Big Stick Diplomacy: Roosevelt Secures the Panama Canal

By Christopher Zehnder

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n his second inaugural address, Roosevelt developed his ideas about the place of the United States in the world. Much has been given us, he said, and !uch will rightfully be e"pected fro! us # $e have beco!e a great nation, forced by the fact of its greatness into relations with the other nations of the earth, and we !ust behave as

besee!s a people with such responsibilities. %owards all other nations, large and s!all, our attitude !ust be one of cordial and sincere friendship. $e !ust show not only in our words, but in our deeds, that we are earnestly desirous of securing their good will by acting toward the! in a spirit of &ust and generous recognition of all their rights. (owever, the president continued, &ustice and generosity re)uired strength. $hile ever careful to refrain fro! wrongdoing others, he said, we !ust be no less insistent that we are not wronged ourselves. $e wish peace, but we wish the peace of &ustice, the peace of righteousness. $e wish it because we thin* it is right and not because we are afraid. +o wea* nation that acts !anfully and &ustly should ever have cause to fear us, and no strong power should ever be able to single us out as a sub&ect for insolent aggression. Roosevelt had said about the sa!e thing !any ti!es before but in fewer words, %here is a ho!ely adage which runs, -Spea* softly, and carry a big stic*. you will go far./ Roosevelt al!ost always spo*e softly when dealing with the leaders of other nations. %he fear e"pressed when he too* over fro! Mc0inley, that he would draw the nation into war, proved unfounded. 1nce he beca!e president, Roosevelt did all he could to avoid war. (e had granted Cuba her independence, as Mc0inley had pro!ised, and had only intervened once to restore order on the island, as the 2latt 3!end!ent allowed the United States president to do. Roosevelt allowed the 2hilippines to establish a degree of self4rule, though a United States governor still presided over the island nation. 5et, %eddy was not averse to using the big stic* whenever he thought he needed to. (e proved this in the case of Colo!bia. %al* of a canal connecting the 3tlantic and the 2acific, so that ships would not have to travel the long route around Cape (orn, was nearly as old as the presence of 6uropeans in the +ew $orld. 3 7rench co!pany had atte!pted to dig such a canal across the narrow 'sth!us of 2ana!a, which was then part of Colo!bia. but after 89:; !illion spent and hundreds of lives lost, it had abandoned the atte!pt. %he 7rench co!pany was eager to sell its interests in the canal and, it turned out, the Roosevelt ad!inistration was eager to buy. %here were those in the United

States, though, who wanted to build a canal through +icaragua. %hough the 'sth!ian Canal Co!!ission under Mc0inley had specifically re&ected this option, its proponents had not been silenced. Roosevelt wanted to !a*e sure that 2ana!a, not +icaragua, would be the site of the canal. 1n <une 9=, >?;9, the Senate passed the Spooner 3ct, which authori@ed the president to pay the 7rench co!pany 8A; !illion for the concession to build the canal across the 'sth!us of 2ana!a. Since the Spooner 3ct specified that unless Colo!bia ceded land across the 'sth!us to the United States within a reasonable ti!e, the president should pursue the option of a canal across +icaragua, Roosevelt *new he had little ti!e to act. But all see!ed to go well. %he Colo!bian charg daffairs in $ashington signed a treaty that gave the United States a >;;4year lease of a ten4!ile wide canal @one, stretching fro! the Bulf of Me"ico to the 2acific, for a pay!ent of 8>; !illion and 89C;,;;; a year rent. 3ll that was needed was the approval of the Colo!bian govern!ent. Roosevelt wielded the big stic* over Colo!bia through his secretary of state, <ohn (ay, who, in a veiled way, told the
3 cartoon satiri@ing RooseveltHs !achinations to attain canal rights in 2ana!a

