Patriot Poll 08/12/2026

Question: The Spanish-American War of 1898 ended on August 12 with a peace protocol giving the United States control over Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The war began after the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana harbor, which was blamed on Spain. What was the famous rallying cry that newspapers used to whip up public support for the war, and which newspaper publisher is most associated with it?

A. “Remember the Alamo!” — William Randolph Hearst of the New York Journal used it to tie the Maine explosion to American honor
B. “Remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain!” — William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal popularized it after the explosion, exemplifying what became known as “yellow journalism”
C. “Make Cuba Free!” — Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World coined this phrase as a rallying cry after Spain’s brutal suppression of Cuban rebels
D. “The Empire Strikes Back!” — Alfred Thayer Mahan’s sea-power theory gave rise to this phrase in popular discourse after the U.S. victory

Answer (below):

✅ Answer: B — “Remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain!” became the rallying cry of the Spanish-American War, popularized primarily by William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World in their fierce newspaper circulation battle. The phrase exemplified what became known as “yellow journalism,” sensationalized and often fabricated reporting designed to inflame public opinion. Hearst’s papers had been running lurid stories about Spanish atrocities in Cuba for months before the USS Maine exploded in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898, killing 266 American sailors. The cause of the explosion was never definitively established. A 1976 U.S. Navy investigation concluded it was most likely an internal accident, not a Spanish attack. But the rallying cry was already embedded in American consciousness, Congress declared war on Spain in April 1898, and the war that followed in just 113 days would transform the United States into a global power with territories spanning from the Caribbean to the Pacific. Hearst is famously, though likely apocryphally, quoted as telling his illustrator in Cuba: “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.”