With the press of a button at 2 p.m. on October 10, 1913, President Woodrow Wilson changed the world. The button sent an electrical current through 4,000 miles of telegraph lines, connecting his desk in the Oval Office to an 8-ton pile of dynamite in the Latin American country of Panama.
The explosives were stacked at the base of a dike holding back millions of gallons of water. When Wilson detonated the dynamite, dirt, rocks, and gravel flew sky-high, releasing the pent-up waters into a 51-mile-long canal that linked the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic for the first time. It turned the centuries-old dream of a maritime shortcut through Central America into reality. Completing the canal—a 17-year undertaking that was one of the biggest building projects ever launched—ushered in a new era of global trade, while helping cement the United States’ dominance as a world power.
“The construction of the Panama Canal was spectacular on every level,” says Julie Greene, a historian and author of The Canal Builders. “It not only asserted the United States’ tremendous power, but it did so in a way that stressed the ideals we most wanted to be associated with: a nation whose strength was built on technological, scientific, and medical know-how.”
On October 10, 1913, President Woodrow Wilson changed the world. He pressed a button that sent an electrical current through 4,000 miles of telegraph lines. The lines connected his desk in the Oval Office to an 8-ton pile of dynamite in the Latin American country of Panama.
The explosives were stacked at the base of an embankment holding back millions of gallons of water. Wilson detonated the dynamite. Dirt, rocks, and gravel flew into the air. Water was released into a 51-mile-long canal that linked the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic for the first time. Finally, there was a shortcut through Central America. It took 17 years to complete one of the biggest building projects ever launched. It was the beginning of a new era of global trade, and building the canal helped strengthen the United States’ dominance as a world power.
“The construction of the Panama Canal was spectacular on every level,” says Julie Greene, a historian and author of The Canal Builders. “It not only asserted the United States’ tremendous power, but it did so in a way that stressed the ideals we most wanted to be associated with: a nation whose strength was built on technological, scientific, and medical know-how.”