Page 75 - NS-2 Textbook

68 MARITIME HISTORY

concept of effective diplomacy by quoting an old African ney of thousands of miles around South America would
proverb: "Speak softly and carry a big stick." American be replaced by a 50-mile h'ip across the isthmus if a canal
sea power was Roosevelt's "big stick," h1 December Roo- could be built. The California Gold Rush that began in
sevelt sent sixteen of the most powerful U.S. battleships the 1840s stinmlated ideas of a canal again. Many gold
on a fourteen-month voyage around the world. It was a seekers sailed to Colon, hiked across the isthmus to
triumphant cruise of 46,000 miles, with stops in twenty Panama City, and picked up a ship for San Francisco. In
foreign ports, including Japan. Painted white, the fleet 1855 Americans bnilt a railroad across the isthmus for
was supposed to symbolize peace as well as strength. shipment of goods between the oceans.
The "Great White Fleet" was a success. The ships In 1881 a French company headed by Ferdinand de
performed well, and their crews were excellent ambas- Lesseps, the engineer who had successfully bnilt the
sadors of good will. TI,e cruise provided good training Suez Canal, started a Panama canal project. It was a dis-
for the fleet and showed that there was great need for aster due to financial mismanagement and disease. By
bases and coaling stations in the Pacific. Though the 1889 yellow fever and malaria had killed over 22,000
voyage was overshadowed somewhat by the launching workers, and the project was canceled.
of the British Dreadllollgilt battleship, it proudly demon- Mahan revived the idea of the canal in his writings
strated the might of America to the world. on sea power. He foresaw the need to connect the At-
The Japanese victory over Russia in 1905, plus the lantic and Pacific so American naval and merchant ships
war scare in 1906-7, caused leaders in the Navy to begin could move quickly between the nation's coasts. The
to consider Japan a threat against American interests in sixty-six-day trip of the battleship Oregoll around South
the western Pacific, especially the Philippines. Accord- America during the Spanish-American War illustrated
ingly, beginning in 1911 a series of color-coded war plans Mahan's point. It ,vas clear that ,vith new territories in
was developed by Navy and Army planners that would the Pacific, the United States must have either a canal or
specify American strategy in the event of any future con- two separate navies.
flict with Japan. Collectively called War Plan Orange, In 1901 a treaty was concluded with Great Britain in
these plans would evenhtally form the basis of U.S. tac- which ilie two nations agreed to total American control of
tics and strategy in the Pacific theater in World War II. such a canal (if built), including fortification and
defense. In 1903 the United States purchased the construc-
tion rights, abandoned equipment, and the Panama Rail-
THE PANAMA CANAL
road from the French company. Now the United States
For over three centuries, Europeans and Americans had had to secure treaty rights from Colombia. A preliminary
talked of a canal across the narrow Isthmus of Panama treaty was worked out with a Colombian dip-lomat in
between the Atlantic and the Pacific. A dangerous jour- Washington. However, the Colombian senate refused to
approve the treaty, hoping to hold out for more money.
Colombia had made a mistake. The people of
Panama wanted a canal for jobs. They had repeatedly re-
volted against Colombia to gain independence over the
years, so they were easily convinced by Canal Company
agents to revolt again. President Roosevelt, who had
counted on the Colombian treaty, was anxious to build
the canal. He sent the cruiser USS Nashville to the Pana-
manian city of Colon, supposedly to maintain "perfect
neutrality and free transit" of the isthmus, according to
the terms of an 1846 treaty with Colombia.
The Nashville arrived in November 1903, and the next
day the Panamanian revolutionaty government raised its
flag. The rebels officially declared themselves the inde-
pendent Republic of Panama on the fourth. When Colom-
bian troops arrived by ship to put down the revolt, the
commanding officer of the Nashville made ready his guns
and politely told them they could not land because the
presence of troops ashore would violate American treaty
Upon the return of the Great White Fleet to Norfolk in 1908, Presi- obligations to maintain "perfect neutrality." Within
dent Theodore Roosevelt went aboard the USS Connecticut to
welcome the men home after their grand fourteen-month cruise hours, the USS Dixie atTived with a force of U.S. Marines
around the world. to act as a police force ashore to assist the new govern-