Question

How would building the Panama Canal contribute to national pride?

Answer 1

The Panama Canal marked a transition: from the great public works of classical Egypt, Rome, and China, built by backbreaking labor, to the far more mechanized triumphs of the twentieth century. And as a monument to optimism and national pride. The canal was an assertion of American military power and engineering prowess. It mobilized outstanding international talent to overcome obstacles that could not be gauged fully at the outset. It was launched by a charismatic new president in the wake of a crisis: by Theodore Roosevelt shortly after assuming office following President William McKinley’s assassination. The project subordinated economic calculation to political and military logic and was a bonanza for suppliers of state-of-the-art equipment.It pushed the endurance of the human body to its limits, enlisting physicians alongside engineers. They aimed, respectively, at control of the sea, but it also changed global consciousness: by linking the two great oceans.