Remember the
Maine/False
Flag Operation
Conspiracy Theory
and Critical Thinking
Essay
Admir Foco
The explosion and sinking of the USS Maine on February 15 1898 is an event of much
controversy (1). The event occurred during a time of uneasiness between The United States of
America and Spain. The sinking of the USS Maine is considered one of the last catalysts to the
beginning of the Spanish – American war which started in April 1898. The USS Maine was
docked in the Havana harbour in Cuba for approximately three weeks before the fatal explosion
occurred.
The USS Maine and USS Texas were built in response to Brazil purchasing a new battleship
known as Riachuelo. At the time Brazil had the most powerful naval force in the America’s and
its naval might was far superior to Americas aging naval ships. This worried the Americans
which responded by planning and designing two new naval ships in reaction to Brazil’s new
naval might (4). At the time of the explosion, the USS Maine was docked in the Havana harbour
because it was sent there to protect American civilians and interests during Cuba’s push from
independence. The ship was initially there on a friendly mission to provide transport for
American citizens if things became too dangerous during the Cuban revolution. The American
population was already against the Spanish domination over Cuba and had sympathy for the
Cuban rebels because of the consistent reports of atrocities and horrible conditions Cubans
dealt with under the rule of the Spanish. The newspapers were using a reporting type called
yellow journalism to increase sales/readers and sway public opinion in the United States.
Yellow journalism basically embellishes facts or even goes as far as reporting stories with no
research to backup any of the facts reported (2). At the same time the Spanish empire was
crumbling and the Americans were closely watching the events going on in Cuba and were keen
to keep their American investments in Cuban sugar and tobacco intact.
William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, the owners of the New York Journal and New
York World presented the American population with mass coverage of the Maine explosion
with regular front page spreads and large amounts of yellow journalism. Multiple investigations
of the explosion of the USS Maine have been conducted over the years, but none have
concluded how the initial explosion occurred. The investigation immediately after the explosion
of the Maine concluded that a mine had been set off near the front end of the ship and ignited
the coal bunker which in turn exploded and devastated the ship. This initial report was all that
Hearst and Pulitzer needed to begin their blame campaign on Spain. They demanded
compensation from Spain for the destruction and loss of lives in the USS Maine explosion. They
believed that the only way for Spain to atone for the fatal attack was to allow Cuba its
independence, which was favorable to the Americans who had business interests in the sugar,
coffee, and tobacco industries there (3).
The conspiracy theory that some believe is going on in this particular event is that the
Americans orchestrated the event to start the war with Spain. Basically some people believe
that the Americans could benefit from going to war with an already crumbling Spanish empire
and that they went through with a false flag operation to sway public opinion against the
Spanish and allow for the Spanish American war to begin in 1898. Some conspiracy theorists
also believe that it is possible that Cubans placed a mine near the USS Maine and sunk it in
order to have the Americans believe it was the Spanish and involve themselves.
When it comes to evidence in favour of the conspiracy theory, there isn’t a great deal in favour
of the conspiracy theory however there are a few interesting outcomes as a result of the
incident which may give some motive to the conspiracy. The explosion of the USS Maine has
been investigated 4 separate times and no investigation has come to a definitive conclusion to
how the explosion occurred exactly. This allows for a very grey area which leaves the entire
start to the incident a mystery. It’s also noted that from the start that the Spanish were
prevented from actually investigating the explosion properly and from a closer perspective. This
could be the US preventing the Spanish from discovering any potential questionable details
which would favour the Spanish’s conclusion to the incident. The United States ended up
obtaining temporary control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Hawaiian islands after Spanish
American war as atonement from the crumbling Spanish empire. This could be one of the
reasons that the ship was sunk and Americans went to war, expansionism. Congress was also
able to enact a temporary tax of 3% on long distance telephone bills to help support the war
with Spain. This tax allowed the US to use it until 2005, allowing the US to collect money to
fund wars for over 100 years. The United States knew it was falling behind in terms of military
strength so this war and attack on their own armored cruiser was a way of allowing for more
military spending, which the public and congress would allow, in order for the states to protect
itself in the future. Cuban independence protected American investments and allowed for easy
access to sugar coffee and tobacco for the US. All these things benefited the United States and
seem to fall in favour of the Americans over the attack in Havana. Also Theodore Roosevelt,
who was very for the war with Spain, ordered Commodore George Dewey to attack the Spanish
fleet in Manila in case of war, this order was given prior to the USS Maine’s destruction. It is
possible that the navy had plans being prepared for naval warfare prior to the USS Maine event,
meaning that there was already some focus on Spain.
Evidence which points to the conspiracy being just a theory and not concrete thing consists of a
few key facts. President William McKinley was against going to war with Spain from the
beginning but the yellow journalism from Hearst and Pulitzer helped sway public and congress
opposition’s opinion and push McKinley’s administration into war (4). It is possible that his
administration had no intention of going to war and therefore no real interest in obtaining
everything they did after the Spanish American war was fought. When it comes to the actual
explosion that sunk the armored cruiser, no final conclusion to how the explosion occurred can
also imply that the explosion could have been an internal error and not an attack from Spain or
Cuba. If it was a mine, waters were calm so needed to be electric detonation but no wires were
found and no dead fish were found on shore, which is usually the case in an underwater
explosion. It is very viable that the explosion was internal because the ship started using a
different type of coal which was more volatile than the previous material used. Other ships
experienced fires and explosions prior to the sinking of the USS Maine and made reports
detailing their findings (5).
Based on all the evidence, I don’t particularly find it believable as a conspiracy. I have looked at
the facts and my own personal biases and come to the conclusion that the evidence I have
looked at saying that it is a false flag operation is not sufficient enough to sway my opinion. I
think the explosion of the USS Maine was more convenient for those who wanted to go to war
with an already weak Spain, then a case of false flagging. Yes there isn’t any real explanation
behind how the explosion occurred but there was a tension between Spain and America
because of the yellow journalism by Hearst and Pulitzer. If there been proof that somehow one
or both of those individuals had interests in Cuba and benefitted from the independence of
Cuba, and Spanish American war, then my perception maybe different on the entire situation. I
just think that the newspapers looking for more sales and readers built tension and used the
media to manipulate public opinion and profit off of it. I don’t believe that Americans sunk their
own ship in order to start the war but I believe the war was a possibility based on the media put
out by Hearst and Pulitzer. The explosion of the USS Maine was a tragedy that they used to put
the blame on Spain and pursue more profits from their news paper reports whether they were
accurate or not. It doesn’t appear as a false flag operation to me because there isn’t enough
evidence to prove to me that the United States carried out the attack on itself in order to
benefit from the situation.
Bibliography
1. USS Maine
http://www.monacorarecoins.com/rare-coin-articles/uss-maine/
2. Yellow Journalism
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0111500/spanamer/yellow.htm
3. 10 False Flag operations that shaped our world. Tuesday March 6 2007.
http://www.conspiracy-times.com/content/view/30/1
4. USS Maine (ACR-1)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Maine_(ACR-1)
5. The Spanish American war -The Maine explosion: 1898
http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/spanishamerican/section3.rhtml