PROPOSAL TO CHANGE THE NAME OF THE PANAMA CANAL

The administration of the American President, Theodore Roosevelt, achieved its greatest undertaking in the building of the Panama Canal. Roosevelt, however, did not have the honor of inaugurating it on August 15, 1914, because his first term as President had ended.

Nevertheless, the mark of his strong personality was evident everywhere, and his actions were felt, even in the most minute detail.

Two years after the United States took over to make reality the undertaking at which the French had failed, it seemed as if history was going to repeat itself.

The stern leader then made a resolute decision to delegate the Army to oversee all the works. Roosevelt was growing weary of civilians resigning from their positions; in his opinion, the military could not do that.

The strict military discipline would soon begin to garner results, and continued to do so, up to that long-awaited day on October 10, 1913, when President Woodrow Wilson pressed the button from the White House, detonating the dynamite charge, allowing linkage of both ends of the Gaillard Cut.

The works continued until this wonderful feat of world-class engineering was opened to the vessels of the world on August 15, 1914. The Roosevelt imprint was visible throughout: from the use of his influence to obtain approval for the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty; to his efforts to have the Panama route chosen above all other proposals; to giving the required support to the Panamanian Republic, still in its infancy; to supporting the thesis submitted by Gorgas, which pointed out the necessity of combating the anopheles mosquito and malaria; to the approval of his engineers’ plans favoring a locks canal over a sea-level canal.

In the U. S. Senate session of February 19, 1919, Reverend Forrest J. Prettyman, D.d. made the daily invocation with which all meetings of that legislative body was opened.

Later in the section of Petitions and Memorials, Senator Sterling presented a resolution that originated from the Congressman for South Dakota, whereby the United States Senate was being petitioned to change the name of the Panama Canal to that of the Roosevelt Canal.

The cited resolution read as follows:

Whereas our nation has experienced a huge sense of pain and loss, when the Supreme Creator called to rest the fearless soul of Theodore Roosevelt, the most manly, brilliant, best-loved, and all-around American of his time, whose actions as an athlete, hunter, soldier, author, explorer, President and standard-bearer of the American ideals have made him an inspiration to generations of young people, and inasmuch as one of his greatest triumphs is represented by the Canal between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which, after 50 years of debating and waiting, was made possible thanks to his creative genius.

Resolves:

The Senate of the State of South Dakota (with the approval of the House of Representatives) to officially petition the Congress of the United States to name that waterway, built by the people of the United States, the Roosevelt Canal, to commemorate this feat as an enduring monument to his greatness and a lasting remembrance for all, that said canal, as well as the great president who built it, is unequivocally American, and it further resolves that a copy of this resolution, duly signed by all dignitaries and officials of both chambers, be forwarded to the President of the Senate and the House of Representatives as well as to each Senator and Representative of the United States Congress.

For the Senate:

W.H. McMaster - Chairman
A. B. Blake - Secretary

For the House of Representatives:

Lewis Benson
Wright Tanell

Pierce, South Dakota, February 10, 1919."

When this fact became known in Panama, a wave of protests was unleashed, leading the way for the passage of Resolution No. 25 of February 27, 1919, by the National Assembly, which read as follows:

"Inasmuch as a motion has been presented in the United States Senate to change the name of the Panama Canal to that of the Roosevelt Canal-- notwithstanding that this worthy citizen, who was a great friend of our Republic, is deserving not only of this honor but of even greater honors--the people of Panama would view with great patriotic displeasure that the greatest work of human effort and ingenuity be stripped of the name of this nation, with which it is already known worldwide.

"The least that may be asked on behalf of Panama, who allowed her land to be divided for the benefit of the world, is to have her name remain linked to this great feat. Consequently, the National Assembly of Panama resolves to:

Bring to the knowledge of the Senate and the people of the United States their firm and vehement desire that the name of the Panama Canal remain as that of the waterway uniting the two largest oceans, and at the same time stress that the Panamanian people would be most pleased to join in any other way to honor the name of Roosevelt."

E. A. Jiménez - President
José Ángel Casís - Secretary

On May 21 this resolution of the National Assembly was forwarded by Joe E. Lefevre, the Chargé d’Affairs for our diplomatic representation in Washington, to the Acting Secretary of State, Frank L. Polk. On the 29th of that month, he, in turn, submitted it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Similarly, friendly contacts were established with senators of both parties—Democrats and Republicans—to obtain the required support, which in many cases was spontaneously offered by them.

Apparently the situation was reversed in due time and it went no further than being the desire of South Dakota and its political representatives to eternally honor the memory of Theodore Roosevelt at the expense of our nation, which had been split in two parts to offer the world the benefit of a passage between the seas.