On the two following pages TIME presents a map of the most important strategic area in the Western Hemisphere: the approaches to the Panama Canal.
Until the U. S. owns a two-ocean fleetand such a fleet cannot be built in less than seven yearsthe Canal is the only insurance the U. S. has against leaving one of its coasts undefended against attack. If an enemy should succeed in blocking or capturing the Canal, that insurance would no longer exist. Hence the first paradox of U. S. strategy: the most vital point for the defense of the continental U. S. is an...
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