Dwight Sigsbee (1845-1923) WHO S/HE WAS: Captain Charles Sigsbee was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy and served in the Civil War and Spanish-American War. He was also a pioneering oceanographer and hydrographer. Between 1875 and 1925, his innovation, the Sigsbee sounding machine, was a standard item of deep-water oceanographc equipment. WHAT S/HE SAID: An officer in an emergency should pour ice water over his personal feelings, in order to defer his nervous prostration to a proper moment. WHY S/HE MATTERED: Sigsbee was the ill-fated naval commander of the USS Maine, which exploded in Havana harbor on January 25, 1898. The explosion set off the events that led up to the start of the Spanish–American War.

John L. Stevens (1820-1895) WHO S/HE WAS: Ambassador John Leavitt Stevens was a United States ambassador to Paraguay, Uruguay, Sweden, Norway and Hawaii during the second half of the nineteenth century. WHAT S/HE SAID: The Hawaiian pear is now fully ripe, and this is the golden hour for the United States to pluck it. WHY S/HE MATTERED: During his time as State Minister to the Kingdom of Hawai’i, Stevens was accused of conspiring to overthrow Queen Lili’uokalani in association with the Committee of Safety, led by Lorrin A. Thurston and Sanford B. Dole. The attributed quote was from a letter, penned in March 1892, to U.S. Secretary of State, James Blaine. In it, Stevens urged action to prevent the intrusion of foreign interests into Hawai’i. Said he, “So long as the islands retain their own independent government there remains the possibility that England or the Canadian Dominion might secure one

Continue Reading “John L. Stevens”

T’Zu Hsi (1835-1908) WHO S/HE WAS: Tsu Hsi was popularly known in China as the West Dowager Empress. She was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, ruling over the Manchu Empire for 48 years from her husband’s death in 1861 to her own death in 1908. WHAT S/HE SAID: The foreigners are like fish in the stew pan. For 40 years I have eaten bitterness because of them. WHY S/HE MATTERED: The Boxer Rebellion of 1900 was a key turning point of Tz’u Hsi’s reign. The Boxers were a secret society called the “Righteous and Harmonious Fists”—poor Chinese who blamed Westerners and their imperialism for their poor standing of living. First organized in 1898, they may have been tacitly supported by Tzu-Hsi’s government. Rising in rebellion in early 1900, the empress and her government both helped and hindered the revolt.

Continue Reading “Tz’u-hsi”

Mark Twain (1835-1910) WHO S/HE WAS: Mark Twain was a famous author, satirist, essayist, newspaper contributor, and lecturer. He wrote about a myriad of topics, ranging from life along the Mississippi River, detailed in famous works such as _The Adventures of Tom Sawyer_ (1872) and _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ (1884), to a collection of essays written while abroad, to political essays. Twain was an influential writer of his time and remains so today. WHAT S/HE SAID: There must be two Americas, one that sets the captive free, and one that takes a once-captive’s new freedom away. WHY S/HE MATTERED: During the Spanish-American War, Twain became a fervent anti-imperialist, even joining the Anti-Imperialist League. His sentiments about that war and the war in the Phillippines were published nationwide.

Francisco “Pancho” Villa (1878-1923) WHO S/HE WAS: Francisco “Pancho” Villa was a Mexican rebel and one of the most prominent figures of the Mexican Revolution. WHAT S/HE SAID: My sole ambition is to rid Mexico of the class that has oppressed her and given the people a chance to know what real liberty means. And if I could bring that about today by giving up my life, I would do it gladly. WHY S/HE MATTERED: In response to raids on United States interests, President Woodrow Wilson sent 5,000 men of the U.S. Army under the command of General Frederick Funston who oversaw John Pershing as he pursued Villa through Mexico. Employing aircraft and trucks for the first time in U.S. Army history, Pershing’s force chased Villa until February 1917 without success.

Valeriano Weyler (1838-1930) WHO S/HE WAS: General Valeriano Weyler was a Spanish soldier and commander of Spanish forces in Cuba in the 1890s. WHAT S/HE SAID: The good die young. WHY S/HE MATTERED: Valeriano “The Butcher” Weyler was notorious for his “reconcentration” policies in Cuba which sought to strip Cuban rebels of their abilities to live off the land and camouflage themselves in groups of civilians. The strategy had disastrous consequences. Unlike many concentration camps in the twentieth century, the idea was to keep the Cuban civilians alive and protected until the Spanish were victorious. Unfortunately at least 30% perished from lack of proper food, sanitary conditions, and medicines. The policy generated severe anti-Spanish feeling in the United States which helped propel it into war in 1898.