Panama Odyssey

Panama Odyssey PDF Author: William J. Jorden
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292718306
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1175

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Book Description
“This magnificent diplomatic memoir-history by the American ambassador to Panama at the time should be required reading for every diplomat . . . A classic.” —Foreign Affairs The Panama Canal Treaties of 1977 were the most significant foreign policy achievement of the Carter administration. Most Latin American nations had regarded the 1903 treaty and its later minor modifications as vestiges of “American colonialism” and obstacles to any long-term, stable relationship with the United States. Hence, at a time when conflicts were mushrooming in Central America, the significance of the new Panama treaties cannot be overestimated. Former Ambassador to Panama William J. Jorden has provided the definitive account of the long and often contentious negotiations that produced those treaties. It is a vividly written reconstruction of the complicated process that began in 1964 and ended with ratification of the new pacts in 1978. Based on his personal involvement behind the scenes in the White House (1972–1974) and in the United States Embassy in Panama (1974–1978), Jorden has produced a unique living history. Access to documents and the personalities of both governments and, equally important, Jorden’s personal recollections of participants on both sides make this historical study an incomparable document of U. S. foreign relations. In sum, this is a history, a handbook on diplomacy, a course in government, and a revelation of foreign policy in action, all based on a fascinating and controversial episode in the US experience. “Jordan’s closely knit account of those negotiations brings the whole question of colonialism into stark focus . . . a vivid account of diplomacy in action.” —The Christian Science Monitor

Panama Odyssey

Panama Odyssey PDF Author: William J. Jorden
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292718306
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1175

Get Book Here

Book Description
“This magnificent diplomatic memoir-history by the American ambassador to Panama at the time should be required reading for every diplomat . . . A classic.” —Foreign Affairs The Panama Canal Treaties of 1977 were the most significant foreign policy achievement of the Carter administration. Most Latin American nations had regarded the 1903 treaty and its later minor modifications as vestiges of “American colonialism” and obstacles to any long-term, stable relationship with the United States. Hence, at a time when conflicts were mushrooming in Central America, the significance of the new Panama treaties cannot be overestimated. Former Ambassador to Panama William J. Jorden has provided the definitive account of the long and often contentious negotiations that produced those treaties. It is a vividly written reconstruction of the complicated process that began in 1964 and ended with ratification of the new pacts in 1978. Based on his personal involvement behind the scenes in the White House (1972–1974) and in the United States Embassy in Panama (1974–1978), Jorden has produced a unique living history. Access to documents and the personalities of both governments and, equally important, Jorden’s personal recollections of participants on both sides make this historical study an incomparable document of U. S. foreign relations. In sum, this is a history, a handbook on diplomacy, a course in government, and a revelation of foreign policy in action, all based on a fascinating and controversial episode in the US experience. “Jordan’s closely knit account of those negotiations brings the whole question of colonialism into stark focus . . . a vivid account of diplomacy in action.” —The Christian Science Monitor

Modern Panama

Modern Panama PDF Author: Michael L. Conniff
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110847666X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
Provides a comprehensive overview of the political and economic developments in Panama from 1980 to the present day.

The Big Ditch

The Big Ditch PDF Author: Noel Maurer
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691248079
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
An incisive economic and political history of the Panama Canal On August 15, 1914, the Panama Canal officially opened for business, forever changing the face of global trade and military power, as well as the role of the United States on the world stage. The Canal's creation is often seen as an example of U.S. triumphalism, but Noel Maurer and Carlos Yu reveal a more complex story. Examining the Canal's influence on Panama, the United States, and the world, The Big Ditch deftly chronicles the economic and political history of the Canal, from Spain's earliest proposals in 1529 through the final handover of the Canal to Panama on December 31, 1999, to the present day. The authors show that the Canal produced great economic dividends for the first quarter-century following its opening, despite massive cost overruns and delays. Relying on geographical advantage and military might, the United States captured most of these benefits. By the 1970s, however, when the Carter administration negotiated the eventual turnover of the Canal back to Panama, the strategic and economic value of the Canal had disappeared. And yet, contrary to skeptics who believed it was impossible for a fledgling nation plagued by corruption to manage the Canal, when the Panamanians finally had control, they switched the Canal from a public utility to a for-profit corporation, ultimately running it better than their northern patrons. A remarkable tale, The Big Ditch offers vital lessons about the impact of large-scale infrastructure projects, American overseas interventions on institutional development, and the ability of governments to run companies effectively.

