The United States' Policies And Negotiations About The Return Of The Panama Canal (1969-1977)

The issue on the Panama Canal is the core problem between American and Panama.While the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty signed by the two sides in 1903 is the root of the Panama Canal issue,and it is also the beginning of the unequal relationship between the America and Panama.For the abolition of this unfair treaty,the Panama people had struggled for a long time since the treaty had signed.The new negotiation about Panama Canal finally started until the Johnson administration period,but failed.When Nixon came to power,the negotiation between the America and Panama was proceeding and they had reached the most important "Eight Principles" in February 1972.However Nixon's sudden resignation because of "Watergate Scandal"announced that the Panama Canal treaty negotiation had ended in failure in his tenure.After Ford succeed to the presidency,he not only retained all the negotiators who had participated in the Panama Canal treaty negotiations during the Nixon administration,but also basically followed the relevant policies of Nixon.Therefore the two sides had signed a series of "Threshold Agreements" on the foundation of the"Eight Principles" in the subsequent negotiations.However,both sides refused to compromise on some key issues such as the duration of the treaty and the expansion of the canal with the deepening of the negotiations,which led to the negotiations failed to reach any agreement.And this also meant that Panama Canal treaty negotiation ended with failure during the Ford administration.The negotiations in the period of Nixon and Ford which is an important part in the whole Panama Canal treaty negotiations,have always been neglected because of failing to reach any important treaties.This paper is mainly discussing the process of the Panama Canal treaty negotiations during the Nixon and Ford administration,which is based on the recent declassified historical materials in the archives of the U.S.government and combined with the existing research results.Through the study of the negotiations process to analyze the cause,characteristics and influence of the failure,and reveal the essence of pursuing hegemonism of the United States.