1 00:00:15,410 --> 00:00:29,170 Speaker 1: Pushkin. President Theodore Roosevelt sits in the Oval Office reading 2 00:00:29,170 --> 00:00:33,010 Speaker 1: his mail. It's early in nineteen oh seven. Roosevelt is 3 00:00:33,050 --> 00:00:37,210 Speaker 1: a commanding figure, a reformer at home, a visionary in 4 00:00:37,330 --> 00:00:41,770 Speaker 1: foreign policy, arguably the most popular and powerful president there 5 00:00:41,810 --> 00:00:45,490 Speaker 1: had ever been. He's not expecting to be let down 6 00:00:45,890 --> 00:00:51,330 Speaker 1: and insulted. He opens a letter from Panama. It's from 7 00:00:51,370 --> 00:00:55,730 Speaker 1: the chief engineer on the Panama Canal project. John Stephens 8 00:00:55,930 --> 00:00:59,530 Speaker 1: is the project's second chief engineer. The first one had 9 00:00:59,610 --> 00:01:03,970 Speaker 1: quit after barely a year. That was embarrassing for Roosevelt. 10 00:01:04,530 --> 00:01:08,370 Speaker 1: The Panama Canal was his pet project, central to his 11 00:01:08,450 --> 00:01:12,930 Speaker 1: vision of acting US naval power across the Atlantic and Pacific. 12 00:01:13,850 --> 00:01:19,490 Speaker 1: The letter is long, six typewritten pages. I never sought 13 00:01:19,530 --> 00:01:24,290 Speaker 1: this position, John Stephens, rights to Roosevelt. I accepted it 14 00:01:24,450 --> 00:01:30,610 Speaker 1: against my better judgment. Oh oh, dear, it is true 15 00:01:30,650 --> 00:01:34,570 Speaker 1: that Stevens never sought the position. When the first chief 16 00:01:34,610 --> 00:01:39,610 Speaker 1: engineer quit, Roosevelt asked around, who is the best civil 17 00:01:39,610 --> 00:01:44,050 Speaker 1: engineer in the United States. John Stevens came the reply. 18 00:01:45,130 --> 00:01:49,330 Speaker 1: Stephens had grown up poor. He'd worked through tough manual 19 00:01:49,410 --> 00:01:52,970 Speaker 1: jobs in the harshest of wilderness. He'd studied in the 20 00:01:53,010 --> 00:01:56,850 Speaker 1: evenings and worked his way up. Now aged fifty two, 21 00:01:57,370 --> 00:02:01,290 Speaker 1: had built bridges and tunnels and the Great Northern Railroad. 22 00:02:02,090 --> 00:02:07,250 Speaker 1: Stephens wasn't keen to go to Panama. Roosevelt persuaded him, 23 00:02:07,490 --> 00:02:12,890 Speaker 1: But now Stephens writes on the whole I do not 24 00:02:13,130 --> 00:02:15,930 Speaker 1: like he could be earning a lot more back in 25 00:02:15,970 --> 00:02:19,450 Speaker 1: the United States. He complains, I am losing more than 26 00:02:19,490 --> 00:02:27,730 Speaker 1: one hundred thousand dollars yearly. Roosevelt bristles, it's not supposed 27 00:02:27,770 --> 00:02:30,770 Speaker 1: to be about the money. A canal across Panamar is 28 00:02:30,890 --> 00:02:34,730 Speaker 1: vital to the strategic interest to the United States. Does 29 00:02:34,770 --> 00:02:39,570 Speaker 1: he not feel honored to have such an important job? Nope, 30 00:02:39,970 --> 00:02:44,850 Speaker 1: Stephens couldn't care less to me. The canal is only 31 00:02:44,890 --> 00:02:50,410 Speaker 1: a big ditch. With every sentence he reads, Roosevelt grows 32 00:02:50,610 --> 00:02:55,850 Speaker 1: more furious from all of the above, writes Stephens. You 33 00:02:55,890 --> 00:02:58,770 Speaker 1: will gather that I am not anxious to continue in 34 00:02:58,810 --> 00:03:06,490 Speaker 1: the service. Roosevelt has indeed gathered that you're listening to 35 00:03:06,530 --> 00:03:10,370 Speaker 1: the second episode in a cautionary tale two parter on 36 00:03:10,450 --> 00:03:13,930 Speaker 1: the building of the Panama Canal. If you haven't heard 37 00:03:13,930 --> 00:03:17,610 Speaker 1: the first episode on the catastrophic French attempt in the 38 00:03:17,650 --> 00:03:21,130 Speaker 1: eighteen eighties. You may want to do that now. In 39 00:03:21,170 --> 00:03:24,490 Speaker 1: this episode, it's the American's turn to have a go. 40 00:03:25,290 --> 00:03:29,610 Speaker 1: When Theodore Roosevelt persuaded the reluctant John Stephens to become 41 00:03:29,730 --> 00:03:34,050 Speaker 1: his second chief engineer, he had said, see it through. 42 00:03:34,530 --> 00:03:38,970 Speaker 1: Don't quit on me like the last guy. Stephens replied carefully, 43 00:03:40,010 --> 00:03:44,170 Speaker 1: I will stay until I have made its success certain 44 00:03:44,970 --> 00:03:49,490 Speaker 1: or proved it to be a failure. That was just 45 00:03:49,930 --> 00:03:55,290 Speaker 1: eighteen months ago. Roosevelt puts the letter from Stephens down 46 00:03:55,330 --> 00:03:59,410 Speaker 1: on his desk. Send a telegraph to Panama, he says, 47 00:04:00,130 --> 00:04:05,650 Speaker 1: Tell Stephens his resignation has been accepted. The canal is 48 00:04:05,730 --> 00:04:12,690 Speaker 1: nowhere near completion. Stephens has broken his promise, or has he. 49 00:04:14,290 --> 00:04:43,490 Speaker 1: I'm Tim Harford, and you're listening to cautionary tales. It's 50 00:04:43,810 --> 00:04:47,610 Speaker 1: nineteen oh four, the start of the American effort to 51 00:04:47,650 --> 00:04:52,090 Speaker 1: build the Panama Canal. Sixteen years have passed since the 52 00:04:52,170 --> 00:05:00,330 Speaker 1: dramatic collapse of the French Panama Canal Company indign The impossible, 53 00:05:00,730 --> 00:05:06,130 Speaker 1: undignified collapse of the most expensive peacetime project the world 54 00:05:06,210 --> 00:05:10,450 Speaker 1: had ever seen. It left hun breds of thousands of 55 00:05:10,490 --> 00:05:16,770 Speaker 1: French investors financially ruined. In those sixteen years, some things 56 00:05:16,770 --> 00:05:21,050 Speaker 1: have changed. The French Company's remaining assets have been sold 57 00:05:21,130 --> 00:05:25,010 Speaker 1: on to the United States. President Roosevelt has been elected, 58 00:05:25,370 --> 00:05:28,170 Speaker 1: and he's keen for the US government to pick up 59 00:05:28,290 --> 00:05:34,050 Speaker 1: where the failed French company left off. No single great 60 00:05:34,250 --> 00:05:38,930 Speaker 1: material work, Roosevelt tells Congress, is of such consequence to 61 00:05:38,970 --> 00:05:44,130 Speaker 1: the American people. Panama has a new government too. It 62 00:05:44,290 --> 00:05:49,210 Speaker 1: had been part of Columbia. Then a