November 18, 1903: America Gains the Rights to the Panama Canal

Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla

November 18, 1903: The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., giving America the right to build the Panama Canal.

President Theodore Roosevelt knew a canal would be of great benefit to American military might, and also to American business. And the rest of the world would benefit, too, and America could make money off of that.

In 1903, an agreement was reached between American and Colombian diplomats for America to take over the building of the canal. But the Senate of Colombia rejected the treaty. So Roosevelt provided aid to the Panamanian rebels, and they gained their independence from Colombia. A new agreement was reached, and TR was soon telling people, "I took Panama."

Article I of the treaty was America's recognition of the independence of the Republic of Panama. Articles II through XXVI (2 through 26) gave America what became known as the Panama Canal Zone, and explained America's rights within that Zone, including the right to build the Canal.

Signing for America was the Secretary of State, John Hay. As a young man, he was an aide to President Abraham Lincoln, providing a direct link between Honest Abe and TR. He died 2 years later.

John Hay

Signing for Panama was Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla, the country's French diplomatic representative, an indispensable provider for the Panamanian rebels, and previously the chief engineer of France's since-abandoned effort at building a Panama Canal.

Construction began on May 4, 1904. On November 14, 1906, TR visited the construction zone, becoming the 1st incumbent President of the United States to visit another country. He became identified with the canal to the point where a palindrome -- a word or saying that reads the same forward and backward -- was coined: "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!"

Unlike Hay, Bunau-Varilla lived long enough to attend the Canal's opening. But he could not do so: By the time it opened on August 15, 1914, World War I had broken out. Though already 55 years old, he returned to France to aid in its war effort. He was supervising engineering works at the Battle of Verdun in 1916, when an exploding shell cost him a leg.

He survived that war, but died on May 18, 1940, mere days before the Nazis rolled into Paris. Nevertheless, the Panama Canal enabled American ships to get from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean much quicker than before, which would have required going all the way around South America. The Canal proved vital in the Allied victories in both World Wars.

In 1977, a new treaty was signed, giving control over the Canal Zone back to Panama, effective in 1999.

*

November 18, 1903 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. Basketball barely existed, and hockey had only begun to be professional. So there were no games on this historic day.

September 7, 1977: The Panama Canal Treaties

September 7, 1977: President Jimmy Carter and General Omar Torrijos, head of state of the Central American nation of Panama, sign the Panama Canal Treaties at the White House. which superseded the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903. The treaties guaranteed that Panama would gain control of the Panama Canal after 1999, ending the control of the canal that the U.S. had exercised since 1903.

For liberals, this was a sensible thing to do. For conservatives, it was an outrage. Their line had been, "We built it, we paid for it, it's ours." They treated it as an attack on American sovereignty. They also viewed Torrijos as a Communist. (He wasn't, but he was a military dictator.)

Carter's predecessor, President Gerald Ford, had wanted to do it, and it was a big reason why Governor Ronald Reagan ran against him in the 1976 Republican Primaries. Despite his defeat, this treaty was a big reason why Reagan wanted to try again in 1980. Well, he won, but he couldn’t rescind the treaty, and, in 1999, the Canal went back under Panama's control. Republicans were concerned that it would be used by Communist countries, including Cuba, to undermine America. They were wrong about that, among many other things.

Torrijos, giving himself the Castro-esque title "Maximum Leader of the Panamanian Revolution," had taken power in a military coup in 1968. He never actually took the title of "President," though. He won the people over with some reforms, the kind that made many Americans not trust him.

Carter was one of them, and told him that the U.S. Senate would never approve the Canal Treaties unless he made some changes to his rule. He took the hint, restored some civil liberties, and, while remaining head of state, he stepped down as head of government, setting a puppet, Aristides Royo, up as President. That was good enough for Carter and the Senate.

On July 31, 1981, Torrijos, then 52 years old, and 6 others were killed in a plane crash. It wasn't considered suspicious, as the weather was bad. But it threw Panama into political chaos, resulting in the rise of a new dictator, Manuel Noriega.

Torrijos' son Martin Torrijos, did something his father never did: In 2004, he won a free and fair election, serving as President until 2009.

