The Annexation of Hawaii

The Saint Paul Globe, 1897

It seems that some of my assumptions about Hawaii's annexation aren't entirely true. I was always under the impression that a group of sugar barons pressured the US government into annexing the island chain and that was that. While it's certainly possible to spin the story into such an oversimplification, it misses a lot of what was going on.

It is true that there were several planters on the islands making big money selling sugar to the United States. The US government was even on good terms with Hawaii and had economic treaties to ensure unhindered sugar trade. However, the States had several sources of sugar, so losing Hawaii as a trade partner would not be catastrophic to the industry.

Obviously, the sugar planters wanted to ensure that they held sway in the Hawaiian government in order to continue growing their profits. When the queen at the time, Lili'uokalani, made a move to secure more power for the crown, the planters saw this as a cause for alarm.

Without orders from the United States, the group of influential, pro-annexation planters had US marines march from the coast to the royal palace and demand the creation of a new constitution that further limited royal power. I felt like this was something important. It's true that these Americans pushed for more American power in Hawaii, but it was not the direct will of the US government. It was a group of independent individuals.

In fact, the president did not approve. He sent a trusted adviser to the islands to ascertain the situation. The adviser concluded, in the so-called Blount Report, that the planters were a bunch of jerks that did not act in the best interest of the Hawaiian people (I'm paraphrasing, by the way).

Meanwhile, the now declawed queen attempted to stage a military overthrow. She gathered weapons and freedom fighters from around the islands, but was eventually discovered by the ruling junta's spies. She was arrested, tried, and sentenced to house arrest. Thus, the monarchy was effectively and completely destroyed.

President Cleveland did what he could to stall any annexation plans. In 1897, he was replaced with President McKinley, who eventually agreed to Hawaii's annexation. However, it had nothing to do with sugar, the currently ruling junta, nor to end the constant native petitions for independence. The annexation was signed primarily to keep the growing Japanese power from taking the island chain and having a strategic advantage in the Pacific.

In 1898, the Hawaiian flag was lowered and officially replaced with that of the United States.

Sources:
"Captive Paradise" - James L. Haley

Post-Bomb Secrecy Bonanza

It seems that a lot of the super secret government organizations and procedures that are all the rage nowadays saw their start shortly after the successful deployment of the atomic bomb. The bomb was, well, the bomb-diggity and gave the US a major upper hand in global diplomacy. At least, for a little while. In an effort to ensure this advantage, the government established several new forms of secrecy to keep the enemy always one step behind. Three new measures that are immediately recognizable are as follows:

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

In 1947, the National Security Act was signed by President Truman. One of the things it established was the National Security Council, an intelligence organization for coordinating foreign and domestic policy in the Executive Branch. The operational branch of this organization is the CIA. 

National Security Agency (NSA)

Another executive order, at the behest of the National Security Council, created the NSA on 1952 Nov 4. Its existence was labeled as classified and not acknowledged for another five years. (This was all the book told me, so I did a little further digging to add some meat to this paragraph.) Originally, the various pre-NSA organizations had a messy chain of command. The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, and the Director of Central Intelligence were given the task of of reorganizing these separate groups. The decision was made to bring them together and make them directly subordinate to the Secretary of Defense. It became official on 1952 Oct 24 with a revision to NSCIB No. 9. 

Classified information

Anyone that has ever worked for the US government is probably aware of its information sensitivity scale. This marks information from Confidential, Secret, or all the way up to Top Secret (nowadays, there are even some in between). This came to be via Executive Order 10501, signed by President Eisenhower on 1953 Nov 5. 

Sources:

"The Bomb" - Sidney Lens

"The Early History of NSA" - George F. Howe

Truman with Newsmen