revolution the people 63 00:05:49,290 --> 00:05:53,410 Speaker 1: of the Isthmus rose up to declare their independence. That 64 00:05:53,730 --> 00:05:58,690 Speaker 1: was suspiciously convenient for Roosevelt's canal plans. What was it, 65 00:05:58,850 --> 00:06:03,090 Speaker 1: the President liked to say about his foreign policy, speak 66 00:06:03,250 --> 00:06:08,490 Speaker 1: softly and carry a big stick. No sooner had the 67 00:06:08,530 --> 00:06:13,690 Speaker 1: Republic of Panama declared itself than Roosevelt's big stick arrived 68 00:06:13,690 --> 00:06:18,530 Speaker 1: on the scene US warships to dissuade Columbia from trying 69 00:06:18,570 --> 00:06:22,690 Speaker 1: to take the Isthmus back. Panama's new government gave the 70 00:06:22,810 --> 00:06:26,330 Speaker 1: US control over a sizeable chunk of the country, a 71 00:06:26,450 --> 00:06:30,970 Speaker 1: zone that spanned from coast to coast. Roosevelt set up 72 00:06:31,010 --> 00:06:34,210 Speaker 1: a seven man commission to oversee the canal work and 73 00:06:34,330 --> 00:06:40,210 Speaker 1: gave his first chief engineer some clear instructions. Make the 74 00:06:40,410 --> 00:06:46,690 Speaker 1: dirt fly. But when the Americans moved in, they found 75 00:06:46,730 --> 00:06:50,730 Speaker 1: the last sixteen years had ravaged what the French had 76 00:06:50,810 --> 00:06:54,410 Speaker 1: left behind. A camp for workers was marked on the 77 00:06:54,450 --> 00:06:59,450 Speaker 1: maps that in reality gone. The jungle had completely taken over. 78 00:07:00,210 --> 00:07:05,970 Speaker 1: Rusted locomotives were entwined with creeping vines on tracks overgrown 79 00:07:06,050 --> 00:07:11,810 Speaker 1: with brush. Dredging machines toppled over gears and axles strewn 80 00:07:11,930 --> 00:07:17,170 Speaker 1: all around. Rotted buildings were infested with termites. Trees with 81 00:07:17,450 --> 00:07:22,890 Speaker 1: ten inch trunks grew up through the roofs. The Americans 82 00:07:22,970 --> 00:07:26,810 Speaker 1: found curious things in some of those buildings, a dozen 83 00:07:27,090 --> 00:07:31,570 Speaker 1: unopened crates that turned out to be full of pen nibs. 84 00:07:32,690 --> 00:07:38,730 Speaker 1: Thousands and thousands of pen nibs. Was that corruption mismanagement 85 00:07:39,450 --> 00:07:43,810 Speaker 1: The French in Panama had become notorious for both. It 86 00:07:43,930 --> 00:07:48,450 Speaker 1: made the seven man American Commission determined to keep tighter 87 00:07:48,490 --> 00:07:52,050 Speaker 1: hold of the purse strings, but that created problems of 88 00:07:52,090 --> 00:07:55,210 Speaker 1: its own. If a carpenter wanted to cut a piece 89 00:07:55,250 --> 00:07:58,730 Speaker 1: of wood that was longer than ten feet, he needed 90 00:07:58,890 --> 00:08:02,930 Speaker 1: written permission. If a worker wanted to borrow a hand cart, 91 00:08:03,410 --> 00:08:08,450 Speaker 1: he needed six approvals. Or suppose a worker's wife gave 92 00:08:08,650 --> 00:08:11,530 Speaker 1: birth a hospital in the canal zone and the baby 93 00:08:11,570 --> 00:08:15,530 Speaker 1: needed a bottle. The nurse would ask her superior, who'd 94 00:08:15,570 --> 00:08:18,090 Speaker 1: fill out a form and submit it to the Chief 95 00:08:18,130 --> 00:08:21,930 Speaker 1: sanitary Officer. He'd stamp the form and parted on to 96 00:08:21,970 --> 00:08:25,810 Speaker 1: the chief of the bureau from materials and supply, he'd 97 00:08:25,810 --> 00:08:29,610 Speaker 1: dispatch a messenger to buy the bottle. Count up all 98 00:08:29,690 --> 00:08:33,290 Speaker 1: the hours spent on these clerical tasks and the wages 99 00:08:33,370 --> 00:08:36,250 Speaker 1: cost more than twenty times the price of the bottle, 100 00:08:36,930 --> 00:08:40,770 Speaker 1: and bottles at least could be sourced locally. When supplies 101 00:08:40,850 --> 00:08:46,050 Speaker 1: had to be ordered from the US, the bureaucracy was unfathomable. 102 00:08:46,890 --> 00:08:50,370 Speaker 1: Your only hope of getting what you needed was to 103 00:08:50,410 --> 00:08:54,050 Speaker 1: ask for far more than that, and far in advance 104 00:08:54,570 --> 00:09:01,250 Speaker 1: what actually arrived, and when seemed essentially random. Pipes requested 105 00:09:01,410 --> 00:09:05,370 Speaker 1: urgently in August turned up in January not on a 106 00:09:05,370 --> 00:09:09,450 Speaker 1: steamboat but a sailing ship. An order for fifty fifteen 107 00:09:09,610 --> 00:09:15,730 Speaker 1: thousand doors and pairs of hinges inexplicably yielded twelve thousand doors, 108 00:09:16,330 --> 00:09:20,850 Speaker 1: but two hundred and forty thousand pairs of hinges. They 109 00:09:20,890 --> 00:09:26,330 Speaker 1: could store them with the pen nibs. The first Chief 110 00:09:26,370 --> 00:09:29,690 Speaker 1: engineer was waiting for some new digging machines to arrive 111 00:09:29,730 --> 00:09:33,930 Speaker 1: from America. But Roosevelt had said to make the dirt fly, 112 00:09:34,850 --> 00:09:38,530 Speaker 1: so he found some old French excavators that could still 113 00:09:38,570 --> 00:09:41,530 Speaker 1: be made to function. He got them digging a trench 114 00:09:41,650 --> 00:09:45,490 Speaker 1: by a hillside. They dumped the dirt into old French 115 00:09:45,570 --> 00:09:49,330 Speaker 1: railroad trucks to be carried away, but the trucks kept 116 00:09:49,410 --> 00:09:53,290 Speaker 1: toppling off the rails. After a month of digging, the 117 00:09:53,370 --> 00:09:57,410 Speaker 1: hillside slid into the trench and they were back where 118 00:09:57,410 --> 00:10:06,330 Speaker 1: they started. But the first chief engineer had another worry 119 00:10:06,370 --> 00:10:10,530 Speaker 1: on his mind. He moved into a grand house once 120 00:10:10,770 --> 00:10:16,970 Speaker 1: occupied by his French predecessor, Jule Donglais. Donglais old butler 121 00:10:17,130 --> 00:10:20,410 Speaker 1: was still on the payroll, So the chief engineer heard 122 00:10:20,490 --> 00:10:25,050 Speaker 1: in gruesome detail how Donglais wife, and son and daughter 123 00:10:25,530 --> 00:10:29,970 Speaker 1: had all died from yellow fever. He conceived a mortal 124 00:10:30,130 --> 00:10:33,850 Speaker 1: fear that he and his own wife were doomed. Rumor 125 00:10:33,930 --> 00:10:38,650 Speaker 1: spread that had had two fancy metal caskets shipped over 126 00:10:39,330 --> 00:10:45,850 Speaker 1: in morbid preparation. But since the agonizing demise of the 127 00:10:45,930 --> 00:10:51,010 Speaker 1: Donglais family, something important had changed, something that should have 128 00:10:51,010 --> 00:10:59,210 Speaker 1: given hope to the Americans. We heard in another episode 129 00:10:59,290 --> 00:11:03,690 Speaker 1: of cautionary tales. How a team of US Army doctors 130 00:11:04,130 --> 00:11:08,170 Speaker 1: discovered the cause of yellow fever through an ingenious series 131 00:11:08,210 --> 00:11:13,730 Speaker 1: of experiments in Cuba. He wasn't lack of hygiene or immorality, 132 00:11:13,850 --> 00:11:19,090 Speaker 1: as the French had believed, but mosquitoes. The man in 133 00:11:19,210 --> 00:11:23,930 Speaker 1: charge of sanitation in Cuba, William Gorgas, had put these 134 00:11:24,130 --> 00:11:28,650 Speaker 1: new discoveries to the test. He set about ridding Havana 135 00:11:28,850 --> 00:11:33,370 Speaker 1: of every last bit of standing water where mosquitoes could breed. 136 00:11:34,250 --> 00:11:38,810 Speaker 1: It was a painstaking, laborious task, with teams of workers 137 00:11:38,890 --> 00:11:44,690 Speaker 1: going house to house, and it succeeded no more yellow fever. 138 00:11:45,850 --> 00:11:48,690 Speaker 1: That discovery should have been a godsend for the US 139 00:11:48,850 --> 00:11:53,410 Speaker 1: effort to build the canal, especially because the newly appointed 140 00:11:53,530 --> 00:11:57,690 Speaker 1: chief sanitary officer for the canal project was none other 141 00:11:57,730 --> 00:12:02,170 Speaker 1: than William Gorgas himself. He had wiped out yellow fever 142 00:12:02,290 --> 00:12:08,090 Speaker 1: in one country, he could do it in another. Corgas 143 00:12:08,210 --> 00:12:11,890 Speaker 1: had an even more ambitious plan. He wanted to tackle 144 00:12:11,970 --> 00:12:16,490 Speaker 1: malaria too. An English doctor had recently discovered that malaria 145 00:12:16,650 --> 00:12:20,690 Speaker 1: is also spread by mosquito, but a different breed. This 146 00:12:20,850 --> 00:12:24,370 Speaker 1: mosquito would be even harder to get rid of. It 147 00:12:24,450 --> 00:12:28,130 Speaker 1: laid its eggs, not in standing water near where humans live, 148 00:12:28,970 --> 00:12:32,930 Speaker 1: but in swamps in the countryside. Gorgas came up with 149 00:12:32,970 --> 00:12:36,130 Speaker 1: a plan to drain the swamps by building dams and 150 00:12:36,210 --> 00:12:41,330 Speaker 1: digging ditches. The English doctor came to Panama and said 151 00:12:41,370 --> 00:12:46,410 Speaker 1: to Gorgas, your plan is sound. But the Englishman had 152 00:12:46,410 --> 00:12:50,890 Speaker 1: a warning for Gorgas. The world requires at least ten 153 00:12:51,090 --> 00:12:56,210 Speaker 1: years to understand a new idea. He said, however important 154 00:12:56,330 --> 00:13:00,210 Speaker 1: or simple it may be. He was right. The idea 155 00:13:00,290 --> 00:13:07,650 Speaker 1: that Mosquito's spread disease was simple, important, and breezily dismissed 156 00:13:07,890 --> 00:13:12,410 Speaker 1: by members of Roseves else Canal Commission. They watched Gorgas 157 00:13:12,570 --> 00:13:17,010 Speaker 1: struggling to drain ponds and fumigate houses with nowhere near 158 00:13:17,130 --> 00:13:23,610 Speaker 1: enough workers and wofully inadequate supplies. It was hopeless, and 159 00:13:23,650 --> 00:13:27,290 Speaker 1: they thought he was mad for trying. Shouldn't the chief 160 00:13:27,410 --> 00:13:31,250 Speaker 1: sanitation officer be tackling the filth in the streets instead. 161 00:13:32,650 --> 00:13:36,130 Speaker 1: I'm your friend, Gorgas, one told him, and I'm trying 162 00:13:36,170 --> 00:13:40,170 Speaker 1: to set you right on the mosquito. You are simply wild. 163 00:13:41,010 --> 00:13:44,850 Speaker 1: All who agree with you are wild. Get the idea 164 00:13:45,130 --> 00:13:51,450 Speaker 1: out of your head. Then, in nineteen oh five, with Gorgas, 165 00:13:51,610 --> 00:13:55,610 Speaker 1: still fighting a losing battle, a fresh wave of yellow 166 00:13:55,610 --> 00:14:01,650 Speaker 1: fever took hold. As the deaths mounted, Americans panicked, the 167 00:14:01,690 --> 00:14:06,290 Speaker 1: steamships back home filled up with fleeing workers, including the 168 00:14:06,330 --> 00:14:11,570 Speaker 1: first chief engineer, decided not to hang around and risk 169 00:14:11,730 --> 00:14:18,690 Speaker 1: making use of those metal caskets. The Americans then had 170 00:14:18,690 --> 00:14:22,130 Speaker 1: been in Panama for a year. They'd wrapped themselves up 171 00:14:22,130 --> 00:14:25,530 Speaker 1: in red tape. They'd failed to back the man who 172 00:14:25,530 --> 00:14:28,650 Speaker 1: could end the disease that terrified them. And as for 173 00:14:28,730 --> 00:14:32,730 Speaker 1: making the dirt fly, what they'd achieved, as one engineer 174 00:14:32,770 --> 00:14:37,810 Speaker 1: put it, was little more than hen scratches. And yet 175 00:14:38,930 --> 00:14:45,330 Speaker 1: the Panama Canal did get built. So what went right? 176 00:14:46,850 --> 00:14:59,570 Speaker 1: Cautionary tales will be back after the break. John Stevens 177 00:14:59,690 --> 00:15:05,330 Speaker 1: arrived in Panama in July nineteen oh five, Roosevelt's second 178 00:15:05,530 --> 00:15:09,650 Speaker 1: chief engineer, who'd promised to stay on the job until 179 00:15:09,690 --> 00:15:15,890 Speaker 1: success was guaranteed or failure was unavoidable. What Stephens found, 180 00:15:16,050 --> 00:15:21,090 Speaker 1: he later wrote, was as discouraging a proposition as was 181 00:15:21,250 --> 00:15:27,170 Speaker 1: ever presented to a construction engineer. There was no organization 182 00:15:27,450 --> 00:15:32,170 Speaker 1: worthy of the name, no cooperation between what might charitably 183 00:15:32,210 --> 00:15:36,770 Speaker 1: be called the departments. The workers were all scared out 184 00:15:36,850 --> 00:15:39,850 Speaker 1: of their boots, and nobody seemed to be doing much 185 00:15:40,090 --> 00:15:45,250 Speaker 1: actual work, except, of course, for the endless form filling. 