This telegram, in code from Assistant Secretary of the the Navy Theodore Roosevelt to Commodore George Dewey, Commander of the U.S. Asiatic Squadron, was sent without the knowledge of Secretary of the Navy Long. The telegram authorized Dewey to engage the Spanish fleet. On May 1, 1898, Dewey would destroy the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay.

The telegram describes the destruction of the USS Maine in Havana harbor on the evening of February 15, 1898, a pivotal event leading up to the Spanish-American War.

This letter, written by the Spanish Ambassador to the United States, Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, criticized American President William McKinley by calling him weak and concerned only with gaining the favor of the crowd. Publication of the letter helped generate public support for a war with Spain over the issue of independence for the Spanish [...]