Giving Away The Canal: Jimmy Carter on Panama

Twenty-one years before I was born, an event took place at the home of then Secretary of State John Hay that was later to confront me with the most difficult political battle I had ever faced, including my long campaign for President. On the night of Nov. 18, 1903, a treaty was signed in Washington between the newly proclaimed Republic of Panama and the U.S. No Panamanian had ever seen the treaty, the terms of which were highly favorable to the U.S. Acting for Panama was a French businessman, Philippe Bunau-Varilla, whose authority was...

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