President Theodore Roosevelt Inspecting Canal Work from Decauville Train
11/1906
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President Theodore Roosevelt, a pivotal figure throughout the construction of the Panama canal, had been an eyewitness to the ravages of disease in Cuba and believed that health measures would determine U.S. success in Panama. He adamantly declared, "As you know, I feel that the sanitary and hygienic problems...on the Isthmus are those which are literally of the first importance, coming even before the engineering."
Text adapted from “Legacy of Health: Documentary Photographs of the Panama Canal Construction” in the March 2000 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) publication Social Education.
This primary source comes from the Records of the Panama Canal.
National Archives Identifier:
6003748Full Citation: Photograph 185-G-22-2101; President Theodore Roosevelt Inspecting Canal Work from Decauville Train; 11/1906; Photographs of the Construction of the Panama Canal, 1887 - 1940; Records of the Panama Canal, Record Group 185; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/roosevelt-inspecting-canal-work, April 23, 2024]