TAKING UP THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN 113

Jefferson.6 At the start of the war, the many economic interests of the U.S. in
Cuba were in deep friction with Spain. Yet, as always is the case, the U.S. public
had to be convinced that the defense of these private interests was in the best
public interest. While businessmen and mine company men rallied governmental
supporters for a war, the public remained aloof, uninterested in regions
unknown to its large majority. It would take men such as Joseph Pulitzer and
William Randolph Hearst to create the public fervor needed for the undertaking
of military occupation and the prospects of war profit. The rallying for war
bluntly evident in U.S. newspapers such as the New York World, the Herald,
and the Journal had greater effect in manipulating public opinion than did the
mysterious explosion on the U.S. Maine. Such direct intervention would cause
this war to be termed the "correspondent's war" (Brown vii). The real stroke of
genius-and that which would pull in the efforts of Hollywood-came with Hearst
realizing that the best stories for arousing people were harrowing tales of women
who were victims of Spanish cruelty. It is reported that when he received a cable
about a seventeen year old Cuban beauty jailed by the Spanish authorities, Hearst
rushed in to his editor with a yell: "We've got Spain now!" (Brown 95). The headline
that would effect the desired action-"The Cuban Girl Martyr," told the story of
"the gentle niece of the Cuban president, whose fate by Spanish decree will be too
awful for description" (Brown 95). Evangelina Cisneros, the cause celcbre of what
would become the most popular newspaper tale of its time, became the model
for the beautiful Juana Valdez, the "Spanish chicken" that will make the
Americano's heart spin in Anita Loos' screenplay. The similarities between
Hearst's "Cuban martyr" and Juana are too close to be coincidental.7 As we focus

6 Since the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, Jefferson and his party desired to end
European control of regions close to the U.S. See historian Fernando Pic6's comments
on U.S. interests and Presidents Jefferson and Monroe. (Historia general de Puerto
Rico. San Juan: Ediciones Huracin, 1986: 223).
7 Brown writes: "She was a member of a well-known family at Camaguey, her father
having taken part in the Ten Years' War. When the revolution of 1895 broke out, he
along with other rebel prisoners was banished to the Isle of Pines, where his daughter
was permitted to join him. She was waiting to be "saved from the fate worse than
death-the carnal desires of Colonel Jos6 Berriz, the military governor..." (96).
The Journal's sensationalistic campaign for the liberation of Evangelina aroused
U.S. readers to a feverish frenzy for months. It was finally reported that Evangelina
had escaped her "filthy pigsty of a jail" with "the help of outsiders." As the U.S.
public awaited news of her fate, "the Journal revealed that the escape had been
engineered by its correspondents in Havana" (99). As Evangeline arrived on U.S.
shores, ticket parade celebrations were held, President McKinley met her at
Convention Hall, "where, according to the Journal, one hundred thousand people
were massed" (101). Her hero was revealed as Karl Decker-who fully represented
"the journalism that acts" so heartily professed by Hearst. The Journal reported:
"This was the hero of the most romantic and daring episode of modern times; here
he was, the prince of the fairy tale, disguised as an ordinary, every-day tourist,