Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla () (26 July 1859 – 18 May 1940) was a French engineer and soldier. With the assistance of American lobbyist and lawyer William Nelson Cromwell, Bunau-Varilla greatly influenced Washington's decision concerning the construction site for the Panama Canal. He also worked closely with President Theodore Roosevelt in the latter's orchestration of the Panamanian Revolution. Early life Bunau-Varilla was born on 26 July 1859 in Paris, France. After graduating at age 20 from the École Polytechnique, he remained in France for three years. In 1882 he abandoned his career in public works at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées and traveled to Panama. He arrived at the isthmus in 1884, employed with Ferdinand de Lesseps's Panama Canal Company. He became general manager of the organization. Panama Canal After the Panama Canal Company went bankrupt in 1888 amidst charges of fraud, Bunau-Varilla was left stranded in Panama. He struggled to find a new way to construct the canal. When the New Panama Canal Company sprang up back in his native France, Bunau-Varilla sailed home, having purchased a large amount of stock. However, as de Lesseps' company had before, the New Panama Canal Company soon abandoned efforts to build the canal. It sold the land in Panama to the United States, in hopes that the company would not fail entirely. U.S. President Grover Cleveland, an anti-imperialist, avoided the canal issue. When the more supportive Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901, canal planning resumed in the United States. Bunau-Varilla energetically promoted a canal in Panama. With aid from the New Panama Canal Company's New York attorney, William Nelson Cromwell, he persuaded the government to select Panama as the canal site, as opposed to the popular alternative, Nicaragua. When opponents voiced their interest in constructing a canal through Nicaragua, which was a less politically volatile nation, Bunau-Varilla actively lobbied in the United States, for example by distributing Nicaraguan postage stamps featuring belching volcanos to senators. Through lobbying of businessmen, government officials, and the American public, Bunau-Varilla convinced the U.S. Congress to appropriate $40 million to the New Panama Canal Company, under the Spooner Act of 1902. The funds were contingent on negotiating a treaty with Colombia to provide land for the canal in its territory of Panama. Separation of Panama from Colombia Colombia signed the Hay–Herrán Treaty in 1903, ceding land in Panama to the United States for the canal, but the