Neptune's Needle

Governor of Massachusetts, congressman, and secretary of the navy

In early 1897 President-elect William McKinley offered Long a position in his cabinet. Possessing similar kindly dispositions, they had become close friends while serving in Congress together in the 1880s. Long selected the position of secretary of the navy. Lodge [a senator from Massachusetts], secure[d] the appointment of Theodore Roosevelt, his close friend, as assistant secretary of the navy,

Initially Long accepted Roosevelt as the best man for the job. A year later Long, who genuinely liked Roosevelt, reached a different conclusion. After the destruction of the Maine in Havana Harbor in mid-February, Long, who was hoping for a peaceful solution to the crisis and was exhausted by the pressure of events, went home on the afternoon of the 25th to rest. Roosevelt, in charge as acting secretary, sent off various instructions, including one to Commodore George Dewey to coal up and be ready for offensive actions in the Philippines. Returning to his office the next day, Long wrote in his journal that "Roosevelt, in his precipitate way, has come very near causing more of an explosion than happened to the Maine" and had "gone at things like a bull in a china shop." While Long felt Roosevelt "means to be thoroughly loyal," his actions had been "most discourteous to me, because it suggests that there had been a lack of attention, which he was supplying" (Margaret Long, pp. 216-17).

Although Roosevelt resigned his position a few months later and found military glory in Cuba, his shadow and the events of 25 February have loomed large over Long's reputation. By the 1930s some scholars concluded that the McKinley administration had been the victim of a "large policy," engineered by Lodge and Roosevelt, to bring the Philippines and other possessions within the American orbit. More recent scholarship, however, has deemphasized the role of Roosevelt and noted that the orders of 25 February reflected a war plan developed earlier envisioning only the temporary retention of Manila. What began as a military operation against the Spanish squadron in the Philippines, however, soon became a responsibility that the administration was unable or unwilling to relinquish. Long became a reluctant expansionist.

Indeed, Long compiled a credible record as secretary of the navy. By the time the war concluded in August 1898, Long had purchased over one hundred vessels, chartered others, and saw Congress authorize a doubling of enlisted strength. In 1897 the U.S. Navy ranked sixth, but by the time Long left office, the United States was the fourth rated naval power in the world. During his tenure, massive dry docks had been constructed capable of handling the navy's largest ships, and there was significant new construction at the Naval Academy. Long settled a controversy with domestic manufacturers over the price of armored plate. The navy made significant technological advances; an expanded use of electricity both on ship and on shore, the utilization of wireless telegraphy, and the adoption of submarines.

Long remained active after leaving Washington. In 1903 he published a two-volume work, The New American Navy. Although he was careful to praise the accomplishments of his predecessor and his own bureau chiefs, he took credit for the appointment of Dewey as commander of the Asiatic Squadron, noted his own role in sending instructions to Dewey in April 1898, and defended his position in the Schley-Sampson controversy.

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Peter Richards