Prize Possession The United States Government and the Panama Canal 19031979 [Paperback]

A comprehensive history of US policy towards the Panama Canal between.Based for the most part on the hitherto largely untapped sources of US government agencies, namely, the States, War, and Navy Departments and the Canal Zone administration, this is a comprehensive history of US policy towards the Panama Canal.Based for the most part on the hitherto largely untapped sources of US government agencies, namely, the States, War, and Navy Departments and the Canal Zone administration, this is a comprehensive history of US policy towards the Panama Canal.Prize Possession is a comprehensive history of U.S. policy toward the Panama Canal between 1903 and 1979, focusing on five key themes: the Canal's defense and its place in American strategy; the Zone's autocratic system of government; its strictly segregated labor force; its commercial development at the expense of Panama; and the equally controversial issue of U.S. intervention in Panamanian politics. The book is based for the most part on the hitherto largely untapped sources of U.S. government agencies, namely the State, War, and Navy Departments, and the Canal Zone administration, as well as on the papers of notable dramatis personae such as Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt and Philippe Bunau-Varilla.Preface and acknowledgments; Part I. Prelude: 18261904: 1. The quest for an American canal, 18261903; 2. 'I took the isthmus', 19034; Part II. Beginnings: 190429: 3. The zone r?gime; 4. The labour force; 5. The Commissary; 6. The protectorate; 7. Canal defence; Part III. Transitions: 193055: 8. The zone r?gime; 9. The labour force; 10. The commissary; 11. Partnership politics; 12. Canal defence; Part IV. Recessional: 195679: 13. 'Mandate from civilization'?, Map of the Canal Zone; Appendices; Bibliography. John Major has produced a diplomatic historian's history of the United States' Panama Canal policy: meticulously sourced and laden with documentary evidence, this jewel will be the standard on the subject for yelc(