History Seminar on Contemporary Science and Technology, “Peaceful Nuclear Explosives, Environmental Diplomacy, and the Panatomic Canal”

During the Atomic Age, the technology of peaceful nuclear excavation offered an exciting, cost-effective means of reengineering the earth’s contours for the benefit of all humanity. For U.S. officials concerned about the declining capacity of the Panama Canal, nuclear construction held great appeal, especially after Panamanian resentment against the U.S. erupted in the Flag Riots of January 1964. Lyndon B. Johnson responded to the foreign-relations crisis by appointing commissions to renegotiate the 1903 treaty governing the canal and the U.S.-controlled Canal Zone, and to study several routes in Central America for a new sea-level canal. Scholars of the “Panatomic canal” controversy of 1964-71 have highlighted its symbolic importance—as the personification of postwar American technological hubris, and as a cynical fabrication deployed by LBJ to manage Panamanian and domestic opponents. This presentation examines the nuclear canal as a serious diplomatic initiative that epitomized the Johnson Administration’s use of science and technology as policy tools, and the unexpected obstacles posed by perspectives informed by environmental science.

For further information, please contact: Tom Lassman at 202-633-2419; lassmant@si.edu.

NON-SMITHSONIAN VISITORS MUST RSVP NO LATER THAN 48 HOURS BEFORE THE SEMINAR. On the day of the seminar, please report to the South Security Desk at the Museum’s Independence Avenue entrance. Those holding SI ID badges may proceed directly to the Director’s Conference Room on the 3rd floor.