186 00:15:46,090 --> 00:15:51,370 Speaker 1: The only busy ones here are ants and typists, said Stephens, 187 00:15:52,770 --> 00:15:57,330 Speaker 1: was there anything positive to report? Why? Yes, Someone told 188 00:15:57,410 --> 00:16:01,410 Speaker 1: him an improving safety record on the railroad. There'd been 189 00:16:01,410 --> 00:16:06,650 Speaker 1: no collisions for quite some time. Stephens's reply was acidic. 190 00:16:07,730 --> 00:16:10,730 Speaker 1: A collision has its good points as well as its 191 00:16:10,730 --> 00:16:16,890 Speaker 1: bad ones. It indicates there is something moving on the railroad. 192 00:16:18,010 --> 00:16:22,690 Speaker 1: In his first few weeks, Stevens didn't say much. In 193 00:16:22,730 --> 00:16:26,850 Speaker 1: the words of his biographer Clifford Faust, he pioneered a 194 00:16:26,930 --> 00:16:34,130 Speaker 1: practice that business gurus would later call MBWA management by 195 00:16:34,450 --> 00:16:38,610 Speaker 1: wandering around every day. He'd be somewhere on the canal route, 196 00:16:38,930 --> 00:16:42,330 Speaker 1: trudging through the mud in his rubber boots and overalls, 197 00:16:42,930 --> 00:16:48,690 Speaker 1: puffing on a big cigar. He watched, he thought, He 198 00:16:48,730 --> 00:16:55,930 Speaker 1: asked questions, and he saw something that nobody else had seen, 199 00:16:56,730 --> 00:17:02,570 Speaker 1: something simple that would change everything. We'll come back to 200 00:17:02,610 --> 00:17:09,450 Speaker 1: what that was later in the episode. In the first 201 00:17:09,450 --> 00:17:13,050 Speaker 1: part of this Panama Canal two parter, we heard all 202 00:17:13,090 --> 00:17:18,010 Speaker 1: about the charismatic, larger than life Frenchman ferdinandales Seppe, A 203 00:17:18,090 --> 00:17:21,170 Speaker 1: man who seemed to think he could will the Panama 204 00:17:21,250 --> 00:17:26,410 Speaker 1: Canal into being through sheer force of personality. We heard 205 00:17:26,450 --> 00:17:30,770 Speaker 1: how de Lesseppe refused to entertain any negative news about 206 00:17:30,850 --> 00:17:34,810 Speaker 1: his Panama project. The canal will be built, he said, 207 00:17:35,090 --> 00:17:41,850 Speaker 1: again and again. Ferdinandales Seppe and Theodore Roosevelt were remarkably 208 00:17:41,970 --> 00:17:46,250 Speaker 1: similar characters, a point made by the historian David McCulloch 209 00:17:46,450 --> 00:17:50,890 Speaker 1: in his book The Path between the Seas. Both, he says, 210 00:17:51,330 --> 00:17:56,050 Speaker 1: were the products of cultivated worldly families. Both loved riding 211 00:17:56,050 --> 00:18:00,410 Speaker 1: horses and being out of doors. They shared a boundless 212 00:18:00,490 --> 00:18:04,930 Speaker 1: love of life, an animal vitality. Both had a great 213 00:18:05,010 --> 00:18:11,450 Speaker 1: capacity for self glorification and self deception. It was self 214 00:18:11,490 --> 00:18:16,370 Speaker 1: deception that did for Ferdinand Lesseepe. The experts warned that 215 00:18:16,450 --> 00:18:19,690 Speaker 1: his plan to build a sea level canal through Panama 216 00:18:20,090 --> 00:18:23,370 Speaker 1: was never going to work. They'd have to slice through 217 00:18:23,490 --> 00:18:28,490 Speaker 1: too many hills, There'd be landslides when the storms brought floods. 218 00:18:28,570 --> 00:18:33,450 Speaker 1: The mighty River Chaglis would pummel the passing ships. Instead, 219 00:18:33,770 --> 00:18:37,330 Speaker 1: the canal needed locks, a system of gates controlling the 220 00:18:37,370 --> 00:18:41,010 Speaker 1: flow of water that would raise ships up from one 221 00:18:41,050 --> 00:18:44,210 Speaker 1: ocean across the hills in the middle of the Isthmus 222 00:18:44,770 --> 00:18:48,850 Speaker 1: and down again on the other side. The Lesppe would 223 00:18:48,890 --> 00:18:56,530 Speaker 1: not listen. He hated locks. Roosevelt initially assumed that America 224 00:18:56,650 --> 00:19:00,530 Speaker 1: would build the canal de Leseppe had envisaged. He asked 225 00:19:00,530 --> 00:19:05,970 Speaker 1: a committee to sense check that assumption. The committee couldn't agree. 226 00:19:06,010 --> 00:19:10,370 Speaker 1: Some insisted on the same romantic vision that had captivated 227 00:19:10,410 --> 00:19:15,970 Speaker 1: the less sepe An open free passage from ocean to ocean. 228 00:19:16,410 --> 00:19:20,490 Speaker 1: The dignity and power of this great nation demanded it. 229 00:19:21,370 --> 00:19:27,970 Speaker 1: Others said, it's clearly crazy. The canal needs locks. Roosevelt 230 00:19:28,130 --> 00:19:32,170 Speaker 1: had to decide, so he called John Stephens back to 231 00:19:32,330 --> 00:19:36,610 Speaker 1: Washington to ask his advice. Stephens had been in Panama 232 00:19:36,690 --> 00:19:39,170 Speaker 1: for just a few months, but he had lived through 233 00:19:39,210 --> 00:19:44,290 Speaker 1: a rainy season. He'd seen enough. I talked to Teddy 234 00:19:44,450 --> 00:19:48,130 Speaker 1: like a Dutch uncle. He said it had to be 235 00:19:48,170 --> 00:19:52,090 Speaker 1: a canal with locks. He explained to the President, and 236 00:19:52,570 --> 00:19:57,890 Speaker 1: Roosevelt listened as Ferdinand A. Lesseeppe never had a canal 237 00:19:58,050 --> 00:20:04,050 Speaker 1: with locks. It would be Roosevelt had another decision to 238 00:20:04,090 --> 00:20:08,570 Speaker 1: make about William Gorgas, that crank of a chief sanitation 239 00:20:08,690 --> 00:20:13,570 Speaker 1: officer who was weirdly obsessed with mosquitoes. Get rid of 240 00:20:13,650 --> 00:20:18,050 Speaker 1: Gorgas said, members of his Canal Commission appoint someone else, 241 00:20:18,610 --> 00:20:22,410 Speaker 1: someone practical, who'd get on with the important stuff. Dealing 242 00:20:22,450 --> 00:20:27,130 Speaker 1: with the smells and the filth. Roosevelt called in an 243 00:20:27,130 --> 00:20:31,050 Speaker 1: old friend, a doctor who was up to speed with 244 00:20:31,090 --> 00:20:36,770 Speaker 1: the medical research, smells and filth. Mister President, the doctor 245 00:20:36,810 --> 00:20:41,730 Speaker 1: friend told him, have nothing to do with either malaria 246 00:20:41,930 --> 00:20:46,050 Speaker 1: or yellow fever. You are facing one of the greatest 247 00:20:46,130 --> 00:20:51,770 Speaker 1: decisions of your career. Again, Roosevelt listened to the expert. 