PANAMA CANAL BACK IN THE NEWS. A HISTORY WITH CARTOONS

 

A MAN, A PLAN, A CANAL -- PANAMA!

Back in the day, every schoolkid knew this palindrome. The US, and Theodore Roosevelt, the man with a plan, specifically, were associated with a Wonder of the Modern World, the Panama Canal. It looks like the Canal will once again dominate the news... so we present a capsule history of the Canal's construction... with some contemporary cartoons .

One of America's forgotten cartooning greats was W A Carson of the Utica (NY) Saturday Globe. For decades he drew front-page editorial and political cartoons, always in color. Here he commemorated Roosevelt's trip to Panama in 1906 to inspect progress on the Canal's construction.

After the victory in the Spanish-American War, much of the Old World assumed that America would retain Cuba as a possession. Yet Theodore Roosevelt initiated straightforward initiatives to assist the island nation toward independence.

In the Caribbean basin, in Central and South America, there seemingly were local revolutions within countries and wars between countries; centuries-old turmoil. But European powers were being drawn into them at the turn of the century, giving rise to previously unfamiliar aspects. Regional flash-points tempted Old World powers to test the mettle of the United States as an emerging world power. Also, Latin countries were growing ever more irresponsible in international trade, as many of them defaulted on debts and violated trade and customs rules with European powers, chiefly England and Germany.

To promote statecraft in the hemisphere, and to keep European nations from fishing in troubled waters, TR established what came to be known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. This stated basically that America would intervene to schedule debt payments of rogue nations to outside powers, and would perform other such acts to promote regional order and national responsibility.

Many people opposed Uncle Sam acting as a hemispheric policeman, especially the dictators and military strongmen whose schemes were thus thwarted. These interventions were generally bloodless, and were accompanied by no-nonsense diplomacy explained with no ambiguities.

In the case of the Panama Canal, Theodore Roosevelt did not restrict himself to speaking softly; he spoke as required, acted as he saw the need, and took responsibility as he should.

A canal through Panama, joining the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, saving weeks and vast distances on the seas (some of them dangerous), had been dreamed of for centuries. The construction of a canal through the relatively narrow strip of land connecting North and South America had actually been attempted in the 1870s and abandoned by the French, after expenditure of a quarter-billion dollars and substantial numbers of deaths from yellow fever and malaria.

In the United States, the concept of an isthmian canal was not new. Before Roosevelt took office, the United States had negotiated with both Nicaragua and Colombia, and Congress had appropriated funds for possible leases of land.

Roosevelt needed no convincing. He realized the canal would be beneficial to commercial shipping, private sea travel, and potential military uses. But he also felt that building an isthmian canal was a historical imperative. TR wrote that “building of the canal through Panama will rank in kind … with the Louisiana Purchase and the Annexation of Texas.”

A cartoon by Victor Gillam in JUDGE Magazine, when Nicaragua was still under consideration as the best route for a "Path Between the Seas." Uncle Sam carries symbols of commerce, defense, and colonies, while ships gather in the Caribbean, and world powers press their arguments for a canal too.

The actual region (Panama, Columbia) in which the canal was to be built was in a constant state of unrest. The area's countries were small, with often-shifting borders; they dealt with deadly rivalries, ethnic and tribal competition, corruption, uncountable government overthrows, revolutions, and counter-revolutions. Colombia (and Nicaragua before it, in similar fashion) frustrated U.S. diplomats, who felt that the Central Americans seldom negotiated in good faith, and continually solicited bribes.

In 1905 a faction within a province of Colombia rebelled yet again, and declared independence as the Republic of Panama. The United States recognized the new republic, and immediately concluded a treaty to lease land and build a canal through the middle of that new country.

It is not clear whether TR was aware of back-channel machinations between Panamanians, French representatives of the previous leaseholders, and nation-building brokers working, in effect, on commission; or that many of the diplomatic details of Panama’s independence occurred in a New York hotel room, not in the jungles of Central America. In any event these would have been nothing more than details to TR at that moment.

A US Navy ship sent near Colombian waters, ostensibly to protect Americans in the Panamanian province, doubtlessly influenced events. What was important was that a new nation had achieved its independence, and America—indeed, the world—was to have a significantly important canal.

Joseph Keppler Jr of PUCK Magazine drew "Roosevelt's Rough Diggers" -- depicting the energetic President and his men with shovels at the ready.

TR viewed the Panama Canal as the most important achievement of his administration. To naysayers of his actions and rationale, he was unapologetic: “I took the Isthmus, started the Canal, and then let Congress, not to debate the Canal, but to debate me.”

An unprecedented achievement then took place: in less than a decade, the Americans cleared land and jungles and dug across a 50-mile wide swath of resistant land; they moved mechanical devices of mammoth proportions and set them in place; and they developed many important innovations in the process (as would happen in America’s later space program). Cuba redux: deadly diseases traditionally considered incurable were attacked and conquered.

Today the Canal Zone is virtually free from yellow fever and malaria. Roosevelt worked through a few false starts and consultations, enacting solutions that would ensure the construction’s success. For instance, he decided on a system of locks instead of a sea-level approach, and he appointed directors with authority and competence, men like Colonel George W. Goethals of the Army Corps of Engineers; and doctors Walter Reed and William Gorgas.

The workers used massive bulldozers and cranes, dynamite and portable double-track railroad lines. They established workers’ colonies with mosquito-netted buildings, social events, and even a newspaper. Construction proceeded, foot by grueling foot. Rusting equipment from previous failed endeavors littered the landscape where they worked, but the Panama Canal opened two years ahead of schedule. Ironically—or significantly (since military contingencies were concerns important to Roosevelt)—it commenced operations in August 1914, the same month that World War I began.

In 1906, Theodore Roosevelt became the first president ever to leave U.S. soil while in office. He sailed to Panama to inspect progress on his pet project. Of course, he was not content merely to observe the progress. Ever the exuberant boy, TR was caught by photographers in the operator’s seat of a gargantuan steam shovel.

The popular Theodore Roosevelt was celebrated in cartoons -- probably more often than any president before or since -- and toys, games, cards, and merchandise. Here, a commemorative plate of the time depicted TR watching iconic Teddy Bears digging the Canal in Panama.

More than a million vessels have passed through the Panama Canal since it opened. In every respect it is one of the wonders of the world’s mechanical age. As TR predicted, his decision to move forward in building the canal was debated while the project itself proceeded... but he held firm.

This astounding personal achievement of Theodore Roosevelt’s never has been sufficiently recognized. It is unlikely that many other presidents could have managed the events and overseen such a bold project. Under his oversight, the jungles of Panama were transformed, a mechanical marvel was realized, ahead of schedule, without cost over-runs, corruption, or scandal. At the same time, the Americans conquered diseases in the region, benefitted maritime trade, and confirmed the primacy of the United States.

The late President Carter "sold" the Canal to the government of Panama for one dollar, ahead of the treaty's schedule. Today China has been outsourced to operate the locks, anyway the two ocean terminuses. And American shipping is sometimes charged triple that of other countries. The Panama Canal seems destined to be in the news again. But history books cannot change the role of Theodore Roosevelt... especially when cartoonist were there to document it all!

A cartoon in JUDGE Magazine about the time the Canal opened to world shipping and sailing in 1914. "A design for the lighthouses at the entrances to the Panama Canal."