Panama Canal Documentary Shown On TV
January 25th, 2011 - 8:34 pm ICT by GDBy Ranjan Bhaduri
Jan 25, (THAINDIAN NEWS) On Monday an installment of “The American Experience” named “Panama Canal” was aired on WEAO-TV 49 and WVIZ-TV 25. The documentary takes the viewers back to origin of the historic canal that plays a pivotal role in intercontinental marine business and travel. Aided by the US treasury, The Panama Canal digging is hailed as one of the most ambitious US construction projects. It cost a whopping amount of money and many lives were lost in the process as well. It was gargantuan and awe inspiring and had it been built in recent times it would not have been any different. Michael Murphy is the narrator in the documentary and in his words the project is “the realization of a dream that became an expression of the power, the strength, the might of a growing nation.”
Officially the canal was opened in August 1914. Before the USA undertook this perilous task the French had tried their hand in digging the historic Canal to link the pacific and Atlantic Ocean. The French engineer Ferdinand DeLesseps was at helm of the project in 1880. Her was the driving force behind digging Suez canal but the natural obstacles and topography of Panama taught the French team a hard lesson. The French had to quit the project after suffering from a number of hindrances.
Theodore Roosevelt the then US President commissioned the Panama canal project and widespread criticism could not deter him. The documentary brings alive the memory of those days with film footage and archival photographs. It shows how the US team overcame the various obstacles that thwarted the French a few years back.
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Tags: american experience, archival photographs, august 1914, canal project, ferdinand delesseps, film footage, french engineer, french team, hindrances, marine business, natural obstacles, panama canal, perilous task, ranjan, realization of a dream, suez canal, theodore roosevelt, tv 25, us treasury, wviz