The United States and the Republic of Panama

The United States and the Republic of Panama PDF Author: William D.. MacCain
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


The Panama Canal in American Politics

The Panama Canal in American Politics PDF Author: J. Michael Hogan
Publisher: Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press
ISBN: 9780809312771
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Hogan analyzes the Panama Canal de­bate, one of the most emotionally charged issues to divide American opin­ion in this century. Hogan first provides background for his detailed analysis of the historic debate between the Carter administration and the New Right. Preparing the reader for that confrontation and the senate debate that followed, he examines the heritage of political controversy surrounding the Panama Canal, particularly the impact of that controversy on the evolution of U.S. policy throughout the 20th century. He documents the canal's mythic status in American politics--its transformation from a symbol of America's rise to world leadership to a symbol, for many, of American colonialism and imperialism. Hogan's analysis covers the substance of the debate over Panama in both the mass media and in the senate. Without becoming an advocate for either side, he analyzes both the protreaty campaign by the Carter administration and the coun­terattack by the New Right.

Erased

Erased PDF Author: Marixa Lasso
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674984447
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
The Panama Canal's untold history—from the Panamanian point of view. Sleuth and scholar Marixa Lasso recounts how the canal’s American builders displaced 40,000 residents and erased entire towns in the guise of bringing modernity to the tropics. The Panama Canal set a new course for the modern development of Central America. Cutting a convenient path from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, it hastened the currents of trade and migration that were already reshaping the Western hemisphere. Yet the waterway was built at considerable cost to a way of life that had characterized the region for centuries. In Erased, Marixa Lasso recovers the history of the Panamanian cities and towns that once formed the backbone of the republic. Drawing on vast and previously untapped archival sources and personal recollections, Lasso describes the canal’s displacement of peasants, homeowners, and shop owners, and chronicles the destruction of a centuries-old commercial culture and environment. On completion of the canal, the United States engineered a tropical idyll to replace the lost cities and towns—a space miraculously cleansed of poverty, unemployment, and people—which served as a convenient backdrop to the manicured suburbs built exclusively for Americans. By restoring the sounds, sights, and stories of a world wiped clean by U.S. commerce and political ambition, Lasso compellingly pushes back against a triumphalist narrative that erases the contribution of Latin America to its own history.

The Canal Builders

The Canal Builders PDF Author: Julie Greene
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101011556
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
A revelatory look at a momentous undertaking-from the workers' point of view The Panama Canal has long been celebrated as a triumph of American engineering and ingenuity. In The Canal Builders, Julie Greene reveals that this emphasis has obscured a far more remarkable element of the historic enterprise: the tens of thousands of workingmen and workingwomen who traveled from all around the world to build it. Greene looks past the mythology surrounding the canal to expose the difficult working conditions and discriminatory policies involved in its construction. Drawing extensively on letters, memoirs, and government documents, the book chronicles both the struggles and the triumphs of the workers and their fami­lies. Prodigiously researched and vividly told, The Canal Builders explores the human dimensions of one of the world's greatest labor mobilizations, and reveals how it launched America's twentieth-century empire.

Panama and the United States

Panama and the United States PDF Author: Michael L. Conniff
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
ISBN: 0820344141
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
After Panama assumed control of the Panama Canal in 1999, its relations with the United States became those of a friendly neighbor. In this third edition, Michael L. Conniff describes Panama’s experience as owner-operator of one of the world’s premier waterways and the United States’ adjustment to its new, smaller role. He finds that Panama has done extremely well with the canal and economic growth but still struggles to curb corruption, drug trafficking, and money laundering. Historically, Panamanians aspired to have their country become a crossroads of the world, while Americans sought to tame a vast territory and protect their trade and influence around the globe. The building of the Panama Canal (1904–14) locked the two countries in their parallel quests but failed to satisfy either fully. Drawing on a wide array of sources, Conniff considers the full range of factors—political, social, strategic, diplomatic, economic, and intellectual—that have bound the two countries together.

His Very Best

His Very Best PDF Author: Jonathan Alter
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1501125540
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 800

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Book Description
“Drawing on fresh archival material and extensive access to Carter and his family, New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Alter tells the epic story of a man of faith and his improbable journey from barefoot boy in the vicious Jim Crow South to global icon. We learn how Carter evolved from a timid child into an ambitious naval nuclear engineer and an indefatigable born-again governor; how as a president he failed politically amid the bad economy of the 1970s and the seizure of hostages in Iran but succeeded in engineering peace between Israel and Egypt, amassing a historic environmental record, moving the government from tokenism to diversity, setting a new global standard for human rights, and normalizing relations with China, among dozens of other unheralded achievements. After leaving office, Carter revolutionized the postpresidency with the bold global accomplishments of the Carter center”--Cover.

Panama's Canal

Panama's Canal PDF Author: Mark Falcoff
Publisher: American Enterprise Institute Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
But this book is about more than a particular problem or even the future of Panama. This is also a parable for other small countries. Every act of liberation carries a corresponding burden of responsibility. The author casts into sharp relief the challenges facing many former colonial and dependent countries as we enter the post - anti-imperialist age.