The United States came into possession of the Philippines in the aftermath of the Spanish- American War, fought in 1898 from April 21 to August 13. That war was something of an anomaly among American conflicts. In some ways it had begun as a struggle over Cuba—but a struggle that had its origins in the American press. Two competing New York papers, one owned by William Randolph Hearst and the other by Joseph Pulitzer, began publishing stories about the ongoing Cuban independence movement against Spain. Many of the stories were pure fiction, but they served their purpose: they won more subscribers for the two papers. They also stirred up public opinion across the country, priming the United States for a war it did not have to fight. When the U.S. battleship Maine blew up in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, the event gave a pretext for pro-war politicians (such as Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt) to declare an all-out war against Spain.