American Minute with Bill Federer February 23 The Panama Canal Zone was acquired by the U.S. for ten million dollars on FEBRUARY 23, 1904. Planned by President McKinley, construction on the canal began under President Theodore Roosevelt. President Taft stated in his Address to Congress, December 6, 1912: "Our defense of the Panama Canal, together with our enormous world trade and our missionary outposts on the frontiers of civilization, require us to recognize our position as one of the foremost in the family of nations, and to clothe ourselves with sufficient naval power to give force to our reasonable demands, and to give weight to our influence in those directions of progress that a powerful Christian nation should advocate." President Wilson, in his Thanksgiving Proclamation, October 23, 1913, stated: "We have seen the practical completion of a great work at the Isthmus of Panama which not only exemplifies the nation's abundant capacity of its public servants but also promises the beginning of a new age...of co-operation and peace. 'Righteousness exalteth a nation' and 'peace on earth, good will towards men' furnish the only foundation upon which can be built the lasting achievements of the human spirit."