History
The Short Story
From the time Christopher Columbus discovered the new world and Vasco Nunez de Balboa first sighted the Pacific Ocean, nations around the globe envisioned severing the American continents to create a shorter route between East and West.
The Elevator Speech
Although plans were developed and surveys of various routes were made by several countries, it was France that embarked on the first serious effort to build a canal. That undertaking, however, proved to be costly, both in money and human lives, and the project was abandoned in the late 19th century.
Through the vision and leadership of President Theodore Roosevelt, the United States took over where the French left off and fought through difficult conditions to bring the great task to successful completion. During his visit to Panama in 1906 to inspect the Canal’s progress, President Roosevelt stated in his address to the Canal workforce:
“This is one of the great works of the world. It is greater work than you, at the moment realize…. So you men here, in the future, each man of you, will have the right to feel, if he has done his duty and a little more than his duty right up to the handle in the work here on the Isthmus, that he has made his country his debtor; that he has done more than his full share in adding renown to the nation under whose flag this canal is being built.”
The construction of the Canal was made possible by the strong leadership of American engineers and the determination of a young, but proud nation to venture where others could not go. By conquering mountains and impenetrable jungle; controlling malaria, yellow fever and other diseases and overcoming the heat and humidity of tropical Panama, the United States was able to open a “Path Between the Seas” to world shipping on August 15, 1914.
During its stewardship of the waterway the United States operated and maintained the Canal safely, efficiently and economically and provided for its defense. Partnering with the Republic of Panama during a 20-year transition period, the United States actively prepared the Canal’s host country for its future management and operation in the 20th Century.
The United States’ responsibility, and with it the American Era of the Panama Canal, concluded at noon, December 31, 1999, with the seamless transfer of control to Panama, thus solidifying the commitment of both countries to keep the Canal neutral and provide uninterrupted passage to ships of all the nations of the world.