Tomás Estrada Palma (c. July 6, 1832 – November 4, 1908) was a Cuban politician, the president of the Cuban Republican in Arms during the Ten Years' War, and the first President of Cuba, between May 20, 1902, and September 28, 1906. His collateral career as a New York City area educator and writer enabled Estrada Palma to create pro-Cuban literature aimed at gaining sympathy, assistance and publicity. He was eventually successful in garnering the attention of influential Americans. He was an early and persistent voice calling for the United States to intervene in Cuba on humanitarian grounds. During his presidency his major accomplishments include improving Cuba's infrastructure, communication, and public health. He is remembered in Cuba for allowing the enactment of the Platt Amendment, which ensured American political and economic dominance over Cuba. Personal and early life He was born in Bayamo, Spanish Cuba, around July 6, 1832, to Dr. Andrés María Estrada y Oduardo and Madam María Candelaria Palma Tamayo. His exact birth date is not known because of a fire in Bayamo Town Hall on January 19, 1869, that destroyed his birth records. An article in Bohemia magazine issued October 4, 1944 indicates that his baptism document, contained in his University of Havana file, shows of a birth date of July 6, 1832. His paternal grandfather was Dr. Manuel José de Estrada, well-known professional in the region of Cauto, Cuba (current-day Bayamo). He was given his name "Tomás" in honor of his maternal grandfather, Don Tomás de Palma, a rich landowner. What is known about his early life is his schooling in the private school of Toribio Hernández, Havana, and his attendance in the University of Havana in which he received a philosophy degree on July 19, 1854. He was taken out of the roster in the University of Seville on January 29 in 1857 for excessive absences. He withdrew on June 29, 1857, of the same year for personal reasons. On May 15, 1881, he married Genoveva Guardiola Arbizú (1854–1926), daughter of General José Santos Guardiola, President of Honduras, Estrada Palma and his wife had six children. He was regarded as a courteous man of a few words. It is also said that Estrada Palma had great tenacity. Early career From 1857 to 1868, he returned to Bayamo and became an administrator and a local teacher. He continued to teach in Honduras and Orange County, New