Part of Teddy Roosevelt’s dream of making America a global power was realized through the construction of the Panama Canal. The French began construction in 1880 but nine years and 20,000 lives later they realized their plans were flawed and abandoned the project. In 1904, construction resumed under American supervision. First, they controlled the diseases that had claimed so many construction workers’ lives. Then they developed an innovative design for a series of locks. Their dogged determination paid off when they united the oceans on January 7, 1914.