This A&E Special presents the Spanish-American War - a "splendid little war" that marked America's foray into modern geopolitics. The events both before and during the war serve as lenses through which to examine a period in U.S. history characterized by idealism and exuberance, on the one hand, and jingoism and opportunism on the other. This was a youthful America discovering its place on the world stage at the dawn of what was to become the American century. Key public figures of the era appear throughout, including Stephen Crane, Frederic Remington, Clara Barton, William Randolph Hearst, Joseph Pulitzer, Dr. Walter Reed, Admiral George Dewey, President McKinley, and Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt.