Orville H. Platt in The Spanish-American War

Orville H. Platt in The Spanish-American War

Orville H. Platt (1827–1905) was a Republican senator from Connecticut who's best known for authoring the 1901 amendment that established the conditions for American withdrawal from Cuba.

Under Senator Platt, Congress approved an amendment—commonly referred to as the Platt Amendment—which stipulated the conditions for U.S. troop removal from Cuba. It stated that the U.S. government would hold the right to intervene in Cuban affairs to maintain peace. It also required the Cuban government to lease military bases to the United States and limited Cuban authority in negotiating treaties with other nations. 

The policy would ultimately instill in Cuba a crippling dependency on the U.S.