Publication Date

Spring 5-8-2022

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Jacobsen Gidaszewski, Trude

Degree Name

B.A. (Bachelor of Arts)

Department

Department of History

Abstract

Following the end of the Spanish-American War the United States gained several overseas territories which enabled them to extend their influence overseas. However, before taking on more direct imperialist actions, the United States would quickly be drawn into it a colonial conflict with its new holdings in the Philippines. While the conflict itself is not widely recognized by the contemporary American public it left several impressions upon the United States during the course of the conflict. One of the overlooked influences that would arise after the conflict would come from the veterans who served during the war. Veterans of the Philippine-American War, and its drawn-out insurrection, were vital members of a new pool of veterans returning to the public sphere. As my research details, through their veteran organizations, veterans would, both actively and inadvertently, help maintain public support for pro-imperialist policies proposed and sustained in the early Twentieth Century by the United States government. The support and process the United States government developed with the veteran organizations would be quickly dismantled following the Great Depression of 1929 and the Bonus Army March of 1932.

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