Sunday, January 16, 2000, the Gannett newspaper in our town, the Rockford Register Star, had an article about the Panama Canal in which they said; "That marked the end of an era dating to 1903, when the United States facilitated Panama's independence from Columbia..."
Isn't that a great word, facilitated? Since Panama is where it came from, I suppose we've now changed Teddy Roosevelt's famous slogan to:
Isn't that a great word, facilitated? Since Panama is where it came from, I suppose we've now changed Teddy Roosevelt's famous slogan to:
Walk softly and carry a big facilitator
In conversation with President Theodore Roosevelt, Bunau-Varilla related how the natives of this part of Columbia were ready to revolt. They were sick of the rape of their land, unfulfilled promises and rusting machinery everywhere. Roosevelt's reply was that the United States could do nothing to encourage insurrection but, if the natives should do this on their own, then they could count on his support.
Within weeks, nine U.S. warships stood off the port cities of Colon and what is now Panama City. The battleships Dixie, Atlanta, Mayflower, Prairie and the new Maine were on the Atlantic side at Colon. The Boston, Marblehead, Concord, and Wyoming were on the Pacific side at Panama City. Columbia did little to resist the separation and loss of their territory, mostly because they were just recouperating from a much more serious civil war.
This is where Teddy Roosevelt earned the slogan; "Walk softly and carry a big stick."
If you want to know more about this, see POOP's account of Nicaragua (or Ronald Reagan's attempt to be another "roughrider.")
