Spanish American War Influence

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rive. This influence was first used in the Spanish American War. President McKinley went to war with Spain in 1898 due to humanitarian reasons and a belief that America should intervene to help its neighbors. It was in this “Splendid little War” that America defeated Spain and found itself in possession of the Philippines. “That there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God's grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died.” The United States thought that their way of life could be transferred to other cultures which created the belief that the colonization of the Philippines would be good for both the US and the Philippines. It was this first adventure influencing other cultures that made America believe that it could influence the world for the better, this belief was reinforced by …show more content…
This was most evident during our involvement with French Indo-China and Vietnam. In the mid 1950’s the Vietnamese gained its independence from France, and it was split between communist north and nationalist south. This split created the need for the United States to ensure that South Vietnam was not overrun by the North. This lead to the belief that America thought it could use it over whelming power and influence to not only protect South Vietnam but make the people happy under an American puppet state. “I never met a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused.” This statement shows that America had good intentions in Vietnam but all America ended up doing was delaying the Viet Cong at the cost of many Vietnamese and American lives. America’s involvement in Vietnam was due to a greater involvement in the world caused by the belief that America was needed to create a better