The Panama Canal

The theme for each year’s Harry and Bernice Gockel International symposium is based on some news event occurring in the future, but within the calendar year of the Symposium.

The impetus for this year’s Symposium is the midnight December 31, 1999, transfer of control of the Panama Canal from the United States to the Panamanian government. It is an event which is likely to hold momentous importance in the Western Hemisphere and in the relations the United States has with the nations of Central and South America. The handover is supposedly the final step in a transition which has been occurring over the past 20 years, since the 1978 ratification by the United States Senate of two treaties known as the Carter-Torrijos Treaties.

That ratification occurred with only one vote to spare. It was, for some Americans, President Jimmy Carter’s most significant legislative accomplishment. For others it was a moment of shame and the subject of intense criticism and scorn despite the fact that President Carter’s four immediate predecessors had endorsed the essence of the treaties.

For those opposed to the treaties, the Panama Canal was a symbol of American power, and the debate of giving it up was occurring too soon after the American experience in Vietnam. The thought of surrendering control of the Canal meant for those opposed that an anti-Vietnam spirit was leading now to a surrender of authority and a loss of face in another part of the world. For those favoring the treaties, the handover meant giving to the Panamanians the power of self-government over their own territory and allowing Panama to be freed from any American control.

The treaties specify that the United States must transfer operations of the Canal to Panama and terminate United States military presence by December 31, 1999, some 96 years after the original treaty between the Republic of Panama and the United States was signed. It was 1903, and the Panama Canal Treaty allowed the United States to build and operate a canal connecting the Pacific Ocean with the Caribbean Sea through the Isthmus of Panama. The Treaty granted the United States the use, occupation, and control of a Canal Zone, approximately 10 miles wide, in which the United States would possess full sovereign rights. In return, the United States guaranteed the independence of Panama and agreed to pay the republic 10 million dollars, as well as an annuity of $250,000, which each year increased at a rate far beyond that of inflation. The operating authority was known as the U.S. Panama Canal Commission.

The construction of the Canal is often called one of the awe-inspiring achievements of the world and a great example of peaceful endeavors by nations who choose to work together. One writer has said that very few human endeavors have ever conceived to change the face of the planet as did the building of the Canal. Tyler Jones in “The Panama Canal: A Brief History” writes that before the Canal such projects “had only managed to build up or tear down existing geographical features—the pyramids of Egypt, the Great Wall of China, the trans-continental railroad—but nothing had ever even aspired to accomplish something so incredulous as splitting the continents.”

Christopher Columbus had vainly searched for a passage through the land that would lead him to the Indies where treasures awaited. Charles I of Spain, in 1534, ordered the first survey of a proposed canal route through the Isthmus of Panama. Emperor Napoleon III of France in the 1860s toyed with the idea of building a canal in the then French-controlled land. It was a few years later that an individual named Ferdinand de Lesseps, “the hero of Suez” and the most important foreigner involved with Egypt’s Suez Canal, felt it was, indeed, time for a French-owned canal at Panama, by now a republic of Colombia.

Lesseps' success at Suez made him supremely confident that a canal at Panama would be no different. He formed a company—the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique—and sold public stock to raise 400 million francs. But the sales fell short, and he managed to raise only 30 million francs.

Nevertheless, he proceeded, and in 1882 work began along the route of the 1855 Panama Railroad. Lesseps was in his 70s. Short of money, Lesseps had to return often to his countrymen for additional financial support. He once even held a lottery to raise money. Then there was disease in the forms of yellow fever and malaria, and hundreds or workmen died or were hospitalized.

Writes Jones: “The rocky ground of the formerly volcanic area proved to be too much for the French steam shovels and dredges, and headway was made only when a plan for dynamiting the rocks underwater and dredging up the pieces was put forth by Philippe Bunau-Varilla (who later was to become one of the most influential individuals in the United States’ interest in the Canal). Of no help was Lesseps’ insistence on a sea-level canal, like he had done at Suez, as opposed to a lock canal, while the latter proved to be cheaper and more feasible even by reports of the time.”

In 1885 the plan changed to include a single, temporary lock. The problems encountered in trying to excavate a sea-level canal were raising costs beyond control; the desire to begin use of the canal was becoming critical, but the change in the plan was of no use. In 1889 Lesseps’ company was liquidated, and a new company was formed in France—the Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama—to finish the canal.

The French people, however, considered it to be an impossible task and there were calls to sell the canal, possibly to the United States. There was resentment over the loss of millions of francs and over resulting bad publicity. Lesseps and members of his company were charged and brought to trial in 1893. Lesseps was condemned by the court but was not fined nor jailed. His son, Charles, was charged with bribery, but did not go to jail. He was forced to pay the fine of another person, however, but he could not raise the money. He fled France.

France determined it could not complete the canal. But the lease on the land did not expire for 10 years. A buyer must be found!

The United States was a logical choice, for it, too, had been considering the need for a canal in the Latin American isthmus. In 1887 it had sent a team to look at Nicaragua as a possible site for such a canal, and in 1889 Congress chartered the Maritime Canal Co. headed by J.P. Morgan to build a canal either in Panama or Nicaragua, but a stock market panic in 1893 caused Maritime to lose all its money, and excavation stopped. In 1897 a fact-finding committee of Congress recommended the Nicaragua route for a canal. In 1899 a second commission made the same recommendation. A bill to authorize construction of a Nicaraguan canal was introduced, passage seemed assured, and the signature of President William McKinley also seemed assured. McKinley, however, was assassinated. Theodore Roosevelt became president, and with him came strained relations with Colombia and new friendship with a brand new nation to emerge, the Republic of Panama.

