What was the name of the Spanish diplomat whose insulting letter about President McKinley influenced the war?

The Spanish diplomat was Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, whose insulting letter about President William McKinley helped inflame tensions before the Spanish-American War.

Dupuy de Lôme was Spain’s ambassador to the United States. In a private letter to Spanish politician José Canalejas, he described McKinley in deeply unflattering terms and criticized his diplomacy, portraying him as weak and overly concerned with public opinion.

Cuban revolutionaries intercepted the letter and passed it to the American press. The New York Journal published it on February 9, 1898, under the sensational headline “Worst Insult to the United States in Its History.” The publication triggered public outrage and increased anti-Spanish feeling, although it was one factor among several rather than the sole cause of war.

The scandal forced Dupuy de Lôme to resign as ambassador. The explosion of USS Maine in Havana Harbor less than a week later became an even more powerful rallying point for intervention. Congress declared war on Spain in April 1898.