Drawing the line at the big ditch: the Panama Canal Treaties and the rise of the Right

Preface: "Pluck and Luck Conquered All": A Canal for the American Century

1. "In Perpetuity": Years of Dispute and Diplomacy

2. "No Constituency to Help": President Ford Negotiates

3. "What a Shot in the Arm!": Ford Upsets Reagan Despite the Canal

4. "We Bought It. We Built It. It's Ours and We Are Going to Keep It": The Canal Issue Brings Reagan's Recovery

5. "Thank God for Those People in 1976 Who Headed Off That Loss of Freedom": Reagan Loses but Wins Republican Hearts

6. "Delay Invites Violence": Carter Inherits and Seizes the Issue

7. "I Wanted to Treat Panama Fairly": Carter Underestimates American Dismay

8. "Conservatives Can't Lose": The Canal Unifies the Right

9. "Draw the Line at the Big Ditch": The Anti-Treaty Message

10. "What If They're Right?": Reagan Holding Back

11. "Why Now? And Why Me?": Howard Baker and the Treaties

12. "Be Tolerant and Patient in Bringing People Around": Byrd's Advice While in Panama

13. "A Measure of Our Strength, Not Our Weakness": The Senate Advises and Consents

14. "Come On and Watch Me Lose My Seat": Gordon Humphrey and the New Right Sink Tom McIntyre

15. "I Haven't Found Anybody in Iowa That's for the Treaties": Roger Jepsen on the Issue That Made the Difference

16. "We Supported the Tough Conservative, the Business PAC Was Always for the Establishment": The PACmen Come

17. "A Group Like Ours Could Lie through Its Teeth and the Candidate It Helps Stays Clean": NCPAC Takes on Incumbents

18. "ACU Could Go Out of Business by Election Day": The Canal Cuts Both Ways

19. "I Hope That It's Over as an Issue": Reagan on the Canal after Ratification

20. "They Never Wanted to See Another Panama Canal Ad": The North Carolina Senate Campaign

21. "Is Idaho Up for Grabs?": The Canal, NCPAC, and Steve Symms Defeat Frank Church

22. "Cold Water on Some of His Supporters": The Canal Finishes a Weakened Talmadge

23. "A Senate Majority Made All the Difference in the World": Canal-Elected Senators and Baker Give Reagan a Chance to Govern

24. "We've Made a Difference": Reagan Changed the Nation, without the Canal

Notes

An Essay on Sources

Acknowledgments

Index