Prize Possession The United States Government and the Panama Canal 1903–1979

Prize Possession is a comprehensive history of U.S. policy toward the Panama Canal between 1903 and 1979, focusing on five key themes: the Canal's defense and its place in American strategy; the Zone's autocratic system of government; its strictly segregated labor force; its commercial development at the expense of Panama; and the equally controversial issue of U.S. intervention in Panamanian politics. The book is based for the most part on the hitherto largely untapped sources of U.S. government agencies, namely the State, War, and Navy Departments, and the Canal Zone administration, as well as on the papers of notable dramatis personae such as Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt and Philippe Bunau-Varilla.

Prize Possession is a history of United States policy towards the Panama Canal, focusing principally on the first two generations of American tenure of the Canal Zone between 1904 and 1955. John Major also provides an extensive look at the nineteenth-century background, the making of the 1903 canal treaty with Panama, the move after 1955 towards the new treaty settlement of 1977, and the crucial significance of the Canal to American policy-makers and their public. The book is based for the most part on the hitherto largely untapped sources of US government agencies, namely, the State, War, and Navy Department, and the Canal Zone administration, as well as on the papers of notable dramatis personae such as Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt and Philippe Bunau-Varilla. As such it makes an important and original contribution to our knowledge and understanding of a subject which has not yet received its due from historians.

Preface and acknowledgments; Part I. Prelude: 1826–1904: 1. The quest for an American canal, 1826–1903; 2. 'I took the isthmus', 1903–4; Part II. Beginnings: 1904–29: 3. The zone régime; 4. The labour force; 5. The Commissary; 6. The protectorate; 7. Canal defence; Part III. Transitions: 1930–55: 8. The zone régime; 9. The labour force; 10. The commissary; 11. Partnership politics; 12. Canal defence; Part IV. Recessional: 1956–79: 13. 'Mandate from civilization'?, Map of the Canal Zone; Appendices; Bibliography.

Based for the most part on the hitherto largely untapped sources of US government agencies, namely, the States, War, and Navy Departments and the Canal Zone administration, this is a comprehensive history of US policy towards the Panama Canal.