Beginning of Essay
The war between the United States and Spain was caused by unsettling tension between the two countries; Spain, at that time, one of the world's great powers, maintained colonies including Cuba, which lay only ninety miles from U.S. soil. Lasting from April until ....

Middle of Essay
.... worse, and revolution again broke out threatening to go on indefinitely as the rebels would be strong enough win, nor would the Spanish forces be powerful enough to defeat them. American newspapers, especially the yellow press of rival publishers, William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, printed outlandish stories of the Spanish oppression in Cuba. They included wildly exaggerated accounts that a quarter of the Cuban population had been killed at the hands of their Spanish oppressors. President William McKinley was urged to pressure Spain into granting Cuba limited self-government. Under the disguise of a "courtesy call," the United States Nav ....