*

September 7, 1977 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Thurman Munson led off the top of the 10th inning with a single. Reggie Jackson singled, and Indians left fielder Bruce Bochte mishandled it, letting Munson score what turned out to be the winning run.

Rookie Ron Guidry went all 10 innings for the win. Wayne Garland, the Indians' big free-agent signing who then hurt his shoulder in Spring Training, went 9 innings, before Jim Kern came on, and took the loss. Kern was a good reliever, but knew his limitations: He once told a reporter, "I'm working on a new pitch. It's called a strike."

* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-2 at Shea Stadium. Larry Christenson allowed only 2 hits, 1 of them a home run by Lee Mazzilli, to outpitch Pat Zachry. Jay Johnstone hit a home run for the Phils, and Mike Schmidt went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-2 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Willie Stargell did not play. Lou Brock went 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base. It was his 32nd steal of the season, and the 891st of his career, bringing him to within 1 of what was then thought to be the all-time record, set by Ty Cobb. Later research showed that Cobb's 892 was the 20th Century record, but Billy Hamilton, whose career straddled the turn of that Century, stole 914. Brock would retire with 938, before giving way to Rickey Henderson with 1,406.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Willie McCovey hit his 489th career home run. For the Reds, Joe Morgan and George Foster hit home runs. For Foster, it was his 46th of the season. He ended with 52, the most of any player between 1965 and 1990. Pete Rose went 1-for-4 with a walk. Johnny Bench went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* A doubleheader was split at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers in the opener, 6-2. John Hiller, normally a reliable closer, allowed 4 runs in the top of the 11th inning. In contrast, Scott McGregor pitched all 11 innings for the win. The Tigers won the nightcap, 12-5. Eddie Murray went 1-for-5 in each game.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Rod Carew went 1-for-3 with a walk. He was batting .377. He finished the season at .388.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 9-5 at the Astrodome in Houston. Dave Roberts went 3-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Dave Winfield went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.

* The California Angels beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-1 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Robin Yount went 1-for-4.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Ralph Garr, a former National League batting champion, hit a home run, not the likeliest of the "South Side Hit Men" to hit one out.

* And the Kansas City Royals beat the Seattle Mariners, 10-7 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Darrell Porter hit 2 home runs, and George Brett went 4-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs.

August 15, 1914: The Panama Canal Opens

August 15, 1914: The Panama Canal opens to traffic. The 1st ship to move through it is the SS Ancon, an American cargo and passenger ship.

The Isthmus of Panama was first crossed -- by white people, anyway -- in 1513, by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa. By 1534, Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of Spain, and thus controlling most of the land in the Western Hemisphere, was talking about how to cut a canal through the Isthmus, to save time and other resources in getting ships from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

Until then, the best way to do it was to sail around the southern tip of South America, Cape Horn. Hence, in baseball, the longest kind of double play, going from 3rd base to 2nd base to 1st base, became known as "around the horn."

In all the years their Empire included Latin America, Spain never built a canal connecting the oceans. Colombia gained independence from Spain in 1821, and they controlled Panama. In 1855, America opened a railroad across the Isthmus, which helped, but people and goods still had to be unloaded from the Atlantic port to a train, and then again from the train to the Pacific port -- or vice versa. Since air travel was still a pipe dream, a canal was still considered the best option.

Eventually, the French government gained the rights to try, after their 1869 success in building and opening the Suez Canal in Egypt. They started digging in 1881. But they ran into engineering issues, and a lot of their workmen died, in part due to tropical diseases like malaria and yellow fever. In 1894, they gave up.

In 1903, an agreement was reached between American and Colombian diplomats for America to take over the building of the canal. But the Senate of Colombia rejected the treaty. So President Theodore Roosevelt provided aid to the Panamanian rebels, and they gained their independence from Colombia. A new agreement was reached, and TR was soon telling people, "I took Panama."

Construction began on May 4, 1904. On November 14, 1906, TR visited the construction zone, becoming the 1st incumbent President of the United States to visit another country. He became identified with the canal to the point where a palindrome -- a word or saying that reads the same forward and backward -- was coined: "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!"