Nicaragua had been the choice of two commissions as the site of a canal because of costs. France’s Compagnie Nouvelle had been refusing to sell its belongings and rights in Panama for less than 100 million dollars. The asking price for rights in Nicaragua began at 40 million. Two principal advisors to the French company—one being Philippe Bunau-Varilla (who had earlier proposed the dynamiting in the French construction of the canal)—convinced the company to lower its asking price to 40 million dollars, and a new battle thus began.

The battle in Congress raged fiercely between the site in Nicaragua and the site in Panama. The French company played an active role for the Panama site in lobbying members of Congress and in conducting a major publicity campaign aimed at all Americans, mostly led by Philippe Bunau-Varilla. A bill introduced by Senator William Hepburn of Wisconsin proposed a canal in Nicaragua. Senator John Spooner of Wisconsin attached an amendment which provided for a canal in Panama instead. The Senate voted between the Hepburn bill and the Spooner amendment; the Spooner amendment passed the Senate, became the bill, passed the House of Representatives, and was signed immediately into law by President Roosevelt.

The Spooner Act gave the President 40 million dollars to purchase the New Panama Canal Company and the power to negotiate a treaty with Colombia.

The first was easy, the latter impossible.

The first treaty, the Hay-Herran Treaty, gave Colombia 10 million dollars and $250,000 annually for the duration on a 100-year lease on a six-mile wide strip of the isthmus. The ever-changing Colombian government rejected that treaty.

Roosevelt himself has described what followed: Panama wanted to sell the land to America, but Colombia refused. Panama planned a revolution, and Roosevelt sent a battleship to protect “American lives in Panama.” This meant that no other country was going to land on the isthmus; invasion by land was impossible because of the impenetrable Panamanian jungle. Panama declared its independence from Colombia. America recognized its independence. Philippe Bunau-Varilla was made American ambassador to Panama. He then co-authored with Senator John Hay the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty which was ratified by the Panamanian government in 1903 and by the American Senate early in 1904.

The next battle was against disease. Dr. William Gorgas was sent to examine the area. America was determined that its workers would not meet with the same mortality rates the French had encountered during its attempts at construction. Malaria and yellow fever were dominant, but there were also numerous cases of tuberculosis, cholera, diphtheria, smallpox, and bubonic plague.

Taking the research of Dr. Walter Reed, who had discovered that mosquitoes were the bearers of yellow fever and of malaria, Dr. Gorgas set his troops to work covering all standing or slow-moving bodies of water with a combination of oil and insecticide and isolating infected persons in wire-screen tents. The method worked in making the zone pest-free, and then the medical team paid attention to other health problems which were much less serious. Meanwhile, attention was paid to making repairs and improvements to Panama City and Colon. Roads and streets were paved; new sewers were put in; residences were made pest-free; and buildings were repaired or, in some cases, rebuilt. The two cities emerged better than they had ever been. Now attention could be paid to building the canal.

For four years there was a series of problems with the civilian engineers successively in charge, with concept of design—the sea-level canal having been favored by one engineer with the lock system finally winning out—and with costs. Finally an army lieutenant was placed in charge and from that point on, the canal was under a military-discipline control and the Army was not about to relinquish this control. In 1908 changes were made in the design of the canal: the width was increased from 200 feet to 300 feet; the size of the locks was increased from 95 feet to 110 feet. Problem after problem was encountered and dealt with, but finally in August, 1914, it was completed.

It was 23 million dollars under budget.

The engineering problems had involved digging through the Continental Divide; constructing the largest earth dam ever built up to that time; designing and building the most massive canal locks ever envisioned; constructing the largest gates ever swung; and solving environmental problems of enormous proportions.

Unfortunately, a war was breaking out in Europe just as the Canal was opening. Thus the fact that the greatest human endeavor had been completed was last on everyone’s mind. It was, and remains, an engineering marvel of the 20th century and the greatest marvel concerning terrain.

The Canal extends approximately 50 miles from Panama City on the Pacific Ocean to Colon on the Caribbean Sea. The United States is the main user of the Canal in terms of cargo tonnage. Most of the traffic through the Canal moves between the East Coast of the United States and the Far East. One common use of the Canal, however, is shipping of goods from Alaska to the Gulf Coast of the United States. Transit time is about 16 days. If rerouted around Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America, transit time would be 40 days. Movements between Europe and the West Coast of the United States and Canada comprise another significant trade route at the Canal.

Neighboring countries in Central and South America are proportionately more dependent on the Canal to promote their economic development and expand trade. Half of the population of Panama lives on the Canal’s banks, and the Canal generates economic benefits for the nation. The United States has also depended upon Panama as a base for hemispheric military operations. Although the Canal was the initial reason for the special U.S. attention to Panama, the selection in 1941 of the Canal Zone as headquarters for the U.S. Southern Command sharpened U.S. interest in Panamanian affairs.

The new treaties create a Panamanian entity, the Panama Canal Authority. The treaties also guarantee permanent neutrality of the Canal. Control over military facilities in the Canal Zone will revert to Panamanian authority. The U.S. Southern Command and U.S. Army South headquarters have already relocated to Miami and Puerto Rico. The last troops, however, will not relocate until late in this year. In addition, the treaties require that the U.S. clean up unexploded armament from the shooting ranges on the bases, a difficult task which may not be completed when control reverts to Panama.

The United States and Panama have held talks about a continued U.S. presence in the region. The governments have discussed the creation of a Multilateral Counter-Narcotics Center (MCC) to deal with the threat to the region from the international drug cartels. The MCC would give Panama key role in enhancing regional security operations. Since the ouster of General Manuel Noriega in 1990, U.S. military contributions to the campaign against Colombian cartels have been largely managed from Panama.

But come midnight December 31, 1999, the Panama Canal shall belong to the people of Panama.

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