Bold Endeavors by Felix Rohatyn

Author:Felix Rohatyn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2009-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

OR COULD IT?

In all the congressional debate over the canal, very little attention had been paid to one very large and encumbering legal reality: the province of Panama was governed by Colombia. The United States had to receive Colombia’s approval and consent before it could build in its territory.

Negotiations now began between America and Colombia. It did not take long for mutual frustrations and resentments to boil over into hot anger. The Colombian government had recently come to power in a coup and was determined to prove it could not be intimidated. Its chief negotiator was José Vicente Concha, a former minister of war, who spoke no English and had to consult with the Colombian president before he could comment on even the most routine matters. America’s lead diplomat was John Hay, the secretary of state. A veteran negotiator, a man of aristocratic breeding and steady temperament, nevertheless even Hay was undone by the adamancy and recalcitrance of the Colombians. He was trapped, he would say, in “the most thankless and exasperating episode in a long career.”

Roosevelt’s patience quickly wore thin. American power, he decided without any qualms, would accomplish what diplomacy could not. He would shake a “big stick,” and the frightened Colombians would have no choice but to acquiesce. On September 16, 1902, the USS Cincinnati anchored in Panama’s Colón Harbor, and American forces took control of the Panama railway and occupied Panama City. After three tense months, Colombia agreed to appoint a new negotiator to lead the canal discussions with the United States.

Dr. Tomás Herrán was a graduate of Georgetown University and, to the delight of the American contingent, spoke fluent English. As his counterpart, Hay chose an influential lawyer who had openly support Hanna’s pro-Panama efforts in the Senate, William Nelson Cromwell. With the selection of these two new diplomats and the lingering presence of the Cincinnati in Colón, the negotiations moved forward.

On January 23, 1903, the Hay-Herrán Treaty was signed. Colombia would receive a modest $10 million payment from the United States for the entire Canal Zone and an additional $250,000 yearly annuity. The U.S. Senate, over the objections of the still vocal Nicaraguan lobby, ratified the treaty in mid-March.

At last, America could begin construction on its Panamanian canal. But before the excavations started, the unexpected happened. On August 12, a defiant Colombian Senate unanimously rejected the Hay-Herrán Treaty.

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