De Lôme Letter

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The De Lôme Letter, which set off an 1898 diplomatic incident, was written by Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, the Spanish Minister with the Portfolio of Cuban Affairs at the Spanish Embassy in Washington, D.C. The letter, which was intended to be private, was sent to his friend, Don Jose Canelejas, a Spanish official in Havana and was stolen from the Post Office in Havana and released by Cuban revolutionists to Hearst's newspaper. In it, the minister wrote disparagingly of US President William McKinley "... McKinley is: weak and catering to the rabble, and, besides, a low politician, who desires to leave a door open to me and to stand well with the jingoes of his party." On February 9, 1898, the letter was published in the New York Journal.

This event fired up an otherwise inactive President McKinley and helped foment public sentiment in favor of the Cuban Junta and against the Spanish, and is seen as one of the principal triggers of the Spanish-American War of 1898.

[edit] See also

• Yellow journalism
• William Randolph Hearst
• Joseph Pulitzer

[edit] Sources

• Centenial Website
• The Great Republic by Master Historians

[edit] External links

• The DeLome Letter
• OurDocuments.gov
• Engaging Students in American History