248 00:20:52,490 --> 00:20:56,090 Speaker 1: Gorgas stays, he said, and you must give him all 249 00:20:56,130 --> 00:21:01,290 Speaker 1: the workers and supplies he needs. Roosevelt streamlined his commission 250 00:21:01,410 --> 00:21:06,770 Speaker 1: so things could actually get done. Gorgas attacked every source 251 00:21:06,810 --> 00:21:09,690 Speaker 1: of standing water he could find, even and the font 252 00:21:09,770 --> 00:21:14,610 Speaker 1: in the cathedral in Panama City. Before long, yellow fever 253 00:21:15,330 --> 00:21:21,450 Speaker 1: was gone. There were other problems too, of course, sensationally 254 00:21:21,490 --> 00:21:24,770 Speaker 1: reported in The New York Independent by a journalist who 255 00:21:24,810 --> 00:21:29,090 Speaker 1: went to Panama late in nineteen oh five, black workers 256 00:21:29,130 --> 00:21:33,690 Speaker 1: from Jamaica were quitting en mass in disgust at how 257 00:21:33,730 --> 00:21:37,690 Speaker 1: their American bosses were treating them. The food was exorbitant 258 00:21:37,770 --> 00:21:43,170 Speaker 1: and inedible. The housing would disgrace the most unworthy sections 259 00:21:43,210 --> 00:21:47,530 Speaker 1: of a shanty town. Was it true? It certainly had 260 00:21:47,570 --> 00:21:51,050 Speaker 1: been true in the early days, but as nineteen oh 261 00:21:51,050 --> 00:21:55,970 Speaker 1: six went by, other reports reached Roosevelt that the situation 262 00:21:56,050 --> 00:22:00,890 Speaker 1: in Panama was improving. John Stephens was turning things around. 263 00:22:01,490 --> 00:22:06,770 Speaker 1: And again the American newspapers complained that Stephens wasn't making 264 00:22:06,810 --> 00:22:13,530 Speaker 1: the dirt fly. It apparently stopped digging what was really happening. 265 00:22:14,610 --> 00:22:18,250 Speaker 1: Roosevelt decided there was only one way to find out. 266 00:22:19,010 --> 00:22:25,170 Speaker 1: He'd go to Panama to see for himself. In November 267 00:22:25,250 --> 00:22:28,930 Speaker 1: nineteen oh six, the biggest warship in the US fleet 268 00:22:29,410 --> 00:22:33,730 Speaker 1: docked off the coast of Panama, with Theodore Roosevelt on board. 269 00:22:34,450 --> 00:22:37,850 Speaker 1: It was the first time a sitting president had ever 270 00:22:38,090 --> 00:22:42,570 Speaker 1: traveled outside the United States, and American newspapers debated what 271 00:22:42,690 --> 00:22:46,530 Speaker 1: to make of it. Was this wise, could he be safe? 272 00:22:47,530 --> 00:22:51,010 Speaker 1: Or was this a sign of things to come? Perhaps 273 00:22:51,050 --> 00:22:56,090 Speaker 1: in the future, mused the Washington Star President Smike. Even 274 00:22:56,210 --> 00:23:02,210 Speaker 1: visit Europe, Roosevelt had timed his visit deliberately. He wanted 275 00:23:02,250 --> 00:23:05,610 Speaker 1: to see Panama at the height of the rainy season, 276 00:23:05,970 --> 00:23:10,210 Speaker 1: with conditions that they're most challenging, a far cry from 277 00:23:10,290 --> 00:23:13,650 Speaker 1: Ferdinand de Lesseppe, who had only ever visited Panama in 278 00:23:13,690 --> 00:23:16,850 Speaker 1: the dry season, when the sun shone and the work 279 00:23:17,010 --> 00:23:21,770 Speaker 1: looked easy. Lesseppe had come to Panama to drink champagne 280 00:23:21,810 --> 00:23:27,370 Speaker 1: and go to parties. Roosevelt had come to investigate. At 281 00:23:27,370 --> 00:23:31,210 Speaker 1: seven point thirty in the morning, the welcome committee assembled 282 00:23:31,250 --> 00:23:34,330 Speaker 1: at the end of the pier, the President of Panama, 283 00:23:35,210 --> 00:23:40,730 Speaker 1: John Stevens, a choir of Panamanian school children. They looked 284 00:23:40,930 --> 00:23:47,410 Speaker 1: expectantly at the great warship. But where was President Roosevelt? 285 00:23:49,010 --> 00:23:54,090 Speaker 1: Good morning? The voice came not from the ship, from 286 00:23:54,090 --> 00:23:57,570 Speaker 1: the shore. They turned to see Roosevelt, in a white 287 00:23:57,650 --> 00:24:01,850 Speaker 1: suit and a souwester hat, striding towards them. He had 288 00:24:01,850 --> 00:24:07,050 Speaker 1: been rowed ashore two hours ago, he explained, he'd been exploring. 289 00:24:08,130 --> 00:24:10,130 Speaker 1: They put him in a car bridge to his hotel, 290 00:24:11,090 --> 00:24:15,570 Speaker 1: but when the carriage arrived he was empty. Where was Roosevelt. 291 00:24:16,570 --> 00:24:20,770 Speaker 1: He'd slipped out, grabbed William Gorgas, and got Gorgas to 292 00:24:20,850 --> 00:24:23,930 Speaker 1: take him to a hospital where they weren't expecting him. 293 00:24:25,170 --> 00:24:29,050 Speaker 1: The hotel put on a sumptuous lunch in Roosevelt's honor, 294 00:24:29,890 --> 00:24:33,890 Speaker 1: but where had he gone? The President and first Lady, 295 00:24:33,970 --> 00:24:38,250 Speaker 1: it transpired, had snuck off into an employee's mess hall 296 00:24:38,730 --> 00:24:41,610 Speaker 1: and were tucking into the same thirty cent meal as 297 00:24:41,650 --> 00:24:47,050 Speaker 1: the American workers. He seemed obsessed with the idea that 298 00:24:47,170 --> 00:24:51,370 Speaker 1: someone was trying to hide something from him, said one 299 00:24:51,930 --> 00:24:57,090 Speaker 1: exasperated Canal official. He was continually stopping some black man 300 00:24:57,170 --> 00:25:02,250 Speaker 1: and asking if he had any complaint or grievance. The 301 00:25:02,330 --> 00:25:07,650 Speaker 1: next day saw Panama's worst reign in years, three inches 302 00:25:07,970 --> 00:25:13,570 Speaker 1: in two hours. Roosevelt was thrilled. It would have been 303 00:25:13,770 --> 00:25:18,370 Speaker 1: impossible to see the work going on under more unfavorable 304 00:25:18,450 --> 00:25:23,050 Speaker 1: weather conditions. They put him on a train which chugged 305 00:25:23,170 --> 00:25:27,250 Speaker 1: past one of the new ninety five ton steam powered 306 00:25:27,290 --> 00:25:30,850 Speaker 1: shovels that John Stevens had ordered in they could dig 307 00:25:30,970 --> 00:25:35,090 Speaker 1: up eight tons in a single scoop. Stop the train, 308 00:25:36,050 --> 00:25:40,170 Speaker 1: Roosevelt jumped off, tramped through the mud, and clambered up 309 00:25:40,210 --> 00:25:43,850 Speaker 1: onto the huge machine. Move over, He said to the 310 00:25:43,850 --> 00:25:46,570 Speaker 1: man at the controls now, show me how it works. 