Killing Hope or Drawing the Line at the Big Ditch

Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II-Updated Through 2003

Author: William Blum

Is the United States a force for democracy? In this classic and unique volume that answers this question, William Blum serves up a forensic overview of U.S. foreign policy spanning sixty years. Remarks from the previous edition: "Far and away the best book on the topic."-Noam Chomsky "A valuable reference for anyone interested in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy."- Choice "I enjoyed it immensely."-Gore Vidal "The single most useful summary of CIA history."-John Stockwell "Each chapter I read makes me more and more angry."-Helen Caldicott "A very useful piece of work, daunting in scope, important."-Thomas Powers, author and Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist "A very valuable book. The research and organization are extremely impressive."-A.J. Langguth, author and former New York Times bureau chief For those who want the details on our most famous -actions (Chile, Cuba, Vietnam, to name a few), and for those who want to learn about our lesser-known efforts (France, China, Bolivia, Brazil, for example), this book provides a window on what our foreign policy goals really are. William Blum is the author of Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower .

Book about: The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov or The Anatomy of Fascism

Drawing the Line at the Big Ditch: The Panama Canal Treaties and the Rise of the Right

Author: Adam Clymer

Considered one of America's engineering marvels, the Panama Canal sparked intense debates in the 1970s over the decision to turn it back over to Panama. In this remarkable and revealing tale, noted journalist Adam Clymer shows how the decision to give up this revered monument of the "American century" stirred emotions already rubbed raw by the loss of the Vietnam War and shaped American politics for years.

Jimmy Carter made the Canal his first foreign policy priority and won the battle to ratify the Panama Canal treaties. But, Clymer reveals, the larger war was lost. The issue gave Ronald Reagan a slogan that kept his 1976 candidacy alive and positioned him to win in 1980, helped elect conservative senators who made a Republican majority, and fueled the overall growth of conservatism.

In telling the story of America's reconsideration of the 1903 treaty that gave it control of the Canal "in perpetuity," Clymer focuses on the perspectives of six key players: Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan, Senate Minority Leader Howard Baker, political candidate Gordon Humphrey, and Terry Dolan of the National Conservative Political Action Committee. His narrative illuminates many aspects of American politics during the Ford and Carter years—especially regarding Senate elections—that have been largely overlooked. And his chronicling of the emergence of political action committees on the right reveals their often-awkward relationship with the GOP and the uneasy alliances that helped the Republicans win control of the Senate in 1980.

Clymer explores how the uproar over the Canal episode foreshadowed perennial partisan attacks over intense, emotional issues fromabortion to gun control to same-sex marriage. He also shows that people who hated the idea of giving up the canal gave birth to the NCPAC approach of beating up on an incumbent long before an election, often assisted by independent spending and outside advertising.

As Clymer argues, "The Panama Canal no longer divides Panama. But the fissures it opened 30 years ago have widened; they divide the United States." His even-handed account offers new insight into the "Reagan Revolution" and highlights an overlooked turning point in American political history.

The Washington Post - H. W. Brands

Clymer…provides fascinating detail, in explaining how several conservative candidates for Congress successfully leveraged the canal against their more liberal opponents.

Publishers Weekly

Former New York TimesWashington correspondent Clymer (Edward M. Kennedy) argues in this straightforward, able account that Jimmy Carter's loss in the 1980 presidential election can largely be attributed to his widely unpopular negotiations to return the Panama Canal to Panama. America was demoralized after Vietnam, and many citizens were opposed to giving up the canal, long a symbol of American progress and power. Conservatives seized on the issue. As early as 1975, Reagan condemned returning the canal as a sign of American weakness, declaring with his characteristic simple directness: "we bought it, we paid for it, we built it and we intend to keep it." Clymer also examines several Senate races in which incumbents who had voted to give up the canal were unseated by right-wingers. Although Clymer acknowledges that many forces contributed to the rise of the Right, his relentless focus on the canal is tendentious at times. Still, Clymer makes an innovative contribution to the growing literature that seeks to explain how conservatism triumphed after Goldwater. 20 photos. (Mar.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

