Book Description

If the Korean War is America's "forgotten war", then the Philippine American War must surely be America's "swept-under-the-rug" war. We may remember from high school history that the United States acquired the Philippines in the treaty that ended the Spanish American War, but how many of us remember that war in the Philippines followed? And yet, this war threatened to end the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt before his only elected term. Immediately after helping the Cuban people gain their freedom from an oppressive foreign nation, American found itself, largely due to Roosevelt's machinations as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, then as President, to be the foreign nation fighting to deny freedom for another oppressed people. It can certainly be argued that the people of the Philippines may have benefited over time from American involvement after the war. This volume, however, is primarily concerned with the impact on the American public and on America's image abroad that resulted from the war. The text includes the complete manuscripts of two publications, each written by a participant in that conflict. The first is Emilio Aguinaldo's TRUE VERSION OF THE PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION. Aguinaldo was the leader of the Filipino revolution against Spain, turned leader of the "insurrection" against the Americans. The second is A SOLDIER IN THE PHILIPPINES, by Needom N. Freeman, a private in the U.S. Army. Also included to add insight are photographs and other images of the war in addition to political cartoons condemning the most serious atrocities and suggestions for further reading.