311 00:25:47,770 --> 00:25:51,810 Speaker 1: For the next twenty minutes, the President happily learned how 312 00:25:51,850 --> 00:25:57,090 Speaker 1: to operate the steam shovel while photographers snapped away below. 313 00:25:57,850 --> 00:26:02,610 Speaker 1: The pictures became iconic. But if this was an image 314 00:26:02,610 --> 00:26:09,090 Speaker 1: savvy politician's cynical photo op it wasn't just that Roosevelt 315 00:26:09,170 --> 00:26:12,970 Speaker 1: had come to Panama with a genuine desire to understand. 316 00:26:13,970 --> 00:26:17,930 Speaker 1: Where Ferdinando Lesseepe had always tried to wish problems away, 317 00:26:18,530 --> 00:26:23,290 Speaker 1: Roosevelt sought out hard truths and changed course when needed. 318 00:26:24,330 --> 00:26:29,290 Speaker 1: That difference between the two boosterish characters is one big 319 00:26:29,370 --> 00:26:34,610 Speaker 1: reason the US succeeded where the French had failed, but 320 00:26:34,690 --> 00:26:39,810 Speaker 1: it's not the only reason. Cautionary tales will be back 321 00:26:40,050 --> 00:26:53,610 Speaker 1: in a moment. In nineteen eighty one, the psychologists Daniel 322 00:26:53,690 --> 00:26:58,850 Speaker 1: Carneman and Amos Twirsky discovered a quirk of the human mind. 323 00:26:59,410 --> 00:27:03,450 Speaker 1: Our decisions changed depending on how a problem is presented 324 00:27:03,490 --> 00:27:07,250 Speaker 1: to us. Would you prefer a treatment for a disease 325 00:27:07,370 --> 00:27:11,450 Speaker 1: that will save a third of pagat or a treatment 326 00:27:11,490 --> 00:27:15,210 Speaker 1: that will result in the death of two thirds of 327 00:27:15,370 --> 00:27:18,610 Speaker 1: the same thing, of course, but we see them differently. 328 00:27:19,850 --> 00:27:24,450 Speaker 1: Carneman and Tibirsky called this the framing effect. It's a 329 00:27:24,490 --> 00:27:28,650 Speaker 1: metaphor that draws on how a photographer composes a shot, 330 00:27:29,050 --> 00:27:31,810 Speaker 1: what to have in focus and what to leave blurred, 331 00:27:32,410 --> 00:27:34,130 Speaker 1: what should be in the center of the scene, and 332 00:27:34,370 --> 00:27:39,770 Speaker 1: what at its margins. In twenty twenty one, the authors 333 00:27:39,850 --> 00:27:44,810 Speaker 1: Ken Koukie, Victor Meyer, Schuenberger, and Francis de Verdicor took 334 00:27:44,810 --> 00:27:49,930 Speaker 1: the idea further in a book called Framers. This isn't 335 00:27:50,050 --> 00:27:53,050 Speaker 1: just a quirk of the human mind, they said, it's 336 00:27:53,050 --> 00:27:56,970 Speaker 1: a powerful feature. We can choose how we frame a problem, 337 00:27:57,410 --> 00:28:00,610 Speaker 1: just as a photographer can rotate their lens to bring 338 00:28:00,690 --> 00:28:03,530 Speaker 1: a different part of the scene into focus, or move 339 00:28:03,610 --> 00:28:07,730 Speaker 1: to another spot to get a different angle. Reframe a problem, 340 00:28:08,050 --> 00:28:14,090 Speaker 1: and sometimes the solution jumps right out at you. I 341 00:28:14,090 --> 00:28:18,090 Speaker 1: said earlier that when John Stevens arrived in Panama, he 342 00:28:18,130 --> 00:28:23,610 Speaker 1: saw something nobody else had seen, something simple that would 343 00:28:23,690 --> 00:28:29,010 Speaker 1: change everything. This is what he saw. The problem is 344 00:28:29,250 --> 00:28:35,930 Speaker 1: simply one of transportation. Make the dirt fly, Roosevelt had said, 345 00:28:36,650 --> 00:28:38,650 Speaker 1: But what do you do with that dirt once you've 346 00:28:38,730 --> 00:28:40,730 Speaker 1: dug it up? If you dump it next to the 347 00:28:40,770 --> 00:28:43,250 Speaker 1: ditch the next door and will wash it back in again, 348 00:28:44,330 --> 00:28:48,530 Speaker 1: you have to move it somewhere. Stevens had watched the 349 00:28:48,570 --> 00:28:52,690 Speaker 1: excavation efforts as they'd been organized by his predecessor, the 350 00:28:52,730 --> 00:28:57,530 Speaker 1: first chief engineer. The diggers put spoil in trucks, which 351 00:28:57,770 --> 00:29:02,010 Speaker 1: often toppled off the tracks. The railroad was primitive. The 352 00:29:02,050 --> 00:29:05,050 Speaker 1: trucks were old, and there weren't enough of them. The 353 00:29:05,130 --> 00:29:08,410 Speaker 1: diggers were often stood idle because they had no trucks 354 00:29:08,450 --> 00:29:12,730 Speaker 1: to take the boil away. The problem was simply one 355 00:29:12,890 --> 00:29:18,570 Speaker 1: of transportation. It's an obvious insight, yet Stephens was the 356 00:29:18,610 --> 00:29:22,690 Speaker 1: first to have it. The French in the eighteen eighties 357 00:29:22,970 --> 00:29:26,530 Speaker 1: and America's first chief engineer had all framed the canal 358 00:29:26,690 --> 00:29:30,610 Speaker 1: as a digging stuff up problem, and try as they might, 359 00:29:30,810 --> 00:29:33,250 Speaker 1: they'd never been able to dig it anywhere near the 360 00:29:33,330 --> 00:29:38,930 Speaker 1: rate required. Stephens reframed it as a moving stuff around problem. 361 00:29:39,610 --> 00:29:43,730 Speaker 1: Once he'd done that, it was clear what had to change. 362 00:29:44,210 --> 00:29:48,530 Speaker 1: Stop digging, said Stephens, until I've figured out the transport problem. 363 00:29:49,130 --> 00:29:53,410 Speaker 1: Ignore the idiotic howl of the newspapers. There's an old 364 00:29:53,490 --> 00:29:57,290 Speaker 1: proverb about a woodcutter. Given five minutes to fell a tree, 365 00:29:57,890 --> 00:30:02,810 Speaker 1: he spends the first three minutes sharpening his axe. Stephens 366 00:30:03,530 --> 00:30:07,330 Speaker 1: wanted to sharpen his axe. He gave the workers other 367 00:30:07,490 --> 00:30:11,410 Speaker 1: tasks to keep them busy. Helping gorgas attack the mosquitoes, 368 00:30:11,890 --> 00:30:16,650 Speaker 1: laying water pipes, sewage systems, storm drains, constructing better houses 369 00:30:16,650 --> 00:30:21,410 Speaker 1: for themselves, building kitchens, bakeries, mess halls, even baseball fields, 370 00:30:22,450 --> 00:30:28,890 Speaker 1: life in Panama slowly got better. Stephens meanwhile designed a 371 00:30:29,010 --> 00:30:33,890 Speaker 1: whole new railroad system. In his book Hell's Gorge, the 372 00:30:33,930 --> 00:30:40,290 Speaker 1: author Matthew Parker described that system as fantastically skillful and intricate, 373 00:30:40,850 --> 00:30:43,890 Speaker 1: like the assembly line in one of the new mechanized 374 00:30:44,050 --> 00:30:50,610 Speaker 1: US factories, but also engineering at its simplest and most brilliant. 