‘Real News From The Blaze’ Real History: The Sinking of The U.S.S. Maine

The week’s Real History piece focuses on the history of media sensationalism pinned to the Hearst/Pulitzer media war culminating in the coverage of the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine and the start of the Spanish American War. Watch a clip from the documentary below:

Comments (26)

  • blackstone22
    Posted on May 20, 2012 at 5:50pm

    Very interesting and informative. Real News does a good job on these history segments

    Report Post »  
  • Ceefour
    Posted on May 20, 2012 at 10:20am

    My word…with all that deception and intrigue one would think LBJ was a democrat…..

    Report Post »  
  • ChileJohn
    Posted on May 19, 2012 at 7:47pm

    And, the bow plaque is in Bangor, Maine

    Report Post »  
  • gingerbread
    Posted on May 19, 2012 at 4:35pm

    Every time I hear what the “FREE PRESS” of this country has done, it reminds me of the “GULF OF TONKIN” resolution. LBJ faked an attack on our ships in the GULF of TONKIN in order to give him the “REASON” why we should have that massive build up in Viet Nam. Every one in the liberal press knew what LBJ was doing, and yet, not one of them said anything about this contrived “ATTACK” on our navy. As they say “THE REST IS HISTORY”. Even today, these lamestream media has completely side stepped that issue and they still heap praises on this “CRIMINAL PRESEDENT”

    Report Post » gingerbread  
  • NOBALONEY
    Posted on May 19, 2012 at 3:28pm

    Dear Real News:
    Last friday’s show was the last straw for me. S E Cupp‘s polishing the apple for G W Bush speech about the Arab Spring’s democracy in Africa and the Middle East was delusional. Bush‘s ’Road to Peace’ giveaway of Gaza to the Palestinians remains a huge mistake.
    Then you had a guest praising Turkey! ‘Real News’ started with good intentions, but your looking, and sounding like the rest of the elite MSM.

    Report Post » NOBALONEY  
  • RougeFastFingers
    Posted on May 19, 2012 at 10:30am

    2 navy investigations held years apart could not determine for certain what caused the maine explosion, the coal bunker explosion and the mine story both had supporters.

    BTW, I would not be so quick to attack Teddy Roosevelt about ‘cred’, he was born to a generation that believed in action not words, and in inverse to so-called ‘chickenhawks’ he believed that if you were a jingoist (as he was) you HAD to go out and face the same dangers you advocate others to take. So did most of the ‘rich’ of that period (sombody should tell that to Fox-Previn, the rich fought in all wars and considered it an obligation) many of whom were TR friends who joined his Rough Riders, as well as cowboys and western types and they fought side by side in Cuba.

    The ‘press’ were not the only ones who wanted war with Spain, many wanted Cuba to be a state, something Mckinley (who didn’t want war) said would make the US a great villian if the USA annexed it and steadfastly refused to do so. (Mckinley would be shot by an anarchist a few years later, the same type that we now call ‘occupy’)

    The last thing is most people at the time thought the USA would LOSE to Spain, even the British thought the US navy no match for Spain (they were dead wrong, Spain’s navy was a mess and the US Navy was growing in leaps and bounds at this time).

    Report Post » RougeFastFingers  
    • Lloyd Drako
      Posted on May 19, 2012 at 11:29am

      Chickenhawks indeed! Say what you will about Teddy, he put his life on the line for a war he had helped engineer. The contrast with the likes of Cheney and Wolfowitz could not be starker!

      I think the annexation of Cuba might not have been a bad idea, though. It was in such a state of ruination that it could not be given independence, although that was what the rebels we supported had fought for, without risking foreign intervention for reasons I’ve adduced below. Instead it became a US protectorate (satellite, if you want to put it bluntly) for 60 years, with frequent ham-handed military interventions. Enough to give Castro and his crew fertile soil for their propaganda.

      Would territorial status, followed by statehood, not have been preferable? How would that have made the US more “villainous” than Britain when it annexed the Boer republics, or Russia when it took over Manchuria, at about the same time?

      I think the real reason we did not annex Cuba outright was the fact that its population was Catholic and heavily black or mixed-race. No way southerners, or most northerners in 1898, would have tolerated a state with demographics like that.

      Report Post » Lloyd Drako  
    • UnreconstructedLibertarian
      Posted on May 19, 2012 at 1:27pm

      Drako,

      Actually, Cuba and the northern states of Mexico petitioned the Confederate States to join the CSA. It was not allowed due to them being internationally recognized as foreign sovereigns, and thus their ports were not blockaded by the US. Cuba and Mexico both were the only points of import into the CSA. Had they actuallly been allowed to join, as they wished, they would have been blockaded. If not by the US, certainly by Spain (who would have liked to re-conquer Mexico).

      Had the CSA won, Cuba and northern states of Mexico would have been the first new states admitted to the CSA.

      Report Post » UnreconstructedLibertarian  
    • Lloyd Drako
      Posted on May 19, 2012 at 11:38pm

      Unreconstructed:

      How could Cuba as such have petitioned to join the CSA? It was still controlled by Spain in 1861-1865, though there were already some Cubans (for example, the man who designed the Cuban flag) who hoped to link the island to the USA, if not the CSA.

      As for Mexico, the price for admission of its northern states to the CSA would surely have been the reintroduction of slavery there. Wasn’t exactly the reason why some southerners had expansionist plans in that direction?

