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Portrait Of The Panama Canal: Foreward, George R. Goethals

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

A 1913 edition of the British magazine Puck features a two-page, full-color cartoon depicting Uncle Sam astride the Isthmus of Panama and the nearly completed Panama Canal. The cartoon also shows the pyramids of Egypt, the hanging gardens of Babylon, and other familiar human creations. Its caption reads, "The seven wonders of the world salute the eighth." Cradled in Uncle Sam's arm is a figure, a saluting, white-haired, white-suited mustachioed man with the name "Goethals" printed on his collar. This is my great-grandfather, chief engineer of the Panama Canal.