The Everything Theodore Roosevelt Book (28 page)

On the other hand, the president believed that politically unstable Panama owed something to the United States, which had intervened in its internal affairs thirteen times between 1850 and 1900.

TR was not convinced he had to deal with Colombia. He wrote in his autobiography, “Since 1846 we had a treaty with … New Granada, the predecessor of … Colombia … [and] Panama, by which … the United States was guaranteed … right of way across the Isthmus of Panama by any mode of communication that might be constructed … in return our Government guaranteed the … neutrality of the Isthmus with a view to the preservation of free transit.”

In the final fifty years of the ninteenth century, Panama had been ruled by forty administrations and suffered through fifty riots and five attempted secessions. When Panama declared its independence in 1903, the U.S. government supported it. That had as much to do with Colombia’s intransigence in dealing with the Roosevelt administration over canal rights as it did with Panama’s independence.

TR saw the Panama Canal as a necessary passage for expediting U.S. military forces around the globe. Consequently, he vowed to build the canal, which he said in his autobiography was the most important action he took during his presidency. Neither Colombia nor an effete U.S. Congress was going to get in his way.

On January 22, 1903, TR’s secretary of state John Hay signed the Hay-Herran Treaty between the United States and Colombia. According to the terms, Colombia would grant a lease in perpetuity to the United States on a six-mile-wide strip across the Isthmus of Panama in exchange for $10 million and an annual payment of $250,000.

The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on March 14, 1903, but the Colombian Senate did not follow suit. The Colombians held out for $25 million, which infuriated TR. He thought that was extortion. He looked for another way to gain access to the coveted canal ground.

Yet Another Revolution

If nothing else, President Roosevelt knew how to take advantage of an opportunity to accomplish something he wanted badly. News reached Washington that yet another revolution was beginning in Panama. The word was that the Panamanians would be happy to turn over canal rights to the United States under the same terms Colombia had rejected.

That gave TR an idea. After all, the United States had intervened in Panama’s politics before. Why not now, when the United States had something valuable to gain?

TR did not openly support the revolution in Panama, but he did let folks know through back channels that he would not oppose it. And, if a U.S. warship or two should show up in Panama by coincidence to support the rumored coup, so much the better. That is exactly what happened.

On November 2, 1903, the U.S. Navy’s gunboat
Nashville
arrived in Colon, Panama, with a contingent of marines. That was “barely on time,” according to TR. Another ten U.S. warships settled offshore. The day after
Nashville
arrived, the coup occurred. The coincidence was remarkable.

The Colombian troops there might have put down the coup, but they were reluctant to do so in the presence of
Nashville
, the U.S. Marines, and the warships offshore that inhibited any attempts to reinforce them. Years later, TR claimed that the Colombian troops had actually supported the revolution.

Immediately after the coup ended, Panama declared its independence, which the United States and several Latin American countries recognized. Within two weeks, the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, negotiated by Secretary of State Hay and French citizen Phillipe Bunau-Varilla, an official of the French canal company, emerged.

The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty

The agreement allowed the United States to build a canal through a ten-mile-wide, perpetually leased section of central Panama, to use more land if needed, and to intervene militarily in Panama, which it had already done. It required the United States to guarantee Panama’s independence and pay $10 million, plus $250,000 annually. Events moved quickly after that.

Panama ratified the treaty on December 4, 1903. The U.S. Senate did the same—or at least advised that it be ratified—on February 23, 1904. President Roosevelt signed it officially two days later.

The two countries exchanged ratifications on February 26, 1904, and proclaimed it official. That was record time for two governments to negotiate, draw up, and ratify a treaty of significant proportions. That was TR’s intention from the get-go, and he could get things accomplished when he saw an opportunity.

TR explained years later in a speech what he did: “The Panama Canal would not have started if I had not taken hold of it … The beginning of work on the canal would be fifty years in the future. Fortunately [the opportunity] came at a period when I could act unhampered. Accordingly I took the Isthmus, started the canal and then left Congress not to debate the canal, but to debate me.”

