SPEAKING
FREELY Remembering the other
D-Day By Dallas Darling
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Unlike Lieutenant
Horace Henderson who wrote, "I noticed that
nothing moved on the beach except one bulldozer.
The beach was covered with debris, sunken craft
and wrecked vehicles. We saw many bodies in the
water…We jumped into chest high water and waded
ashore. Then we saw that the beach was literally
covered with the bodies of American soldiers;"[1]
Richard Davis reported, "Soon the sea was dotted
with rows of white boats filled with men bound
about with white blanket rolls and with muskets at
all angles, and as they rose and fell on the water
and newspaper
yachts and transports
crept in closer and closer, the scene was
strangely suggestive of a boat race…".[2]
This week in 1898, the US Army landed on
the Daiquiri Beach in Cuba, 18 miles (28.9
kilometers) east of Santiago. It was distinctly
different than the D-Day landing in 1944, also in
June, that occurred on the beaches of Normandy,
France. During the first several days of the
invasion of Cuba, there were no Omahas where heavy
German machine gun and mortar and tank fire tore
apart thousands of American troops. There was no
Luftwaffe flying overhead and dropping bombs and
strafing crawling soldiers. There were no Germans
falling all around as US warships fired continual
barrages. There were no death traps filled with
blood, "bagged quotas,"[3] or religious services
to bury the dead.
But just as World War II
impacted the US, so did the Spanish-American War
(SAW), perhaps even more so. The causes of the SAW
were many. A severe economic depression had thrown
millions out of work and created a revolutionary
mood, one that both the wealthy and the federal
government feared. The SAW would serve as a
distraction from massive and violent and bloody
labor strikes, work stoppages, and more unemployed
marches on Washington - like Coxey's Army. Rich
monopolists and expansionists, with their apatite
for empire-cheap labor, resources and expanding
market economies to sell their goods - were
itching to experiment with corporate-building
through nation-taking.
This "splendid
little war" was also a result of Yellow
Journalism, extreme Christianity, and a desire for
ultra-conservatives (both Republican and
Democratic) to crush third political parties.
Ultra-conservatism was alarmed at socialism and
populism, with its ever growing Populist Party
that promoted a multi-monetary system, progressive
income tax, health care, equality for workers and
farmers and the elderly, and protection from giant
monopolies. Whereas Christians, like Reverend
Josiah Strong, believed "God is training the
Anglo-Saxon race for its mission to civilize the
world's weaker races," the mass media saw an
opportunity to increase sales by sensationalizing
a possible war with Spain.
What finally
triggered America's war with Spain was the US
battleship Maine exploding in Havana
harbor, killing 266 crewmen. A navy inquiry
immediately blamed the blast on Spain, and
competing media moguls Randolph Hearst and Joseph
Pulitzer published graphic drawings in newspapers
depicting the battleship exploding with dead
crewmen hurling through the air or drowning. The
war lasted three months with only a few days of
actual combat. But if a new consciousness came
over America - the consciousness of strength - and
with it a new appetite, the yearning to show our
strength (the taste of empire), [4] so did other
false consciousnesses.
Not only would the
US seize Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Guam,
and Somoza, along with eventually carving out
regions in China, but this new imperialism and
colonization would militarize America. [5] Like
future wars, this one would also be misnamed and
censored. The 1898 US-Spanish/Cuba/Puerto
Rico/Philippine/Guam/ Somoza/Sino War, or Wars and
Rebellions of the Caribbean and Pacific, would
annex many foreign territories, brutally crush
numerous and long uprisings -Filipino, Cuban and
Boxer. It would also use liberation and freedom
movements as a ruse to spread an aggressive and
violent American market economy.
Cuban and
Filipino "freedom fighters" were clearly on their
way to victory over Spain when the US intervened
and hijacked their independence movement,
subverting their goals for a new society of racial
and economic equality and justice.[6] And though
revolutionaries warned the US its intervention
would be considered an act of war, through false
promises and deceptions America was still able to
invade and then conquer both territories. Neither
did Filipinos nor Cubans participate in surrender
ceremonies and treaties, which were dominated by
the US, let alone be able to enter the capitol of
their country.[7] The US would write their
constitutions and many aspects of their cultures.
Again, the "other" D-Day in 1898 had a far
reaching influence on US foreign policy, which
from them would always be shaped by a group of
elite corporate, military and political
strategists. These dynastic powers would also
dominate the preemptive military wars and
campaigns in the 20th and 21st centuries. Layers
of ideologies would also govern the thinking and
behaviors of many Americans, such as nationalism,
paternalism, Social Darwinism, and the
categorization of foreigners, especially non
whites. All of these would culminate in American
Exceptionalism, or notions of US superiority. And
where US businesses and investments go, so would
the US Army and Marines.
Presidential
powers would also change. Recall that Theodore
Roosevelt, before taking the White House, pushed
for and fought in the SAW. He once said, "I should
welcome almost any war, for I think the country
needs one." As president, he would model for
future leaders an "imperial presidency," establish
global police powers, taking Panama from Colombia
to build the canal, and sending marines into Santo
Domingo to collect debts. He also adhered to
Alfred T Mahan's book, The Influence of Sea
Power, which said the US needed a strong navy
that required naval and military bases abroad for
repairs, supplies and fuels. Therefore, it must
acquire new territories.
At least for a
short period in America's perpetual War Time, in
World War II, US citizens and soldiers experienced
the true and deadly costs of war. At least the
federal government did not act on behalf of the
wealthy and special interest groups. And at least
war mobilization and the modernization was
weaponry was for a "just cause," or to liberate
concentration camps and a militarily occupied
Europe. It is tragic, though, that the horrors of
World War II and the Greatest Generation did not
force their leaders to reevaluate and rethink
future conflicts and military engagements, and
that the "other" D-Day still dominates America's
collectively imagination and public narratives.
Notes: 1. Ambrose, Stephen
E. Citizen Soldiers: The US Army From The Normandy
Beaches To The Bulge To The Surrender Of Germany.
New York: New York: Touchtone Publishers, 1998., p
27. 2. Marsh, W.B. and Bruce Carrick. A Leap Year
of Great Stories from History. Lanham, Maryland:
Totem Books, 200, p 201. 3. Ambrose, Stephen E.
Citizen Soldiers: The US Army From The Normandy
Beaches To The Bulge To The Surrender Of Germany,
p 31. 4. Boyer, Paul S. and Clark Clifford, Joseph
Kett, Neal Salisbury, Harvard Sitkoff, and Nance
Woloch. The Enduring Vision: A History Of The
American People. Lexington, Massachusetts: DC
Heath and Company, 1996., p 609. 5. Bender,
Thomas. A Nation Among Nations: America's Place in
World History. New York, New York: Hang and Wang
Publishers, 2006, p 218. 6. Ibid, p 225. 7. Ibid,
p 224.
Dallas Darling is the
author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on
Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some
Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On
Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And
Consumerism in the Context of John's Apocalyptic
Vision, and The Other Side Of
Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics,
Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a
correspondent for www.worldnews.com. You can read
more of Dallas' writings at www.beverlydarling.com
and wn.com//dallasdarling.
Speaking
Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows
guest writers to have their say.Please
click hereif you are interested in
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