How did teddy roosevelts life prepare him to build panama canal - Essay Example

How did teddy Roosevelt’s life prepare him to build Panama Canal? Affiliation: Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States in 1901 having become the Republican president after the assassination of William McKinley. He faced several challenges in his career but his robust nature and fighter attitude made him struggle labor and management as well as join conservationists. His skillful negotiation tactics saw him win a Nobel Peace Prize as a result of negotiations that saw the end of Russo-Japanese war as well as be used in negotiating for the Panama Canal deal from the French, the Columbian and Panama (Vander Hook, 2010).

The Panama Canal was a project by the French that would save the long journey from the Atlantic to Pacific via South America and which took months to get across from. Just as the Suez Canal had attracted investors, the Panama Canal was believed to be a viable project for future investors as well. Due to the bad weather and wild animals including snakes and insects that caused malaria, thousands of workers died and millions were used without any much work being completed and the canal was left unfinished by the French.

Once he became president, Roosevelt picked up the project in 1902 and they reached an agreement of $40 million to buy the rights from the French and agreement reached with Panama of $10 million which secured the Canal Zone rights to build. This was not so smooth a deal as US had to go to war with Columbia over Panama and US won amid bribery of soldiers to surrender the war and it made Panama a country with its own sovereign rights from Columbia and hence accepting the deal from the US of the rights in exchange for the money to build their country (Vander Hook, 2010).

ReferencesVander Hook, S. (2010). Building the Panama Canal. New York: ABDO.