Global Passage: Transformation of Panama and the Panama Canal - Softcover

McMillan, Robert R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1491051256 ISBN 13: 9781491051252

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014

Synopsis

Global Passage: Transformation of Panama and the Panama Canal by former Panama Canal Commission Chairman Robert R. McMillan is an insider's brilliantly researched book about the past, present and future of Panama and the Panama Canal. The book fully covers the $6.9 billion dollar canal expansion, the role of China in Latin America, the evolution of democracy in Panama, and the possibility of a competing canal in Nicaragua. "Bob McMillan makes a significant contribution with his insightful chronology of events and personal experiences surrounding Operation Just Cause, the Canal transition and United States Panama relations. I thoroughly enjoyed it." -- Former Congressman and United States Ambassador to Panama, William J. Hughes

About this title

About the Author

Mr. McMillan was named by President George HW bush to the board of the Panama Canal commission. In October of 1993, Mr. McMillan was elected chairman of the commission's board of Directors -- the first chairman who was not an official of the Department of Defense. He also served as an assistant to Richard M. Nixon, as counsel to U.S. Senator Kenneth b. Keating during the Cuban missiles crisis, and in a wide range of assignments as a corporate officer of Avon Products, Inc. Mr. McMillan was a member of the board of trustees of the American Medical Association for six years, the board's first non-physician. He also was on the board of Directors of WellChoice, Inc. (Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield) from 1994 through 2005. After running for the United States Senate and winning editorial "praise" from "The new York times", Mr. McMillan co-hosted Face-off, a PBS television show, for over fourteen years. In addition he has provided commentary on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox. Occasionally, he has written columns for "Newsday" and "The New York times". In addition, he has written two books, "Global Passage-Transformation of Panama and the Panama Canal" and "Columns: Marilyn Monroe to Vietnam and Iraq".

Reviews

McMillan, an American, takes a personal approach to history in this book about the evolution of the Panama Canal, published in concert with the canal's 2014 centennial. As a member of the canal's board in the late 1980s and as the chairman in the 1990s, McMillan developed a thorough understanding of the canal's role in both the Panamanian politics and in global commerce, which he explains in clear, well-developed prose. Readers unfamiliar with Omar Torrijos, Manuel Noriega and other figures who played a significant role in the canal's recent history will find plenty of background information to help them follow the changes in government and the implications for the Panama Canal. Much of the narrative focuses on the 1999 transfer of control from the United States to Panama, and McMillan offers persuasive evidence to assure readers that Panama has demonstrated competence in its management of the canal, despite trepidation expressed by many Americans before the transfer. While political concerns, from the 1989 invasion of the Panama to the country's first free elections in 25 years, establish the book's historical context, McMillan also devotes chapters to the canal's commercial implications, explaining how the current effort to increase the canal's capacity will have an impact throughout the shipping industry, driving development in both Pacific and Atlantic ports that can accommodate the larger ships that will be able to travel from one ocean to the other. In many cases, statistics provide evidence of the canal's continuing importance in global commerce.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1491051256
• ISBN 13: 9781491051252
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 144