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The United States and Cuba Celebrate

an Anniversary

AT A joint session of Congress on April 19, 1948, the United States observed with colorful ceremony the 50th anniversary of the joint resolution recognizing Cuba's right to independence. Two days after passage of the resolution the United States declared war on Spain, and its troops joined Cuban soldiers in the conflict.

Many government officials and ambassadors of foreign governments were present at the capitol, and the galleries were crowded, as President Truman and Dr.

1 WHEREAS the abhorrent conditions which have existed for more than three years in the Island of Cuba, so near our own borders, have shocked the moral sense of the people of the United States, have been a disgrace to Christian civilization, culminating, as they have, in the destruction of a United States battle ship, with two hundred and sixty-six of its officers and crew, while on a friendly visit in the harbor of Havana, and can not longer be endured, as has been set forth by the President of the United States in his message to Congress of April eleventh, eighteen hundred and ninetyeight, upon which the action of Congress was invited: Therefore,

RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

First. That the people of the Island of Cuba are, and of right ought to be, free and independent.

Second. That it is the duty of the United States to demand, and the Government of the United States does hereby demand, that the Government of Spain at once relinquish its authority and government in the Island of Cuba and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters.

Third. That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of the United States, and to call into the actual service of the United States the militia of the several States, to such extent as may be necessary to carry these resolutions into effect.

Fourth. That the United States hereby disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said Island except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determination, when that is accomplished, to leave the government and control of the Island to its people.

Guillermo Belt, the Cuban Ambassador to the United States and member of the Governing Board of the Pan American Union, recalled half a century of friendship between their nations.

The chamber was banked with red, white, and blue flowers-the colors of both Cuba and the United States-and a color guard presented the flags of the two. countries as a drum and bugle corps sounded ruffles and flourishes. Following the invocation, the red-coated United States Marine Corps Band orchestra played a medley of songs from the SpanishAmerican War period, and the Cuban national anthem was sung.

In his address the President reviewed the circumstances that preceded the outbreak of war. He said in part: "The struggle for Cuban independence, like every other effort of its kind, was fraught with hardship and disappointment. But the unconquerable, determination of the Cuban people to win freedom overcame all obstacles. . . . Americans watched with admiration the beginning of the final struggle for independence led by José Martí and his valiant compatriots, Gómez, Maceo, and García. Our people made increasingly plain their desire to assist the Cuban patriots. . . . This joint resolution, the foundation upon which our relations with the Cuban Republic are based, brought the military and naval forces of the United States into the conflict at the side of the Cuban patriots. . . On August 12, Spain signed the protocol of peace and agreed to give up Cuba and withdraw her forces. The dream of José Martí became at last a glorious reality."

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