PBS Studies Spanish-American War
By LYNN ELBER, AP
01:00 PM ET 08/19/99
LOS ANGELES (AP) - ``It was all about that battleship of Maine,'' trumpeted the
old song, paying homage to the fabled cause of the United States' first 20th century
conflict. ``Crucible of Empire: The Spanish-American War'' opens with the jingoistic tune
about the doomed ship and then proceeds to vividly unravel the true complexity of
America's venture into war and imperialism.
The two-hour documentary, narrated by Edward James Olmos and featuring the
voices of actors and politicians as prominent figures, airs on PBS stations 9 p.m. Monday,
Aug. 23 (check local listings).
It's a history lesson with spark and drama. And it has contemporary resonance,
says Daniel B. Polin, who with Daniel A. Miller wrote and produced the film.
``It's really the first war in which many of the elements which play such a key
role in 20th century interventions appear,'' says Polin, citing the role of the media in
fanning public support for war as one example.
``It's as though we were rehearsing interventions that were going to happen. We
get to see how these forces intersect and what it takes to actually get the United States
to intervene,'' he says. Larger-than-life characters, including publisher William
Randolph Hearst, Cuba's freedom fighter Gen. Maximo Gomez and Filipino revolutionary
Emilio Aguinaldo, help bring to life the multifaceted story of ``Crucible of Empire.''
So do the historians who have not reached unanimity on the conflict and its
roots. Even the question of whether Spain would have lost Cuba eventually, U.S. forces
aside, remains open for debate.
The explosion (accidental or not) of the USS Maine in Havana's harbor in 1898
ignited the Spanish-American War, but many other factors - economic depression, national
security, racism, a belief in America's role as international savior and, conversely, its
potential as a colonial power - combined to fuel it, according to diverse historical
viewpoints.
So, certainly, did the demands of a generation that felt deprived of the Civil
War experience and thirsted for glory. Theodore Roosevelt, the future hero,
expressed this sentiment: ``I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country
needs one.''
The film begins in 1893 with an America that veers abruptly from high
expectations for the coming century into the nation's worst economic slump.
``With the frontier gone, there was something akin to a panic among people: 'If
American institutions can't expand, they're gonna shrink,''' historian Stephen Ambrose
tells us. ``... So there was an intellectual justification - rationalization would be a
better way to put it - for 'Let's get our power overseas.''' Other nations already were
engaged in what historian Walter Lafeber calls an ``imperial race'': Great Britain,
France, Russia, Germany and an emerging Japan.
But Spain was a dwindling power, with its holdings reduced to rebellious Cuba,
the Philippines, Puerto Rico and a handful of other islands.
American sympathies were roused in 1895 by newspaper accounts of a particularly
vicious suppression effort in which Cubans were rounded up into what were essentially
concentration camps. But agreement on a response was not immediate. The ambitious,
clever Hearst saw support of the Cuban independence movement as a ``jingoistic way'' to
bring the nation together and to boost his own prominence, historians say.
To U.S. businessmen, however, war was a threat to their Cuban investments and to
economic recovery at home. Republican president-elect McKinley shared their concerns,
declaring in his 1897 inaugural address: ``We must avoid the temptation of territorial
aggression. War should never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed.''
But war was to be. And, when it was declared, Americans embraced it
wholeheartedly: A call for 200,000 volunteers brought out 1 million. If the cause seemed
just _ to avenge the Maine and rescue enslaved islanders - the result was less so.
The United States found it easy to relieve Spain of its holdings but difficult
to fulfill its promises of freedom to the Cubans and Filipinos who had initially welcomed
America's aid, historians say. There was a blood bath in the Philippines as
rebellion continued, now against the new U.S. occupying force. The death of one American
soldier, according to the film, was followed by a general's order to kill all members of a
village capable of force - anyone over age 10.
Producer Polin, who based ``Crucible of Empire'' on a project proposed by former
CBS News documentary chief Perry Wolff and his brother, Leon, says he likes to think such
long-ago tragedies are not empty.
``Maybe we learn from the mistake of the Spanish-American War, and from Vietnam,
that when we go into these things we ought not to try to acquire (territory) or impose our
will.''
___
Elsewhere in television ....
WHAT A GEM: Ruby Wax is back with her tongue-in-cheek interviews with celebrities
and interesting common folk on ``Ruby,'' a Lifetime series debuting 10:30 p.m. EDT
Saturday. The London-based American, who was seen on Fox's ``The Ruby Wax Show'' in 1997,
spends her first two episodes in tryouts as a Las Vegas showgirl and at boot camp to see
if she's got the right stuff for Uncle Sam. Oh, and she attempts to find a cowboy romance
for friend Carrie Fisher.
___
Lynn Elber can be reached at lelber''at''ap.org
