Teddy Roosevelt And The Panama Canal Essay

, Research Paper

Teddy Roosevelt was a man who liked to creat a stir wherever he went. He loved mingling with people to boost his own self-image.He loved to impress people with his cowboyism, his collection of guns, and his pintsize spectacles.Also, Roosevelt was a direct-actionist.He wanted to keep the country moving foward and preserve his public image at the same time. He wanted to display to his supporters that he could lead the country and be a jovial person simulataneously. His public image seemed to be his first priority, and when the election of 1904 came approaching, he wanted to show that he could be a bully to smaller countries and impress his people back home.

Over the course of the Spanish-American war , the obvious need for a canal came apparent.The canal would stregthen the navy, and it would make easier defense of the islands in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The problem of where to build the canal came into play. Congress rejected Nicaragua and Panama was an unwilling part of this project. The course of the building was shifted to Columbia. The United States was trying to negotiate a proposal,although they came up empty-handed . Roosevelt was considerably furious with the result.

Election time was around the corner and he was eager ” to make the dirt fly”

and impress his people with him bullying another smaller country. It?s no surprise

that his bullyish attitude would extend to forgein policies.

Another time of Roosevelt?s bullyish attitude , so he can impress his fellow

countrymen was his dealing with Panama. The Panamanians feared that the United