Collective Difference: The Pan-American Association of Composers

Remember the Maine, To Hell with Spain!) pressured President McKinley to ask
Congress on April 11 to send American forces to Cuba to demand Spanish withdrawal. A
peace treaty signed in August 1898 gave the United States control of the former Spanish
colonies of Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam. Called a “splendid little war” by
Secretary of State John Hay, the Spanish-American conflict trumpeted America’s entry
into world affairs and officially established the United States as an imperialist nation. Not
surprisingly, the Pan-Latin school of thought was strengthened by the U.S. war with
Spain in the decade that followed, and several prominent writers became very active in
promoting opposition to the United States. 8
From a U.S. perspective, however, the Spanish-American War has not yet been
fully considered as a site of cultural exchange with regard to the resulting era of political
Pan-Americanism. After demonstrating its new military might in 1898, the United States
proudly displayed its intentions to establish widespread inter-American trade in the Pan-
American Exposition held in Buffalo, New York, from May 1 through November 2,
1901. The official logo for the exposition, designed by artist Raphael Beck (1848-1957)
and used on stationery and commemorative coins, shows two women whose respective
garments overlay both North and South America. North America’s representative is
blonde and fair-skinned; she extends her hand down to Ms. South America, who is
noticeably darker in complexion. In some renderings, as in Figure I.1 below, a caption
reads, “To Unite the Americas in Bonds of Prosperity and Peace.”
Though familiarity bred through trade agreements may have provided one catalyst
for Pan-American activities, anxiety about the future of U.S. culture began to reinforce
the country’s interest in Latin America. By 1930 many U.S. citizens began to view
Western ideals of progress as chimerical. They also witnessed their once vast western
frontier rapidly being plowed over by mechanized agricultural implements. The imminent
loss of Nature’s/God’s seemingly limitless bounty that had gratified generations of U.S.
Americans in response to European urbanity caused many in the Anglo-American
cultural elite to revalue native and Hispanic cultures and religions as alternatives to a
8 These include Manuel Ugarte, Rufino Blanco-Fombona, José Enrique Rodó, and José Martí, among
others. Pan-Latin opposition to the U.S. was summarized in a novel that enjoyed enormous success in Latin
America, Rodó’s Ariel (1900).
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