor Chanler who, in turn, was working for Theodore Roosevelt and 2) Spain was already getting ready to leave Cuba. The LAST thing they would have wanted was war with the U.S. over it AND if Spain did it to show how big and bag they were, they would have accepted credit for destruction of the Maine. they didn’t do that.
Of course the next argument would be that Roosevelt would NEVER put Americans in harms way just for a war with Spain to enrich American corporations. However, in a letter to Henry Cabot “warmonger” Lodge, Roosevelt once wrote, “I don’t care whether our sea-coast cities are bombarded or not, this country needs a war.”
So when you get all misty eyed for the Maine and all angry at Cuba, just remember that this was nothing more than a war of conquest to enrich American corporations. Man, makes my heart swell with pride that wealthy Americans can use the rest of as nothing more than pawns for their million (billion?) dollar schemes and brainwash the majority of the American public that such a thing would never happen. I think I’ll go have some apple pie and buy a Chevy…maybe not.
Learn before you write, Mr. Neff.
Great and accurate post. If you want to see the document that is the road map for Republican foreign policy for the next 100 years, read the speech that Senator Albert J. Beveridge gave to the 1898 Republican National Convention in Indianapolis, aptly called “The March of the Flag.” It is prescient and chilling. Especially read paragraphs 20 and 21. Brrrr.
By 1959, Americans owned everything in Cuba worth owning, and the Cubans were essentially serfs in the U. S. backed feudal system, which is what the Castro revolution was really about.
http://www.historytools.org/sources/beveridge.html
LBJ’s Gulf of Tonkin never happened , GWB’s weapons of mass destruction .. never existed , GHWB’s Kuwaiti babies being thrown from incubators.. contrived hoax – A wartime president is a re-elected president.
To Gabor Degre: I want to commend you for a beautifully composed and edited video of today’s “Remember the Maine” Ceremony. It was by far better than anything the local TV stations do. I especially appreciated your use of the entire playing of “Taps” The TV stations chop it up unmercifully. It’s not about me. it’s about doing a story well and respect for the occasion.
Well and nobly done