Colo!bian govern!ent that they had better approve the canal treaty, or else. %he Colo!bian govern!ent, however, ignored these threats and re&ected the treaty on 3ugust >9, >?;D. Colo!bia had &ust recently co!e out of a civil war and was sensitive to any slight to her sovereignty. %he treaty specified that Colo!bia would have to cede her sovereignty over the canal @one to the United States. this was unthin*able to the Colo!bian govern!ent. $hat/s !ore, the United States had bought the canal concession fro! the 7rench co!pany without consulting the Colo!bian govern!ent. %his too, said Colo!bia, was a violation of her sovereignty. But Roosevelt had a card up his sleeve. (e !et with 2hilippe Bunau4Earilla, the leader of revolutionaries in 2ana!a who wanted their state to secede fro! Colo!bia. Bunau4Earilla as*ed Roosevelt if the United States !ilitary would prevent Colo!bian troops fro! landing in 2ana!a in the event of a revolution. ' can/t say, replied the president, but ' have no use for the Colo!bian govern!ent after what it has done. 1f Bunau4Earilla, Roosevelt wrote, he/s a very able fellow, and it was his business to find out what he thought our Bovern!ent would do. ' have no doubt that he was able to !a*e a very accurate guess and to advise his people accordingly. 'n fact, he would have been a very dull !an had he been unable to !a*e such a guess. 'f Roosevelt was purposely vague Fbut not too vagueG, the 7rench co!pany agent in $ashington was all too clear, he told the 2ana!anian revolutionaries to proceed, assured of U.S. assistance. 1n 1ctober >?, >?;D, three United States vessels of war were ordered to anchor off the coast of 2ana!a. 1n +ove!ber 9, U.S. !ilitary co!!anders were instructed to occupy the 2ana!a Railroad if a revolution bro*e out. %he &ustification given for this co!!and was a treaty the U.S. had signed with Colo!bia, allowing 3!erican troops to protect the 2ana!a railroad if any danger threatened it. 5et, rather conveniently, by sei@ing the railroad, U.S. troops could stop the advance of Colo!bian troops

into 2ana!a. 1n +ove!ber D, the secretary of state in $ashingtion cabled the U.S. consul in 2ana!a, Uprising on 'sth!us reported. 0eep Iepart!ent pro!ptly and fully infor!ed. %he consul cabled bac*, +o uprising yet. Reported will be in the night. %hat evening, again the consul cabled the secretary of state, Uprising occurred tonight :. no bloodshed. Bovern!ent will be organi@ed tonight. 6"cept for the death of a Chinese !an fro! a shell lobbed into 2ana!a City by a departing Colo!bian gunboat, the 2ana!anian revolution was bloodless. %his was, perhaps, partly because a landing party fro! the U.S.S. Nashville prevented Colo!bian troops fro! advancing against the revolutionaries. 1n +ove!ber A, the new Republic of 2ana!a declared its independence. %wo days later, Secretary (ay recogni@ed that independence. 1n +ove!ber >=, the new Republic of 2ana!a leased the canal @one in perpetuity to the United States to the entire e"clusion of the e"ercise by 2ana!a of any # sovereign rights, power or authority. %he price paid by the United States for this cession was what Colo!bia would have received if she had approved the treaty. $ith the canal @one in his hands, Roosevelt was eager to get to digging. (e first e!ployed private engineers. but when these proved inade)uate to the tas*, he appointed Colonel Beorge $. Boethals to direct the e"cavation of the canal. Boethals was autocratic, but effective. %he canal pro&ect began in >?;J. by >?>A, the 2ana!a Canal was open to co!!ercial traffic. Si" years later it was co!pleted. $ith e"uberant and al!ost boyish high spirits, Roosevelt hi!self went to 2ana!a to inspect the wor* K and so set a new precedent. (e was the first U.S. president while in office to travel outside the boundaries of his country.
7ro! the New York Herald, Iece!ber >?;D, %he +ews Reaches Bogota. %heodore Roosevelt builds the 2ana!a Canal 444 and shovels dirt on Colo!bia.