who was president when the panama canal was built
Theodore Roosevelt President Theodore Roosevelt
title: History of the Panama Canal text: the three presidents whose terms spanned the construction period, Theodore Roosevelt is most associated with the canal and Woodrow Wilson presided over its opening. However, William Howard Taft may have given the canal its greatest impetus for the longest time. Taft visited Panama five times as Roosevelt's secretary of war and twice as president. He hired John Stevens and later recommended Goethals as Stevens' replacement. Taft became president in 1909, when the canal was half finished, and was in office for most of the remainder of the work. However, Goethals later wrote: "The real builder of the Panama Canal was title: Aristides Royo text: General Omar Torrijos or General Manuel Noriega, who were the two powerful strongmen during that period. President Jimmy Carter negotiated the Panama Canal treaties with General Torrijos in 1978, which were opposed by then presidential candidate Ronald Reagan. Eleven years later, President George H. W. Bush launched the Invasion of Panama to remove General Manuel Noriega from power. Aristides Royo Aristides Royo Sánchez (born August 14, 1940 in La Chorrera, Panamá Province) was President of Panama from October 11, 1978 to July 31, 1982, when he was pressured to resign by the military. He studied law at the University of title: Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt text: as the Chief Engineer of the canal project. When Wallace resigned in 1905, Roosevelt appointed John Frank Stevens, who built a railroad in the canal zone and initiated the construction of a lock canal. Stevens was replaced in 1907 by George Washington Goethals, who saw construction through to its completion. Roosevelt traveled to Panama in November 1906 to inspect progress on the canal. Although presidents before him had traveled outside the U.S. in other diplomatic capacities prior to or after serving as president, Roosevelt was the first to do so while in office. Russia had occupied the Chinese region of title: Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt text: of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending on each side of the centerline, excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of the zone) to the United States for $10 million and a steadily increasing yearly sum. In February 1904, Roosevelt won Senate ratification of the treaty in a 66-to-14 vote. The Isthmian Canal Commission, supervised by Secretary of War Taft, was established to govern the zone and oversee the construction of the canal. Roosevelt appointed George Whitefield Davis as the first governor of the Panama Canal Zone and John Findley Wallace title: Ricardo Joaquín Alfaro Jované text: Ricardo Joaquín Alfaro Jované Ricardo Joaquín Alfaro Jované (August 20, 1882 – February 23, 1971), served as 7th President of Panama from January 16, 1931 to June 5, 1932. He belonged to the Liberal Party. Dr. Alfaro was born in Panama. He began a career in the diplomatic service in 1905 as under-secretary for foreign affairs. He was first assigned to the U.S. in 1912 as legal counselor of the Panamanian legation for the Panama-Costa Rica border dispute. Dr. Alfaro was also involved in settling numerous disputes arising from the construction of the Panama Canal. From 1915 to 1918, he