      Report Post » Lloyd Drako  
  • Lloyd Drako
    Posted on May 19, 2012 at 10:03am

    This is “Real History” exactly as Hearst would have wanted it, because it virtually gives him sole credit for getting the US into war with Spain. The reality, needless to say, is rather different.

    If Remington reported “There is no war,” it was because the Spanish would not let him tour the eastern parts of Cuba, where in fact a major insurgency had been going on since 1895. Spain was unable to subdue the rebels, who got considerable aid from Cuban-Americans. The rebels in turn were not strong enough to drive the Spanish out. So the fighting dragged on, with atrocities on both sides. One Spanish general ordered a policy of “reconcentrado”–the first instance of concentration camps by that name, where thousands of innocents died of assorted tropical diseases.

    True, the Yellow Press “made s**t up,” exaggerating Spanish cruelty while painting the rebels as saintly freedom-fighters. Still, the longer this went on, the more it endangered foreign as well as Cuban lives and property. Might not European powers be tempted to intervene? Could the US tolerate, say, a strong Germany rather than a weak Spain 90 miles off Florida? It was cold hard strategic calculation, not just the Yellow Press, that determined that the US could not allow this running sore to persist and provided the main impetus for war at the level where decisions were actually made.

    It’s would be most satisfying if Hearst and Pulitzer–the MSM of their day–were solely to blame. But that’s way too s

    Report Post » Lloyd Drako  
  • lukerw
    Posted on May 19, 2012 at 6:14am

    Hearst was behind Wilson… on the XVII Amendment… changing the Senate to being Popularly Elected… destroying State Power… and giving Unions Power to Elect Congress… totally against the wishes and arguements of the Founding Fathers! So, the Fake Media contributed to the destruction of the Constitutional Balance of Power!

    If you can Start Wars & change Government Structure… your Power is UnLimited!

    Report Post » lukerw  
    • Lloyd Drako
      Posted on May 19, 2012 at 10:22am

      Wilson had little to do with the 17th Amendment, which was passed by Congress before his election and ratified by the requisite 31st state barely a month after his inauguration. He was also no particular friend of unions.

      Report Post » Lloyd Drako  
  • Sol Invictus
    Posted on May 19, 2012 at 5:42am

    Excellent story and there’s now no doubt that Beck lies in the true tradition of Hearst journalism. Even better – this story is posted with an ad for Rumors of War 3 next to it. Irony – or a rare example of humour from the Blaze editors??

    Report Post » Sol Invictus  
    • historyguy48
      Posted on May 19, 2012 at 6:48am

      You had better learn your history. When the Maine was dove on the proof was definitive that it had been destroyed by a defect in its design and an explosion in its coal bunker!
      Yes, this was the basis of the Spanish-American War. Yes, Hearst and the irresponsible American Press egged the situation along. So what is new? Nedd I remind you of the Watts riots caused by Rodney King? (Watch the entire tape, the man, who is currently in the joint by the way, was being properly subdued).
      How about the Trevor Martin/ Zimmerman piece of nonsense? Zimmerman will walk from the charges this summer so the ignorant, whipped on by the media, can get the cities burning again.
      The press has always had an agenda. Former Russian NKVD Commisar Nikita Kruscheve new this and now most of the media probably doesn’t even realize that its agenda is to bring the glories of Marxism to America.
      Just because it has never worked anywhere doesn‘t mean it won’t work here! Dumbest statement in the history of dumb statements!

      Report Post » historyguy48  
    • lukerw
      Posted on May 19, 2012 at 6:51am

      So, you believe… that actual History… is just Conservative Lies? Then, what are the Facts… according to “Sol Invictus”/“Forrest Gump”?

      Report Post » lukerw  
    • Sol Invictus
      Posted on May 19, 2012 at 7:13am

      @48 Thanks for the extra examples of how those in the media can create “bogeymen” to create discord, just like Beck.
      @ LukerW – exactly the opposite, real history bears no relation to conservative lies.
      Irony really is lost on you two isn’t it!

      Report Post » Sol Invictus  
    • lukerw
      Posted on May 19, 2012 at 8:14am

      I understand Irony and any actual History is Fact… but I do not understand the Conservative Lies, nor the Beck Lies, that you reference… and without an identification, the Ironic is lost. I just want to understand your Thought!

      Report Post » lukerw  
  • CatholicConservative
    Posted on May 19, 2012 at 1:44am

    Kind of gives a different spin on the honor of winning the Pulitzer Prize.

    Another thought: this must be where the 007 movie “Tomorrow Never Dies” got its plot.

    Report Post » CatholicConservative  
  • wordweaver
    Posted on May 19, 2012 at 12:03am

    Trivia question asked of Plebes at the Naval Academy by upperclassmen: “What’s the longest ship in the Navy?” Answer: The USS Maine (parts of the salvaged ship are all over the USA now, but the mainmast is part of a memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, and the foremast is on display at the Naval Academy in Annapolis)

    Report Post » wordweaver  
  • piper60
    Posted on May 19, 2012 at 12:01am

    Maine wasn’t “docked” she was at anchor.

    Report Post » piper60  
  • Bryan B
    Posted on May 18, 2012 at 11:21pm

    A very nice story and very well done…..

    Report Post » Bryan B  
  • RepubliCorp
    Posted on May 18, 2012 at 10:52pm

    Zimmerman ………

    Report Post » RepubliCorp  

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