HO BOY
EET KRIMA
(Well, not really. But I’m getting there.)
Due to winter break coming soon, I will be producing neither a blog nor a podcast next week.
HOWEVER-
In light of this, there will be a cover summary up on YouTube!
Y’all have probably missed the covers hehe
BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT I’M HERE FOR
I’m gonna FAIL HISTORY IF I HAVEn’T MENTIONED THAT IN AN EARLIER BLOG
So to prevent that, I’m going to provide a small guide on the beginning of the Spanish American war to hammer it into my brain.
So where do we begin?
(Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Quincy Adams, Jackson, Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, Cleveland, McKinley) [The presidents we need to know in order]
We begin with William Jennings Bryan’s speech called the “Cross of Gold.” Bryan ran against William McKinley for the Presidency in 1896 and lost.
McKinley’s campaign was run by Mark Hanna–who outspent Bryan by a ratio of 5:1.
(William McKinley inspired the Muppet known as Sam The Eagle.)
This election was the first “modern” election. How so?
- Money was raised as a business approach
- The party relied more on strategy than the actual candidate lol
McKinley promised that he would stay out of foreign affairs.
However, with the turn of the slave revolts in Cuba at the time, the Virginius Incident (sailors getting murdered for no good reason), and Mr. Alfred Thayer Mahan pointing out that all great nations have a great navy, war with Spain crept closer.
Frederick Jackson Turner, a Frontierist, declared that America had to expand into other nations to keep itself great.
…OH AND THEN THE USS MAINE EXPLODED SO THEN MCKINLEY HAD TO GO TO WAR
Hurst and Pulitzer, two yellow journalists producing the NY World and the NY Journal (thanks, fake news), spread disinformation and eventually decided the course of the war (by constantly accusing McKinley of cowardice and then stealing an important Spanish letter–but that’s a complex story.)
That’s pretty much the Spanish American war (start).
Good luck with exams!