What People Are Saying

Richard Norton Smith
Long acknowledged to be a top-flight journalist, Clymer turns out to be a thoughtful and probing historian as well. Above all, he is a gifted storyteller, whose colorful cast includes dictators and diplomats, politicians in search of an issue, and presidents in search of a legacy. Great history is all about perspective, and that's exactly what this book supplies. (Richard Norton Smith, Presidential historian)

Tom Brokaw
A fascinating political whodunit about the place of the Panama Canal in the conservative campaign to sink the ship of congressional liberals. (Tom Brokaw, author of The Greatest Generation)

David A. Keene
A first-rate effort by a top-notch political reporter. (David A. Keene, Chairman, American Conservative Union)

Tom Brokaw

A fascinating political whodunit about the place of the Panama Canal in the conservative campaign to sink the ship of congressional liberals.

Richard Norton Smith

Long acknowledged to be a top-flight journalist, Clymer turns out to be a thoughtful and probing historian as well. Above all, he is a gifted storyteller, whose colorful cast includes dictators and diplomats, politicians in search of an issue, and presidents in search of a legacy. Great history is all about perspective, and that's exactly what this book supplies. (Richard Norton Smith, Presidential historian)

David A. Keene

A first-rate effort by a top-notch political reporter. (David A. Keene, Chairman, American Conservative Union)

Table of Contents:

Preface: "Pluck and Luck Conquered All": A Canal for the American Century     ix
"In Perpetuity": Years of Dispute and Diplomacy     1
"No Constituency to Help": President Ford Negotiates     10
"What a Shot in the Arm!": Ford Upsets Reagan Despite the Canal     19
"We Bought It. We Built It. It's Ours and We Are Going to Keep It": The Canal Issue Brings Reagan's Recovery     25
"Thank God for Those People in 1976 Who Headed Off That Loss of Freedom": Reagan Loses but Wins Republican Hearts     33
"Delay Invites Violence": Carter Inherits and Seizes the Issue     40
"I Wanted to Treat Panama Fairly": Carter Underestimates American Dismay     45
"Conservatives Can't Lose": The Canal Unifies the Right     53
"Draw the Line at the Big Ditch": The Anti-Treaty Message     61
"What If They're Right?": Reagan Holding Back     70
"Why Now? And Why Me?": Howard Baker and the Treaties     75
"Be Tolerant and Patient in Bringing People Around": Byrd's Advice While in Panama     82
"A Measure of Our Strength, Not Our Weakness": The Senate Advises and Consents     90
"Come On and Watch Me Lose My Seat": Gordon Humphrey and the New Right Sink Tom McIntyre     106
"I Haven't Found Anybody in Iowa That's for the Treaties": Roger Jepsen on the Issue That Made the Difference     117
"We Supported the Tough Conservative, the Business PAC Was Always for the Establishment": The PACmen Come     130
"A Group Like Ours Could Lie through Its Teeth and the Candidate It Helps Stays Clean": NCPAC Takes on Incumbents     140
"ACU Could Go Out of Business by Election Day": The Canal Cuts Both Ways     154
"I Hope That It's Over as an Issue": Reagan on the Canal after Ratification     164
"They Never Wanted to See Another Panama Canal Ad": The North Carolina Senate Campaign     171
"Is Idaho Up for Grabs?": The Canal, NCPAC, and Steve Symms Defeat Frank Church     180
"Cold Water on Some of His Supporters": The Canal Finishes a Weakened Talmadge     190
"A Senate Majority Made All the Difference in the World": Canal-Elected Senators and Baker Give Reagan a Chance to Govern     197
"We've Made a Difference": Reagan Changed the Nation, without the Canal     204
Notes     213
An Essay on Sources     259
Acknowledgments     265
Index     269