375 00:30:51,450 --> 00:30:55,250 Speaker 1: We should start to dig, said Stephens, on either side 376 00:30:55,250 --> 00:30:57,770 Speaker 1: of the hills in the middle of the route, and 377 00:30:57,890 --> 00:31:01,810 Speaker 1: work upwards to the highest point. That way, it would 378 00:31:01,850 --> 00:31:05,250 Speaker 1: always be the empty trains chugging up the hill. The 379 00:31:05,290 --> 00:31:08,410 Speaker 1: trains full of spoil would have gravity to help them 380 00:31:08,450 --> 00:31:11,970 Speaker 1: down when they got to a place to dump the spoil. 381 00:31:12,610 --> 00:31:17,690 Speaker 1: Another simple but brilliant idea. The new trucks were open ended, 382 00:31:18,050 --> 00:31:21,970 Speaker 1: bridged by flat panels with only one side, so they 383 00:31:22,090 --> 00:31:26,090 Speaker 1: formed a single long surface on which the mud was piled. 384 00:31:26,890 --> 00:31:30,650 Speaker 1: The steam engine then dragged a three ton plow along 385 00:31:30,810 --> 00:31:36,130 Speaker 1: that flat surface, sweeping all the mud off the open side. 386 00:31:36,810 --> 00:31:40,810 Speaker 1: It took just ten minutes to empty a twenty truck train, 387 00:31:41,690 --> 00:31:45,330 Speaker 1: far quicker than the old French system of men shoveling 388 00:31:45,410 --> 00:31:50,810 Speaker 1: mud from each truck by hand. The problem was simply 389 00:31:51,010 --> 00:31:55,850 Speaker 1: one of transportation, and Stephens had solved it. By the 390 00:31:55,970 --> 00:31:58,690 Speaker 1: end of nineteen oh six, when Roosevelt came to visit, 391 00:31:59,530 --> 00:32:02,850 Speaker 1: the new railroad was up and running and the dirt 392 00:32:02,970 --> 00:32:07,690 Speaker 1: was beginning to fly again. It would take another eight years, 393 00:32:08,010 --> 00:32:12,170 Speaker 1: Stephens reckoned to finish the canal, an estimate that proved 394 00:32:12,650 --> 00:32:17,970 Speaker 1: exactly right. The canal would eventually open in nineteen fourteen. 395 00:32:19,330 --> 00:32:24,730 Speaker 1: By then, Stephens was long gone. Two months after Roosevelt 396 00:32:24,730 --> 00:32:27,770 Speaker 1: had gone back to Washington in January nineteen oh seven, 397 00:32:28,410 --> 00:32:32,330 Speaker 1: Stephens sat down in his office in Panama to write 398 00:32:32,370 --> 00:32:39,330 Speaker 1: the President that fateful six page letter. Mister President, you 399 00:32:39,450 --> 00:32:42,930 Speaker 1: have been kind enough to instruct me to address you 400 00:32:43,050 --> 00:32:47,690 Speaker 1: directly and personally, as man to man, and I will 401 00:32:47,690 --> 00:32:51,330 Speaker 1: do so even at the risk of incurring your displeasure. 402 00:32:53,010 --> 00:32:58,010 Speaker 1: Historians debate to this day what Stephens was thinking. Some 403 00:32:58,210 --> 00:33:02,210 Speaker 1: reckon He didn't actually intend to resign. He never said 404 00:33:02,370 --> 00:33:06,130 Speaker 1: I quit in as many words, just I am not 405 00:33:06,690 --> 00:33:11,770 Speaker 1: anxious to continue in the service. Was he merely letting 406 00:33:11,770 --> 00:33:16,530 Speaker 1: off steam angling for a pay rise. Perhaps, But Stephens 407 00:33:16,570 --> 00:33:20,530 Speaker 1: must have known how Roosevelt would react. The President had 408 00:33:20,690 --> 00:33:24,810 Speaker 1: just been in Panama making stirring speeches to the workers 409 00:33:24,850 --> 00:33:28,570 Speaker 1: about duty and honor, comparing them to soldiers in a 410 00:33:28,610 --> 00:33:35,970 Speaker 1: patriotic war. Stephens had evidently been completely unmoved. The honor 411 00:33:36,490 --> 00:33:39,650 Speaker 1: which is continually being held up as an incentive for 412 00:33:39,730 --> 00:33:43,690 Speaker 1: this work appeals to me, but slightly. Neither do I 413 00:33:43,770 --> 00:33:50,370 Speaker 1: consider patriotism can compensate for the necessary sacrifice. Roosevelt insisted 414 00:33:50,490 --> 00:33:54,290 Speaker 1: in his speeches that the canal was critical to America's 415 00:33:54,370 --> 00:34:00,290 Speaker 1: long term strategic interests. Stephens dismissed that too. To me, 416 00:34:00,650 --> 00:34:05,330 Speaker 1: the canal is only a big ditch. Its great utility, 417 00:34:05,410 --> 00:34:09,330 Speaker 1: when completed, has never been so apparent to me as 418 00:34:09,370 --> 00:34:13,690 Speaker 1: it seems to be to others. Stephens must have known 419 00:34:13,730 --> 00:34:20,170 Speaker 1: that Roosevelt would reply, your resignation has been accepted. When 420 00:34:20,170 --> 00:34:23,970 Speaker 1: news reached the Isthmus, nobody could understand it. Things were 421 00:34:24,010 --> 00:34:27,690 Speaker 1: going well. Stephens was popular. Why would he walk away 422 00:34:28,290 --> 00:34:33,410 Speaker 1: had he had some bitter disagreement, uncovered a scandal? There 423 00:34:33,490 --> 00:34:38,850 Speaker 1: must be something else going on. Speculation ran riot, and 424 00:34:38,970 --> 00:34:48,130 Speaker 1: all Stephens would say was don't talk dig But when 425 00:34:48,170 --> 00:34:52,210 Speaker 1: you read Stephens's letter, it's hard to see any mystery. 