| Teddy Roosevelt Revisits the Panama Canal by Louis J. Barbier, BHS Class of 1957 |
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| First, Teddy Roosevelt was the Panama Canal! Without his interest in the project there would not be a canal. He was the great supporter of the US Navy. He understood that to say something that was in the great interst of the United States, you must be able to back it up with a powerful Navy. We are a maritime nation. The Navy and the Marines made it possible to do what we have done around the world and in Panama. Second Teddy Roosevelt is not pleased with the idea of the turning over of the Panama Canal that was paid in full with greenbacks, sweat and blood! He never liked the idea of reimbursing Columbia after they welsh on a proposed deal for building the canla in Panama. He often stated, "I don't think they should have gotten a red cent for our building of the Panama Canal. With their refusal to be a party to this grand project, they dealt themselves out. So why give them a red cent?" Now, to Teddy.....we have done the samething again with the Torrijos and Carter Treaties! Now, picture if you will Teddy Roosevelt arriving at Tucumen International in a white suit with maybe a staff of three other people on 26 December 1999. Who will meet him? It is the day after Christmas. Everybody is partying. The Panama Canal Commission is no longer what it use to be.....now, who will meet this great leader? Fortunately on his staff he has me. Yes, I will be his tour guide and local country expert. Teddy will notice the heat and greenhouse affect as he steps off the plane a modern 747. We will quickly go through customs and he will realize that nobody knows him. He is expected the morning of the 31st, but Teddy has always been a person who will surprise you. His opponents never saw him coming on the Panama deal. So after a short workout in the gym at 0430, Teddy said,"Louie, we are going to Panama, now! Louie pack my suitcase with three white suits and a couple of white shirts. We'll travel light, but I want to wear a bowie knife, carry a compass, $25,000, a map of the Canal Zone and two pistols. I understand the military now issues 9mm Berettas. Go to the Quartermaster and get us 3. I'll also be packing one. Yes, we will leave in an hour." Well, here we were in Panama. It was in the middle of the dry season. We were traveling in a classic Lincoln Town Car. We were sitting in the back with two Marines up front in white suits too! The two Marines up front were both sharpshooters. And they were both packing rods too! Well, Panama has had a history full of conflicts and riots. On one occasion the government was elected on a Friday and Monday morning bright and early, there was a coup to replace the duly elected government by a military junta. The US Marines have had to go into Panama to restore order in 13 different occasions. This was something that bothered Teddy. The Red Chinese have moved into Panama and are deployed as if to take over the country after the US Official last day. So, we were packing for self protection. Plus Teddy had always felt that the Second Amendment....."the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." He strongly felt that law biding citizens have a right, no a duty to carry a conceal weapon for the protection of self, love ones and property. We live in a dangerous world! Where good order and discipline must often be protected by the law of the "Peacemaker!" So, this is something that also bothers me. I have gone through many civil disturbances, riots, Operation Just Cause and having been gassed almost every day with tear gas with the presence of the United States in the Canal Zone, I wonder what will happen after the last American leaves Panama. Yes, this bothers me. I then say as we drive along, "Teddy, the place looks like it has been trashed." Teddy relies, "Yea, Louie, I hope they don't ask me again to send in the Marines. What is surprising is why people will trash things when they have not sweated long and hard in the noon day sun to build. Louie, I had forgotten how hot it get here at 9 degrees above the equator. Will we be staying at the Tivoli Guest House?" I replied, "No, Teddy they tore that down years ago and never rebuilt it." "That is really a crying shame, Louie, I won this Lincoln Town Car in a late night poker game at the Tivoli Guest House from my dear friend General Gorgas. I talked with him a couple of days ago, he was as usual chain smoking those hand made cigarettes. He is also a bit peeved that his hospital has been closed. So where are we staying?" "Teddy, we will be staying at the Marine Barracks at Rodman on the other side of the canal passed San Juan Hill, "I answered. I continued by saying,"With your permission, we'll be stopping by the Diablo Clubhouse for some of their famous Cafe Duran and those finger licking good empanadas. This will also give us an opportunity to survey the canal area." Teddy looked out the window as we drove by the Balboa High School and he said, "Nice school. And do you know that some say I planred those trees.....not so. John Stevens told the people here, that I was a Naturalist and that I loved trees and fauna. So, he got some of the Panama Canal workers to plant them. Glad to see that they're still here. Louie, make a note, too much trash laying around. I know we are in the tropics, but lets pick up the trash! Louie is the railroad still running?" "Not yet Teddy. The Kansas Sothern is working to bring it back to its glory of yester year. Should be running again by late next year." Teddy then asked, "Didn't we give it to the Panamanians to run? Good grief man, if they can't keep a railroad running, what are they going to do with my canal? We were now proceeding on Gaillard Highway. "Louie, has that bump been there all this time?" "You bet, Teddy. It kind of takes your breath away, doesn't it?" Teddy then said,"No, Louie, more like being on a bronco! Did I ever tell you I wasa Bronco Rider in Montana? What are those little blue chivas we keep passing?" "That is part of the independent owner and operated small business of mass transit." "Yes, I'm all for everybody doing their