Your vision of America is not complete yet. You have just returned from Cuba, where the US charged up Kittle Mt. (actually, history says San Juan Hill, but that is not true). Your "rough riders", a group of rich kids that you grew up with on Long Island, are now your military subordinates on horse back. Your Army defeats the Spanish, thereby, leaving the "Americas" (Caribbean, Central and South America) open for conquest. The military lose many to Malaria and Yellow fever. Walter Reed discovers and studies Yellow Fever because of the effects on the Army. He finds that by draining swamps near living areas, and by using netting to keep mosquitoes from biting, the Army can manage subtropical diseases. Walter Reed finds that a mosquito carries both Malaria and Yellow Fever. You (Teddy Roosevelt, Jr.) firmly believe in the "Monroe Doctrine". You think that the Americas are to be left to the United States and not to any European nation. You can envision a world in which the USA is a global power. When Spain gave up Cuba, they also gave up the Phillipines. You, as the Vice President of the United States have ambitions to one day be President. Your President, William McKinley believes in a strong domestic policy and programs. You picture a global projection of power. Your policy is called "Gun Boat Diplomacy". Sort of beat them with a big stick! In fact, you talk publicly of "speak softly but, carry a big stick!". You can see US Bases in the Phillipines in the future.

There is one obstacle to overcome yet. How to get ships from the east coast of the USA all the way around the world? Of course the suez canal has just opened (1869), but it will take months to steam around the world and this is not a good way to project power. This is the American Century! You see it developing. But, it will take focus and unscrupulousness on your behalf.

Walter Reed returns to Washington to continue his work on Malaria and Yellow Fever. He dies in 1902. You are instrumental in supporting a waterway or canal through Central America that will cut in half the time it will take US Forces to cross the globe in a steam ship. You become President when McKinley is shot (1901) and dies in office. You run and win a second term.

You are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905 for mediating a conflict between the Russians and the Japanese. Only there is a problem, the canal has been tried by 3 separate companies and all fail miserably. The canal is to go through the "canal zone". Territory claimed by Columbia. No problem, you are the President. Use gun boat diplomacy to scare Columbians into agreeing to form a new country called "Panama". You select the government for Panama and they vote to establish the "Canal Zone". They agree to give up control of their own lands and the income it generates. The biggest problem in building the canal, that will make America great, is the death rate of the workers. Most are Colombian and Panamanian. The US companies supervise these workers. Thousands die! Finally, you authorize the US Army Corps of Engineers to come in and finish the job, no matter what!

Fast forward to: August 15, 1914

You, as the former President, and the Man with the vision years earlier, are called upon to cut the ribbon opening the Panama Canal. The first US war ship passes through. The cost was enormous, in both money and human lives. Tens of thousands die of Yellow Fever alone! Yellow fever acts quickly on an Army and may devastate it more than any enemy ever could. The virus becomes the enemy! It will prevent troops from taking and holding territories. Men die in just months after exposure. It attacks the liver and gall bladder turning you yellow with jaundice. The current state of medicine does not allow a cure yet. (DNA will be discover by Watson and Cricke in 1954). The American century is at risk of never happening. Besides the only way to find a cure is to test humans. An idea thought unthinkable!

Twenty years of research passes (1935) and still no cure. US Foreign policy after WWI is a policy of isolationism and "Global Plans" are put on hold by the depression world-wide, and at home. But science is advancing, and so are aggressive nations around the world.