The American Era: Operation Phase
The American Era: Operation Phase
1914
George Goethals appointed first Governor of Panama Canal Zone. Col. William Gorgas, MD, resigns his post in Panama Canal Zone and leaves for a brief stint in South Africa to fight the surge of pneumonia among gold mine workers. He is later appointed Surgeon General of the United States from 1914-1919 during World War I.
1915
Total tonnage of ships transiting the canal is around 5,000,000 and tolls totals approximately. $4,000,000.
Avalanche at Gaillard Cut closes the canal for seven months.
1919
American armada of 33 ships returning from the war zone transits the canal to the Pacific, including seven destroyers and nine battleships ships, fulfilling the vision of Theodore Roosevelt.
1924
More than 5,000 ships a year transit the canal, almost equal to the number of ships transiting the Suez Canal.
1925
Kuna Indians revolt in Panama in an effort to resist Panamanian assimilation.
1928
Howard Air Force Base constructed by the US.
Richard Halliburton swims the length of the canal marking the lowest toll charged to transit the canal at 36 cents.
George Goethals, Chief Engineer and later the first Governor of Panama, dies and is given an elaborate funeral at West Point.
1934
President Franklin Roosevelt travels through the Panama Canal.
1939
U.S. begins construction on a third set of locks over concern of Japanese bombing during World War II. They are never completed, but will be later used in the Panamanian canal expansion project.
1938
President Roosevelt enunciates the “Good Neighbor Policy” and calls the Pan American Peace Conference. Discussions on Panama sovereignty ensue.
1939
Panama ceases to be US protectorate when the US Senate passes the Hull-Alfaro treaty.
More than 7,000 ships transit the canal annually.
1940
Plebiscite in Panama to renegotiate the Hay-Bunau-Varilla treaty with the US.
1948
10,000 Panamanians protest opposition to military bases on Panamanian soil. By 1948, under President Harry Truman, the United States evacuates all occupied bases and sites outside the Canal Zone. Panama later rescinds and allows bases to have a 15 year lease in 1955.
1956
President Eisenhower arrives in Panama for the First Summit of the Americas.
1962
President Kennedy proposes the Alliance for Progress in Latin America which would enable Panama to share in resources to raise living standards and advance social and economic development, something that had been unavailable to Panama in the 1950s.
1964
When President Lyndon Johnson is President, anti-U.S. rioting breaks out in the Panama Canal Zone, resulting in the deaths of 21 Panamanians and three U.S. soldiers. Violent clashes between Panamanians and American soldiers begin when U.S. students attempt to raise the American flag at the Canal Zone high school. An order banning the flying of any flags in front of Canal Zone schools had been issued on December 30, 1963, because of Panamanian sensitivity to U.S. control of the Zone. These events lead to attempts to renegotiate the Canal Zone’s status.
Panama breaks ties with the U.S. and demands a revision of the canal treaty.
1966
Night lighting added to the Panama Canal and nighttime transits inaugurated.
1970
Transits of ships through the canal exceed 15,000 a year. Tonnage more than 100,000,000 and tolls exceed $140,000,000.
1973-1974
The United States renews negotiations on a just and equitable agreement between the two countries under President Nixon and continues negotiations under President Ford.
1974
Dirt slide dumps 1,000,000 cubic yards into Gaillard Cut.
1992
Gaillard Cut widening program begins.
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