But construction would take so long that neither he nor his successor, William Howard Taft, would be President when it was finished. General George Washington Goethals -- for whom the bridge between Staten Island and Elizabeth, New Jersey would be named -- was in command of the construction. Dr. William Gorgas, the Surgeon General of the United States, figured out a way to control the mosquitoes, thus nearly eliminating the risk of malaria and yellow fever. Still, it was dangerous work, and 350 Americans died.

Finally, on August 15, 1914 -- with Woodrow Wilson as President, and 2 weeks after the start of World War I, and with news of that war overshadowing the Canal's opening -- the Panama Canal opened.

Alexander Heron was the last surviving worker on the Canal, living until January 24, 2000, just short of his 106th birthday.

The U.S. Canal Zone remained under American control until 1999, the result of a 1978 treaty handing it over to Panama. Today, it takes an average of 11 hours and 23 minutes to travel through the Canal's 51-mile system of locks from Atlantic to Pacific, or vice versa. Every year, about 15,000 vessels make the voyage.

Baseball Hall-of-Famer Rod Carew was born in the Panama Canal Zone. So were the singing Del Rubio Triplets, Eadie, Elena and Milly Boyd, who were related by marriage to Wilson; engineer Edward A. Murphy Jr., who coined "Murphy's Law," "Anything that can go wrong, will"; sportscaster Sage Steele; and Vietnam War pilot and prisoner of war, U.S. Senator from Arizona, and 2008 Republican Presidential nominee John McCain.

*

August 15, 1914 was a Saturday. There was, as yet, no NFL, no NBA, and no NHL. But there were games played that day in what we would now call Major League Baseball.

In the American League:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 1-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. A single by Hall-of-Famer Harry Hooper won the game in the 8th inning. Babe Ruth had made his major league debut on July 11, and had also pitched on July 16. But he did not play in this game, since he was sent back to the Red Sox' top farm team, the Providence Grays. He appeared for Boston again on October 2 and 5.

* The Cleveland Naps beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-1 at League Park in Cleveland. After this season, Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, the Cleveland team's manager, 2nd baseman, best hitter and namesake, left, and the team was renamed the Cleveland Indians.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-4 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 6-0 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Albert "Chief" Bender, the Hall of Fame pitcher from the Chippewa tribe, pitched a 5-0 hit shutout.

In the National League:

* The Brooklyn Robins swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies at Ebbets Field. The Brooks won the opener 8-4, and the nightcap 13-5. This was their 1st season with Hall of Fame manager Wilbert Robinson, and the team was renamed for him. He was fired after the 1931 season, and the name they had before was restored: The Brooklyn Dodgers.

* The New York Giants lost to the Boston Braves, 2-0 at the Polo Grounds. George "Lefty" Tyler pitched a 5-hit shutout over 10 innings, and a triple by Hank Gowdy beat Christy Mathewson.

The Giants had led the NL race most of the way, and the Braves were in last place on the 4th of July. But the Giants tailed off, and the Braves went on a tear. They would win the Pennant, and, in perhaps the biggest upset in World Series history, swept the defending World Champion A's, and become known as "The Miracle Braves."

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Joe Conzelman pitched a 7-hit shutout.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-1 at West Side Park in Chicago.

This was the 1st of 2 seasons for the Federal League:

* The Brooklyn Tip-Tops, New York City's entry in the FL, lost to the St. Louis Terriers, 11-6 at Handlan's Park in St. Louis.

* A doubleheader was split at Federal League Park in Indianapolis. The Indianapolis Hoosiers won the 1st game, 5-4. The Buffalo Blues won the 2nd game, 8-3.

* The Chicago Whales beat the Pittsburgh Rebels, 10-6 at Weeghman Park in Chicago. The Cubs would move into Weeghman Park in 1916, after the FL folded. It was renamed Cubs Park in 1920 and Wrigley Field in 1926, and was pretty much the last remaining FL ballpark already. It still is.

* And the Kansas City Packers swept a doubleheader from the Baltimore Terrapins at Gordon and Koppel Field in Kansas City. They won the opener, 4-3; and the nightcap, 11-2.