426 00:34:52,370 --> 00:34:55,490 Speaker 1: This is a man who's been working eighteen hour days 427 00:34:55,810 --> 00:35:00,010 Speaker 1: and has a sense of his own limits. I feel 428 00:35:00,050 --> 00:35:02,330 Speaker 1: I would not be able to bear up under the 429 00:35:02,330 --> 00:35:06,530 Speaker 1: strain for the next eight years. My desire is to 430 00:35:06,610 --> 00:35:10,330 Speaker 1: take a rest. This is a a man who really 431 00:35:10,650 --> 00:35:15,210 Speaker 1: doesn't care what people think. I am not a seeker 432 00:35:15,330 --> 00:35:20,010 Speaker 1: after notoriety. Being constantly before the public, whether in a 433 00:35:20,130 --> 00:35:26,290 Speaker 1: favorable or unfavorable light, is extremely distasteful to me. And 434 00:35:26,330 --> 00:35:28,290 Speaker 1: this is a man with a keen sense of his 435 00:35:28,410 --> 00:35:33,010 Speaker 1: own worth. He knows what he's done in Panama. I 436 00:35:33,050 --> 00:35:36,610 Speaker 1: am proud of what we've accomplished, and confident from now 437 00:35:36,650 --> 00:35:40,490 Speaker 1: on the prospects of speedy completion of the canal will 438 00:35:40,530 --> 00:35:46,650 Speaker 1: become brighter and brighter. As Stevens later put it, in 439 00:35:46,850 --> 00:35:51,250 Speaker 1: eighteen months, he'd built a machine. All it needed now 440 00:35:51,690 --> 00:35:56,210 Speaker 1: was someone to turn the crank. Roosevelt decided to put 441 00:35:56,210 --> 00:36:00,650 Speaker 1: the army in charge. It had two civilian chief engineers 442 00:36:00,690 --> 00:36:04,130 Speaker 1: walk out on him in just three years. He needed 443 00:36:04,370 --> 00:36:09,090 Speaker 1: an actual soldier, someone who understood the meaning of duty 444 00:36:09,170 --> 00:36:13,690 Speaker 1: would stick it out till the end. When Colonel George 445 00:36:13,730 --> 00:36:18,010 Speaker 1: Gerthals arrived in Panama as the new Chief engineer, his 446 00:36:18,090 --> 00:36:21,930 Speaker 1: impressions were very different to those of Stephens when he 447 00:36:22,050 --> 00:36:27,410 Speaker 1: had first arrived in the country. Mister Stevens has perfected 448 00:36:27,650 --> 00:36:32,930 Speaker 1: such an organization. Girthals reported that there is nothing left 449 00:36:32,970 --> 00:36:36,770 Speaker 1: for us to do but just have the organization continue 450 00:36:36,810 --> 00:36:41,410 Speaker 1: in the good work it is doing. Girthals did indeed 451 00:36:41,690 --> 00:36:45,570 Speaker 1: understand the concept of duty. He saw the job through. 452 00:36:46,490 --> 00:36:50,850 Speaker 1: In his autobiography, Theodore Roosevelt was fulsome in his praise. 453 00:36:51,770 --> 00:36:55,170 Speaker 1: Colonel Girthals proved to be the man of all others 454 00:36:55,210 --> 00:36:59,250 Speaker 1: to do the job. It would be impossible to overstate 455 00:36:59,530 --> 00:37:03,490 Speaker 1: what he has done. William Gorgas gets a shout out too. 456 00:37:04,290 --> 00:37:08,970 Speaker 1: Dr Gorgas performed an inestimable service by making the Isthmus 457 00:37:09,170 --> 00:37:15,930 Speaker 1: as safe as a health resort. And John Stephens Roosevelt 458 00:37:16,410 --> 00:37:22,690 Speaker 1: doesn't mention him once. It's quite the snub. Stephens doesn't 459 00:37:22,690 --> 00:37:26,250 Speaker 1: seem to have minded much. After Roosevelt died, he kept 460 00:37:26,290 --> 00:37:29,890 Speaker 1: a photo of the President on his mantelpiece. One of 461 00:37:29,930 --> 00:37:34,770 Speaker 1: the only men, he said, who'd ever influenced my life. 462 00:37:34,970 --> 00:37:40,370 Speaker 1: Stephens built more railroads, the Trans Siberian the Chinese Eastern. 463 00:37:40,890 --> 00:37:44,730 Speaker 1: He became president of the American Society of Civil Engineers 464 00:37:45,930 --> 00:37:50,050 Speaker 1: in the nineteen thirties. As an old man, Stephens took 465 00:37:50,050 --> 00:37:53,770 Speaker 1: a boat to Panama for a vacation with his teenage granddaughter. 466 00:37:55,250 --> 00:37:57,610 Speaker 1: They got on a plane, the first flight for both 467 00:37:57,650 --> 00:38:01,090 Speaker 1: of them, the Isthmian Airlines Company, flew them along the 468 00:38:01,170 --> 00:38:07,050 Speaker 1: length of the completed canal. Stephens was captivated. He looked 469 00:38:07,050 --> 00:38:11,090 Speaker 1: down on the twelve locks, shuffling great ships up and 470 00:38:11,210 --> 00:38:15,010 Speaker 1: down between the oceans, and the vast artificial lake in 471 00:38:15,050 --> 00:38:18,610 Speaker 1: the Panamanian Hills, a lake that created by damming the 472 00:38:18,690 --> 00:38:22,050 Speaker 1: river Chagriise, with earth dug up from the ditch and 473 00:38:22,170 --> 00:38:28,330 Speaker 1: transported by Stephens railroad. I will stay, Stevens had said 474 00:38:28,810 --> 00:38:33,130 Speaker 1: until I have made its success certain or proved it 475 00:38:33,210 --> 00:38:38,090 Speaker 1: to be a failure. Stephens had been true to his word, 476 00:38:38,610 --> 00:38:42,290 Speaker 1: even if Roosevelt didn't realize it. By the time he left, 477 00:38:42,570 --> 00:38:49,650 Speaker 1: success was certain. And if Roosevelt didn't give him the credit, well, 478 00:38:51,210 --> 00:39:03,570 Speaker 1: John Stephens never did care much about that. For a 479 00:39:03,610 --> 00:39:06,250 Speaker 1: full list of our sources, see the show notes at 480 00:39:06,290 --> 00:39:15,130 Speaker 1: Timharford dot com. Cautionary Tales is written by me Tim 481 00:39:15,210 --> 00:39:18,570 Speaker 1: Harford with Andrew Wright. It's produced by Alice Fines with 482 00:39:18,730 --> 00:39:22,530 Speaker 1: support from Marilyn Rust. The sound design and original music 483 00:39:22,730 --> 00:39:26,970 Speaker 1: is the work of Pascal Wise. Sarah Nix edited the scripts. 484 00:39:27,610 --> 00:39:30,970 Speaker 1: It features the voice talents of Ben Crowe, Melanie Guttridge, 485 00:39:31,050 --> 00:39:35,610 Speaker 1: Stella Harford, Jemmy Saunders and rufus Wright. The show also 486 00:39:35,730 --> 00:39:38,730 Speaker 1: wouldn't have been possible without the work of Jacob Weisberg, 487 00:39:38,970 --> 00:39:44,370 Speaker 1: Ryan Dilly, Greta Cohene, Eric's handler, Carrie Brody and Christina Sullivan. 488 00:39:45,170 --> 00:39:49,810 Speaker 1: Cautionary Tales is a production of Pushkin Industries. It's recorded 489 00:39:49,810 --> 00:39:53,570 Speaker 1: at Wardoor Studios in London by Tom Berry. If you 490 00:39:53,810 --> 00:39:57,970 Speaker 1: like the show, please remember to share, rate and review, 491 00:39:58,530 --> 00:40:00,690 Speaker 1: tell your friends, and if you want to hear the 492 00:40:00,690 --> 00:40:04,210 Speaker 1: show ad free, sign up for Pushkin Plus on the 493 00:40:04,250 --> 00:40:08,370 Speaker 1: show page in Apple Podcasts or at pushkin dot fm, 494 00:40:08,650 --> 00:40:12,610 Speaker 1: slash plus