This episode discusses the Mexican intervention and significant changes in the Marine Corps. We conclude by traveling back to 1899 and introduce the relationship between the United States and Cuba.
Marine Corps Officers’ Physical Fitness - Executive Order No. 989 - December 9, 1908
EXECUTIVE ORDER
1. Officers of the United States Marine Corps, of whatever rank, will be examined physically and undergo the tests herein prescribed at least once in every two years; the time of such examinations to be designated by the Commandant of the Corps so as to interfere as little as possible with their regular duties, and the tests to be carried out in the United States between May first and July first, as the Commandant of the Corps may direct, and on foreign stations between December first and February first.
2. All field officers will be required to take a riding test of ninety miles, this distance to be covered in three days. Physical examinations before and after riding, and the riding tests, to be the same as those prescribed for the United States Army by General Orders, No. 79 (paragraph 3), War Department, May 14, 1908.
3. Line officers of the Marine Corps in the grade of captain or lieutenant will be required to walk fifty miles, this distance to be divided into three days, actual marching time, including rests, twenty hours. In battle, time is essential and ground may have to be covered on the run; if these officers are not equal to the average physical strength of their companies the men will be held back, resulting in unnecessary loss of life and probably defeat: Company officers will, therefore, be required, during one of the marching periods, to double-time two hundred yards, with a half minute’s rest; then three hundred yards, with one minute’s rest; and then complete the test in a two hundred yard dash, making in all seven hundred yards on the double-time, with one and one-half minutes’ rest. The physical examinations before and after the tests to be the same as provided for in paragraph 2 of this order.
4. The Commandant of the Marine Corps will be required to make such of the above tests as the Secretary of the Navy shall direct.
5. Field officers of the permanent staff of the Marine Corps who have arrived at an age and rank which renders it highly improbable that they will ever be assigned to any duty requiring participation in active military operations in the field, may, upon their own application, be excused from the physical test, but not from the physical examination, prescribed above. Such a request, however, if granted, will be regarded by the executive authority as conclusive reason for not selecting the applicant for any future promotion in volunteer rank, or for assignment, selection or promotion to a position involving participation in operations of the line of the Marine Corps, or in competition with officers of the line of the Marine Corps for any position.
/s/ THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The White House
Whereas the Congress of the United States of America, by an Act approved March 2, 1901, provided as follows:
Provided further, That in fulfillment of the declaration contained in the joint resolution approved April twentieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, entitled "For the recognition of the independence of the people of Cuba, demanding that the Government of Spain relinquish its authority and government in the island of Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters, and directing the President of the United States to use the land and naval forces of the United States to carry these resolutions into effect," the President is hereby authorized to "leave the government and control of the island of Cuba to its people" so soon as a government shall have been established in said island under a constitution which, either as a part thereof or in an ordinance appended thereto, shall define the future relations of the United States with Cuba, substantially as follows:
"I.-That the government of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty or other compact with any foreign power or powers which will impair or tend to impair the independence of Cuba, nor in any manner authorize or permit any foreign power or powers to obtain by colonization or for military or naval purposes or otherwise, lodgement in or control over any portion of said island."
"II. That said government shall not assume or contract any public debt, to pay the interest upon which, and to make reasonable sinking fund provision for the ultimate discharge of which, the ordinary revenues of the island, after defraying the current expenses of government shall be inadequate."
"III. That the government of Cuba consents that the United States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and for discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the treaty of Paris on the United States, now to be assumed and undertaken by the government of Cuba."
"IV. That all Acts of the United States in Cuba during its military occupancy thereof are ratified and validated, and all lawful rights acquired thereunder shall be maintained and protected."
"V. That the government of Cuba will execute, and as far as necessary extend, the plans already devised or other plans to be mutually agreed upon, for the sanitation of the cities of the island, to the end that a recurrence of epidemic and infectious diseases may be prevented, thereby assuring protection to the people and commerce of Cuba, as well as to the commerce of the southern ports of the United States and the people residing therein."
"VI. That the Isle of Pines shall be omitted from the proposed constitutional boundaries of Cuba, the title thereto being left to future adjustment by treaty."
"VII. That to enable the United States to maintain the independence
of Cuba, and to protect the people thereof, as well as for its own defense, the government of Cuba will sell or lease to the United States lands necessary for coaling or naval stations at certain specified points to be agreed upon with the President of the United States."
"VIII. That by way of further assurance the government of Cuba will embody the foregoing provisions in a permanent treaty with the United States."
Thanks to Audible, we can give you a free audiobook! I have included my book recommendation at the end of each episode, but don’t feel obligated to select my suggestion. This offer is available to any of the tens of thousands of audiobooks offered by Audible. Regardless if you decide to continue your membership with audible, this book is yours to keep forever.
References:
Butler, S. D. (2021). War Is a Racket (1st ed.). Round Table Press.
Ellsworth, H. A. (2014). One Hundred Eighty Landings of United States Marines, 1800–1934. Createspace Independent Pub.
Executive Order No. 969, Defining the Duties of the United States Marine Corps, 12 November 1908.
Executive Order No. 989, Marine Corps Officers’ Physical Fitness, 9 December 1908.
Goldsborough, C. W. (1824). The United States Naval Chronicle. Washington: James Wilson.
Logsheet of Historic Marine Corps Dates, Historical Branch, G-3 Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps.
Knox, D. W. (1936). A History of the United States Navy. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons.
Maclay, E. S. (2018). A History of American Privateers. Franklin Classics.
N. (2021). THE USMC SMALL WARS MANUAL 1940. Nafziger.
Nalty, B. C. (2013). The United States Marines In The War with Spain. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of Cuba Embodying the Provisions Defining Their Future Relations as Contained in the Act of Congress Approved March 2, 1901, signed 05/22/1903; General Records of the United States Government, 1778 - 2006, RG 11, National Archives.
U.S. Department of State. Right to Protect Citizens in Foreign Countries by Landing Forces, Memorandum of the Solicitor, 5 October 1912, Third Revised Edition with Supplemental Appendix up to 1933. Washington, 1934.