How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States

Emilio Aguinaldo (1869-1964) was a Filipino politician and President of the Philippines. Aguinaldo is best known for fighting against Spain, and then against the US after the Spanish-American War (1898), for the independence of the Philippines.

Aguinaldo was part Chinese and part Tagalog. He was born on the Luzon Island of the Philippines. He became mayor of Cavite Viejo (Kawit) in 1896. He also fought against Spanish control of the Philippines as a member of the Katipunan organization. Filipinos declared independence in 1898 with Aguinaldo hoping to lead the country. However, Spain lost the Spanish-American War to the US, and the US purchased the Philippines. In 1899, the Malolos Constitution declared the Philippines a republic, and Aguinaldo was elected as the country’s president. The Philippine-American War began that same year, and insurgency in the south lasted until 1913. Aguinaldo was captured and took an oath of allegiance to the US.

When the Philippines became a commonwealth, Aguinaldo attempted to run for president in 1935, but did not win. With Japan’s invasion in 1941, he collaborated with the Japanese, who used him in their war propaganda. In 1945, with the US return to the Philippines, Aguinaldo was arrested but later released through amnesty. In 1946, the Philippines gained independence from the United States. In 1950, Aguinaldo became a member of the Council of State. He remained a pro-independence nationalist throughout his entire life.

Pedro Albizu Campos (1891-1965) was a Puerto Rican nationalist, leader of the Puerto Rican independence movement, and attorney. Albizu Campos grew up impoverished in Ponce, Puerto Rico. He earned a scholarship to attend the University of Vermont to study engineering and chemistry in 1912. He was able to transfer to Harvard, majoring in literature and chemistry. He was the first Puerto Rican to graduate from Harvard. He was in the US Army during World War I, where he served in a segregated African American unit—he was classified as Black despite his multiracial, part Basque, and part African background. He experienced significant racism at the time which shaped his subsequent views.

He returned home and focused on attainig independence for Puerto Rico, quickly rising through the ranks of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. In 1937, Albizu received a 10-year federal prison sentence in Atlanta for his links to the assassination of the area police chief. Free from prison, he returned to advocacy for Puerto Rican independence and was arrested again in 1950 for protesting Puerto Rico’s commonwealth status and as a suspected link to an attempted assassination of President Harry Truman. Pardoned from his 80-year sentence by Governor Luis Muñoz Marin in 1953, Albizu Campus returned to prison a year later for his alleged support for the attack on the US House of Representatives. Pardoned by Muñoz Marin in 1964, Albizu died a year later.

Daniel Boone (1734-1820) was an American pioneer who is best known for his frontier drive through the Cumberland Gap, a pass through the Appalachian Mountains.

Born to an English Quaker family, Boone grew up in North Carolina. He was able to read and write without much formal education and spent much of his time on outdoor pursuits like hunting and trapping. Boone traveled extensively, reaching as far as southern Florida.

In 1773, Boone took several people, including his family, to Kentucky. However, the Cherokees pushed the settlers back, and Boone’s son James was killed. Two years later, Boone and several other people worked as trailblazers for the Transylvania Company in the Appalachian Mountains’ Cumberland Gap. This venture, named Boonesborough, was likely the first permanent settlement in Kentucky. In 1778, Boone was first captured by the Shawnee but then adopted by their chief, Blackfish. After the American Revolution, Boone was employed surveying the Ohio River. He lived in different places, including Missouri in Louisiana Territory. He became a symbol of America’s westward expansion.

Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) was a US General of the Army and field marshal in the Philippine Army. He is best known as one of the key commanders in the Asia-Pacific war theater during World War II and the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP) in Japan.

Douglas McArthur was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, to a military family. His father, Arthur MacArthur, went on to become the military governor-general of the Philippines during the American occupation in 1900-1901. Douglas received his education at the West Point Military Academy, graduating in 1903. MacArthur took part in occupying Veracruz, Mexico in 1914. Earning the rank of general by 1930, MacArthur was the Chief of Staff of the Army until 1935. He then retired from the army and served as a military advisor in the Philippines. In July 1941, MacArthur returned to active duty, becoming one of the key commanders in the Asia-Pacific theater. He became General of the Army in 1944 and Commander of the US Army Forces in the Pacific theater shortly afterward. He liberated the Philippines from the Japanese forces in 1945.

MacArthur wielded significant personal power as the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers during the American occupation of Japan, which began in 1945. Between 1950 and 1951, he was the Commander of the United Nations Command in the Korean War (1950-1953) until his removal by President Harry Truman for perceived political insubordination. Returning to the US after many years abroad, MacArthur was initially popular. However, attempts to nominate him for Presidency by the Republicans failed. He became chairman of the board for Remington Rand. MacArthur died in Washington, DC in 1964.

Theodore (“Teddy”) Roosevelt (1858-1919) was the 26th American President. He was in office between 1901 and 1909. Roosevelt popularized the term “America” to refer to the United States and was the country’s leader during a period of colonial expansion.

Prior to becoming president, Roosevelt was the Civil Service Commissioner and then the Governor of New York state. Later, he became President William McKinley’s Vice President. In 1898, Roosevelt participated in the Spanish-American War—a major turning point for American imperialism—in the US Army. The US annexed the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam. When McKinley was assassinated in September 1901, Roosevelt replaced him as President.

The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (1904) advocated intervention in Latin American affairs, including military interventions, to protect US economic interests in the regions. The Corollary defined American foreign policy for decades to come. In 1905, Roosevelt earned the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering an agreement between Japan and Russia—the Treaty of Portsmouth—in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), marking the growing importance of the US internationally.