TR was sure he had acted correctly. He wrote, “From the beginning to the end our course was … in absolute accord with the highest of standards of international morality. Criticism of it can come only from misinformation, or … a sentimentality which represents both mental weakness and a moral twist. To have acted otherwise … would have been on my part betrayal of the interests of the United States.” Critics decried what he had done.

The New York Times Disagrees

The
New York Times
, often a thorn in TR’s side, proclaimed loudly that Roosevelt’s coup was an “act of sordid conquest.” Later, in a December 10, 1908, article, it admitted that “Roosevelt’s Panama Canal Account Holds Up.”

The Democrats had intimated that Roosevelt’s deal with the Panamanians was a scheme to help his brother-in-law Douglas Robinson and President-elect William H. Taft’s brother Charles make money.

They also alleged that “the whole Panama affair, including the shift from the Nicaraguan route to the lower Isthmus, was contrived by [American attorney William Nelson] Cromwell, as the representative, not of the French Company, but of the American syndicate, and that the President in his eagerness to get at the work of building a canal, was an easy victim.” The newspaper refuted those claims and printed its proof in a lead article. A
New York Times
reporter stated:

All the papers in Washington bearing on the purchase of the canal property have been overhauled and submitted to the correspondent of the New York Times. In them was nothing to indicate that the Government officials connected with the purchase had any knowledge of the ownership of the stock in the company which owned the property or that any Americans were interested in the matter
.

Arguments over the affair continued long after the deal was completed. That was no surprise; TR’s Panama Canal triumph may have been the most controversial action of his presidency. While the arguments raged, construction went on, with TR right there.

TR Grabs a Shovel

TR was so excited about the project that he visited Panama in November 1906. That made him the first American president to visit a foreign country while in office.

Theodore Roosevelt operates an American steam shovel at Culebra Cut, Panama Canal

His usual energy frustrated the Secret Service agents and trip arrangers. He made unscheduled visits to workers and hospitals and demanded to see places, people, and things that were not on the itinerary, such as work sites, black workers, military personnel, and steam shovels. By the time he left, people were glad to see him go so work could continue without his incessant interruptions.

TR noted in his autobiography, “A finer body of men has never been gathered by any nation than the men who have done the work of building the Panama Canal … they have all felt an eager pride in their work; and they have made not only America but the whole world their debtors by what they have accomplished.”

The Panama Canal opened officially on August 15, 1914. It was a proud moment for the United States and Theodore Roosevelt, who, despite the controversy surrounding the project, saw it through to completion.

Elected on His Own Record

TR was pleased with his accomplishment in his three years in office. So were the Republican Party and the American people. The party nominated him unanimously for a full term to continue what he had started. His platform was simple: maintain the protective tariff, increase foreign trade, uphold the gold standard, expand the merchant marine, promote a strong navy, and support the president’s foreign and domestic policies.

The Democrats nominated Alton B. Parker, the chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals, who had served on the state’s Supreme Court when Roosevelt was governor. He was not much competition.

Parker tried to convince the voters that electing him would put an end to a “rule of individual caprice” and “usurpation of authority.” They disagreed. On November 8, 1904, they elected TR by a wide majority.

He was poised to continue his policies and presidential style for at least another four years. Once elected for his first full term, he jumped into it prepared to accomplish great things.

QUIZ

11-1 What is an isthmus?

A. A narrow strip of land connecting two larger masses of land

B. a religious holiday celebrated in December

C. a body of water separating two countries

D. a measure of liquid in Central America

11-2 The Panama Canal saved sailors how many miles on a voyage between New York and San Francisco?

A. 10,000

B. 7,872

C. 5,289

D. 3,601

11-3 Eventually, the United States paid Colombia its original asking price for the Panama Canal
.

A. True

B. False

11-4 How many federal bird reservations did Theodore Roosevelt create as president?