Today in Labor History February 15, 1898: The battleship USS Maine explode in Havana harbor, Cuba. 274 crew members died. Some US Navy officers believed that the explosion was caused by a fire in the coal bunker, not by a Spanish mine. However, spurred on by propaganda in the Yellow Press, the U.S. used the incident to justify declaring war on Spain. 385 U.S. soldiers and nearly 800 Spanish soldiers died in the Spanish-American war. And the U.S. gained Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines as de facto colonies from Spain. The war also precipitated U.S. involvement in the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War. Up to 6,000 Americans and 12,000-20,000 Filipinos died in that war. However, as many as 1 million Filipino civilians died from famine and disease during the genocidal U.S. occupation.

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