Why Can’t We Be Friends? Part 3: Manifest Destiny

In 1848 President Polk offered Spain $100 million for Cuba, and in 1854 President Pierce upped the ante to $130 million. Spain declined the offer both times. Through diplomatic channels, the U.S. government made it known that “it would forcibly resist the acquisition of the island by any other nation.”

Spain was equally locked into its position; “(We) will neither now nor ever enter into any transaction having as an object the abandonment of her rights in the island of Cuba and Puerto Rico,” said Spanish Minister of State Pedro J. Pidal. “Sooner than see the Island transferred to any power, we would prefer seeing it sunk in the ocean!”

The U.S. civil war temporarily distracted efforts to acquire Cuba. Attempts to purchase the island continued during the 1890s, even as Cubans fought a bloody war for their independence.

After the U.S. entered the war and defeated Spain in what is barely remembered as the Spanish-American War, it was the U.S. flag (not the Cuban flag) that was raised in Havana, and to add insult to injury, the Cuban generals were not allowed to participate in the ceremony.

The U.S. took possession of Guantánamo Bay at that time, and the military occupation lasted until 1901, when a U.S.-style constitution was hatched up that included the Platt Amendment, which made Cuba a pseudo-colony.

For the next six decades the U.S. controlled Cuba through intimidation, puppet governments and friendly dictators. But all that came to an end in 1959 with the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.

Partial embargoes began in early 1960, and a new era of Cuban politics, under a one-party system, ever so vigilant of pending U.S. aggression, was well under way.

Peace.