Reforming the Heart of Darkness On July 4, celebrated as Filipino-American Friendship Day in the Philippines, the Philippine Star ran an editorial that recognized Mark Twain as a true friend of the Philippines. Highlighting one of the truly outstanding examples of Filipino-American friendship and solidarity, the monument proposed by the Philippine Star would be a fitting memorial, especially if it was reciprocated in the United States. While the Philippine Star was recommending a monument to Mark Twain as a symbol of Filipino-American friendship, University of the Philippines Professor Roland G. Simbulan, chairperson of the Nuclear Free Philippines Coalition, was calling for an official apology from the United States for the conquest of the Philippines. Such an apology would not be without precedent. In 1993 President Clinton issued an apology for the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy during the centennial of that event.
Apologies help to clear the air and mark transitions towards better relationships.
The United States has nothing to lose by issuing an apology and the centennial of the start of the war would be an appropriate time for it. This is something that Mark Twain would undoubtedly support if he were alive today. The Moro Massacre, the subject of Mark Twain's autobiographical dictations of March 12-14, 1906. Typically dated from 1964 to 1975, the war in Vietnam is widely thought to be the longest war in United States history. But spanning sixteen years, from 1899 to 1914, the Philippine-American War lasted almost half again as long.