thing. Less laws and red tape is the way to go. Give the little guy the opportunity to go as far as he can go! Yes, that is the American way.....a democracy that works for the people! That is what scares me about this turnover. I honestly think it is not good for Panama or for the United States. You know, Louie, I was moving for Statehood but we were distracted by the Great War!" Well, we're here. We went in and took a corner table facing the door. Teddy, was a gambler but not stupid! We never and he never sat with his back to the door. "Oh, these empanadas are bully fabulous! The Cafe Duran is great too. Well, lets talk shop! "Now, there have really been great advances in medicine since my day. But Gorgas and Reed along with their research made it all possible. Without these discoveries we would all still be dying here in Panama. Wow, did you see that big cucaracha scurry under that table over there. We could never get rid of those pesky critters.....but we really tried. I heard that in California, they keep them in jars to predict the next big quake. Well, DDT my friend is the ticket, at least that is whatmy friend George said,'You got to gas them and kill the larvae where they live. Make a note...are they still doing that, Louie?" "You know being a military man, that 1989 Invasion (Operation Just Cause) was necessary! We can't have any tin horn general killing our people and harassing our citizens. The Panamanian people won in the long run. Now, I know they got a drug problem here! In my day there were a few funny looking cigars, but for me give me a little bit of Napoleon in a snifter and a good Cuban Cigar! Yes, indeed.....I kind of picked up the habit while in Cuba when I was a leader of the 'Rough Riders'Yes, they were all good men. They would do anything for me! Too bad we lost some of them in the charge up Kettle Hill or as some refer to that battle San Juan Hill. We could really use some of those good men today. That is what really bothers me! The drugs and the idea that the Red Chinese are on the ground here already. Can the Panamanian Civil Police handle an invasion? I don't think they can.......So, Louie, we better get ready to send in the gunboats and the Marines!" "Now this exodus of Americans from the Canal Zone, also bothers me. No amount of money can repay them for their sacrifices. I was looking at one of those 4-family houses.....they're very primitive! The maintenance is out of sight! I don't think Panama will spend the money. You know, Louie, the journists pictured me digging a ditch and carrying a big stick, well, that is not completley false. Think about it for a minute. We used tons and tons of dynamite. And we have always had the guts to protect our project with armed forces, if necessary. Over the years the big enemy to the operations has been kept at bay through heavy duty maintenance. You know the Panama Canal is like an old grand lady that get up twice during the night." "Oh, Louie, you should have been there. I had the best engineers. We developed methods that nobody else imagined or thought possible. Saw an intersting article in The PanamaCanal Society of Florida's Canal Record on the mechanism of closing the lock gates. Have you read it? It is amazing stuff! We came up with the idea right on the spot. Still the number one engineering feat in this century or for that matter in the world. Yes, a water-stairway over the mountain. So, I hate to see Zonians and Pangringos leave the only place they call home. A little like what has happen in Kosovo. I read the newspapers. But that CNN bunch is really the pits! The greatest event in our century and nobody is here to cover it!" "Yea, I heard the last BHS Class of 1999 had a nice graduation. But no news coverage. It was a none news event by the media. You know that in Cuba, many of the journalist stayed at the bar and drank rum and just wrote lies. But they were so called the experts. BALDERDASH! They couldn't even get the hill right." "But who do we have as our leaders today? Just a bunch of pantywaist who have never been there or done that. I am not really looking forward to the ceremony at high noon on 31 December 1999. I think it is a big mistake and a rotten deal all around! Look at the way we treated the loyalty and dedication of our hard working Zonians and Panagringos. When it all goes down the toilet and it will you know.......remember I told you so. But who will tell our people who now have no homes and no birth right in the Canal Zone that it was in their best interest?" "Now they tell me, there is some great fishing in these parts. Lets go fishing. And Louie, bring some of those La Bruja Lures you packed! I need to relax......this whole experience is becomming too stressful." I don't have much more to add.....but my gut feeling is that it is a losy deal all around. Quoting directly from Teddy Roosevelt:.."to each generation was allotted a task, Roosevelt knew, 'I wish to see the United States the dominat power on the shores of the Pacific Ocean.'" (The Path Between the Seas - The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870 - 1914 by David McCullough) We are a super power! The number one power in the world. But what are we doing? We are in full retreat around the globe. We have gutted our Armed Forces. The Navy is in the same position it was prior to Pearl Harbor! And our troops are involved in 153 countries around the world in too amy operations other than war (Pizza Deliveries). In Teddy Roosevelt's time a battleship like the USS Nashville backed up our talk. But where are our battleships today? No, Teddy Roosevelt is not pleased. In fact, that is why we are going fishing! Teddy Roosevelt is one of the greatest leaders and presidents in this century. If Teddy were still here today, we would still have the the Panama Canal and we would all still be living in the old Canal Zone. But that is all gone, gone, now.......too bad. One final word, "Don't let Reality Spoil Your Dreams!" And if Teddy Roosevelt were still around he would have aslo said, "Bully for You!" |
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| Teddy Roosevelt - Page 35 |
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