In 1903 Panama became an independent nation. Two weeks later, the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty was signed, granting the United States eminent domain throughout Panama and perpetual control over the future Canal Zone. A marvel of modern engineering, the 50-mile-long canal was completed in 1914 at a cost of some 22,000 human lives, and immediately became a major international waterway. The zone itself became a de facto U. S. colony, whose wealth and privilege stood in marked contrast to the local society.
The canal has been a source of controversy between the United States and Panama since its construction early in the 20th century. Numerous military interventions and treaty revisions have embroiled the United States in Panamanian affairs. Renegotiations of the treaty began in the 1950s, and while Panama received an increased annuity from the United States, the sovereignty question remained under discussion.
Tensions continued into the 1960s. In 1964 American high school students in the Canal Zone raised an American flag without the accompanying Panamanian colors; large-scale rioting followed, and diplomatic relations with Washington were severed by Panama. These “flag riots” ushered in a new political period for Panamanian politics and facilitated the rise to power of the National Guard. Under the leadership of General Omar Torrijos Herrera, the guard took power in 1968. As “Maximum Leader of the Revolution,” Torrijos used the canal issue as a nationalist means to rally social classes. During his 13-year rule of Panama, Torrijos actively engaged in canal negotiations with the Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, and James Earl Carter, Jr., administrations, with the United States accepting a treaty that called for Panamanian sovereignty over the canal by 1999.
American conservatives, such as Phyllis Schlafly, denounced the negotiations as a sellout, supported by American corporate bankers seeking to guarantee their loans to Panama, but President Carter obtained the necessary Senate approval, and the United States and the Republic of Panama signed two treaties in 1977. The Panama Canal Treaty established a partnership between Panama and the United States until 2000, when Panama would take on full responsibility for the canal and provide for the immediate abolition of the Canal Zone. The Neutrality Treaty declared the canal permanently neutral, with U. S. and Panamanian ships having priority right-of-way in times of emergency and war.
Final control of the canal was given to Panama during ceremonies held in the closing days of December 1999. The official transition of the canal occurred at midday December 31st, with the focus of the ceremony on the raising of the Panamanian flag. A 21-gun salute and the sounding of ships’ sirens completed the changeover.
Based on fears of computer breakdowns during the transition from the 1999 to 2000 (Y2K) calendar years, the Panama Canal Authority assumed control several hours before the changeover. The canal regularly handles 14,000 ships annually.
Further reading: James Cockcroft, Latin America— History, Politics, and U. S. Policy (Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1996).
—Michele Rutledge
Pelosi, Nancy (1940- ) Speaker of the House of Representatives
Nancy Pelosi, Democrat congresswoman from California, became the first woman to be elected Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives on January 4, 2007. Under Pelosi’s leadership during the 2007 session, Congress enacted legislation to raise the minimum wage, implement an energy bill, expand financial assistance to college students, and tighten law on congressional lobbying. This legislative record in her first year was considered modest by most political observers.
Pelosi was born Nancy Patricia D’Alesandro on March 26, 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland. Her father, Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr., was politically active as city councilman, U. S. representative, and mayor of Baltimore; her brother, Thomas D’Alesandro III, also served as mayor of Baltimore. In 1962 Nancy D’Alesandro graduated with an A. B. from Trinity College in Washington, D. C., and the following year married Paul Pelosi. The Pelosis subsequently relocated to San Francisco, California, where Nancy became politically active in the California Democratic Party at the local level. She served as the northern chair of the state Democratic
Party from 1977 to 1981, chair of the California State Democratic Party from 1981 to 1983, and as finance chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 1985 to 1986.
Pelosi was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1987 from the Eighth District of California, encompassing most of the San Francisco metropolitan area, and has represented the Eighth District to the present. She served on the Appropriations and Intelligence Committees, as well as Ethics and Banking Committees. In 2001 she became the first woman to achieve the position of minority whip in the House and achieved another first the following year by succeeding Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) as minority leader. In 2004 Pelosi served as cochair of the Democratic National Convention. When House Democrats regained the majority in the 2006 midterm elections, Pelosi was elected Speaker, beginning her tenure with the first session of the 110th Congress.
Pelosi represents a strongly Democratic district and has been regularly reelected with margins of 80 percent. She began her congressional career working on human rights issues, including human rights policy in China, housing and services for HIV/AIDS patients, services for the disabled, and environmental issues. She has compiled a liberal voting record, supporting reproductive rights, federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, and environmental protection, and opposing the Defense of Marriage Act, the George W. Bush administration’s tax cuts, health care proposals, and reform of Social Security through privatization of some assets. She joined Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in proposing nonbinding resolutions that required deadlines for ending military action in Iraq. These resolutions failed to gain the necessary support to pass, however, raising discontent among the antiwar activists. In 2009 Pelosi was reelected Speaker.
Further reading: Michael Barone and Richard E. Cohen, Almanac of American Politics, 2008 (Washington, D. C.: National Journal Group, 2007).
—Cynthia Stachecki
World History
