The Spanish-American War dominated headlines in U.S. newspapers in 1898. Some of those newspapers – notably the ones owned by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer – played key roles in getting this nation into the war through what became known as “yellow journalism.” The one-sided conflict lasted just 10 weeks, and when it was over, the U.S. had driven Spain from the Western Hemisphere and taken control of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. The war also served notice that the U.S. was becoming a global power and set the stage for Theodore Roosevelt’s dynamic emergence as a national leader.

In other noteworthy news of 1898:

• The United States annexed Hawaii.
• The Travelers Insurance Company issued the first-ever automobile insurance policy in the United States.
• China leased Hong Kong to Britain for 99 years.
• French physicist Pierre Curie and his Polish-born wife Marie, also a scientist, discovered radium.
• Successful test runs of the first modern submarine were conducted off Staten Island, New York.
• Brooklyn merged with New York to form the present City of New York. The city was then divided into five boroughs.
• In France, Emile Zola was imprisoned for writing a letter accusing the government of wrongfully jailing Alfred Dreyfus because of anti-Semitism. Dreyfus and Zola were both later exonerated.
• 455 people died when a snow and ice storm swept across the United States in late November.
• The first amusement pier opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
• Edwin Prescott patented the roller coaster.

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