The correct answer to this open question is the following.
Although there are no options attached, we can say the following.
People in Tampa asked President McKinley to send soldiers for protection. Do you think the city was really in danger?
No, really no. The city was not really in imminent danger, although people who lived in Tampa Bay had their reasons to be afraid.
We are talking about the times of the Spanish-American War in 1898. The US military had decided to establish the port of Tampa Bay as the official port of embarkation for the navy troops that were sent to the Island of Cuba to fight in the war against the Spanish Navy. That is why Tampa residents felt they were in danger of a possible attack from the Spanish Navy.