George Washington Goethals

George Washington Goethals ( June 29, 1858 – January 21, 1928) was an American military officer and civil engineer, best known for his administration and supervision of the construction and the opening of the Panama Canal. He was the first Governor of Panama Canal Zone from 1914 to 1917, and was also the State Engineer of New Jersey and the Acting Quartermaster General of the United States Army. Johannes Baptista (John Louis) Goethals, a carpenter, and wife Marie Le Barron. Aged 14, he entered the College of the City of New York. In April 1876, after three years of college, he won an appointment to the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York and entered there in June. He graduated second in his class of 52 in June 1880,

In 1891, Goethals was promoted to captain. He soon was placed in charge of the completion of the Muscle Shoals Canal along the Tennessee River near Florence, Alabama. His recommendation of a single lock with an unprecedented lift of twenty-six feet was initially opposed by his superiors in Washington, and he was forced to persuade the conservative army engineers of the merits of his design. The lock's successful construction set a world record for lock height. In 1903, Goethals became a member of the first Army General Staff in Washington, D.C., and served as coastal defence expert.

Construction of the Panama Canal

thumb|1000px|center|Construction of locks on the Panama Canal, 1913

Theodore Roosevelt believed that a US-controlled canal across Central America was a vital strategic interest of the country. Roosevelt encouraged the acquisition of the French Panama Canal effort. The purchase of the French-held land for $40 million was authorized by the June 28, 1902, Spooner Act. Since Panama was then part of Colombia, Roosevelt began negotiating with that country to obtain the necessary rights. In early 1903 the Hay–Herrán Treaty was signed by both nations, but the Senate of Colombia failed to ratify the treaty.

Roosevelt implied to Panamanian rebels that if they revolted, the US Navy would assist their fight for independence. Panama declared its independence on November 3, 1903, and the USS Nashville impeded Colombian interference. The victorious Panamanians gave the United States control of the Panama Canal Zone on February 23, 1904, for $10 million in accordance with the November 18, 1903 Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty.

United States takeover

The United States took control of the French property—after the bankruptcy of the French Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique de Panama that started constructions on The Panama Canal under Ferdinand de Lesseps— on May 4, 1904. The new Panama Canal Zone Control was overseen by the Isthmian Canal Commission (ICC) during construction.

The US inherited a small workforce and an assortment of buildings, infrastructure and equipment, much of which had been neglected for fifteen years in the humid jungle environment. There were no facilities in place for a large workforce, and the infrastructure was crumbling.

Although chief engineer John Findley Wallace was pressured to resume construction, red tape from Washington stifled his efforts to obtain heavy equipment and caused friction between Wallace and the ICC. He and chief sanitary officer William C. Gorgas were frustrated by delay, and Wallace resigned in 1905. He was replaced by John Frank Stevens, who arrived on July 26, 1905. Stevens' approach was to press ahead first and obtain approval later. He improved drilling and dirt-removal equipment at the Culebra Cut for greater efficiency, revising the inadequate provisions in place for soil disposal. In November 1906 Roosevelt visited Panama to inspect the canal's progress, the first trip outside the United States by a sitting president.

Chief engineer of the Panama Canal

200px|thumb|right|Panama Canal under construction, 1907

Whether contract employees or government workers would build the canal was controversial. Bids for the canal's construction were opened in January 1907, and Knoxville, Tennessee-based contractor William J. Oliver was the low bidder. Stevens disliked Oliver, and vehemently opposed his choice. Although Roosevelt initially favoured the use of a contractor, he eventually decided that army engineers should carry out the work. According to the book The Panama Canal: An Army's Enterprise, Goethals made such an impression on William Howard Taft, then Secretary of War, that Taft recommended him as an engineer for the Panama Canal.

In February 1907 US President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Colonel George Washington Goethals chief engineer of the Panama Canal. The building of the Canal was completed in 1914, two years ahead of the target date of June 10, 1916.

Colonel Goethals received unstinted praise from visiting engineers and from the technical press of the world. In 1913 the degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by the University of Pennsylvania, and in the spring of 1914 he was awarded medals by the National Geographic Society, the Civic Forum (New York), and the National Institute of Social Sciences. In 1914, Goethals and William Crawford Gorgas were awarded the inaugural Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences. Also, Congress awarded Goethals their thanks and a promotion to major general. President Wilson appointed Goethals as the first Civil Governor of the Panama Canal Zone. His positions thereafter were: State engineer of New Jersey in 1917 and manager of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (briefly). George Washington Goethals was appointed as acting Quartermaster General of the United States Army during the most crucial period of World War I (December 19, 1917 to May 9, 1918) and was a member of the War Industries Board (1918).

Quartermaster General of the United States Army

thumb|right|200px|A [[World War I poster for the US Shipping Board, ]]

thumb|left|200px|[[Uncle Sam pointing his finger at the viewer in order to recruit soldiers for the U.S. Army during World War I, 1917-1918]]

In April 1917 George W. Goethals was serving at President Woodrow Wilson's request, as General Manager and Director of the Emergency Fleet Corporation— charged with creating improvised ships, to carry the American army and its supplies to France, in the shortest possible time.

thumb|right|Transfer of ammunition from standard-gauge railway to trench railway during the [[Battle of Passchendaele]]

The United States as late as 1917 maintained only a small army, smaller than thirteen of the nations and empires already active in the war. After the passage of the Selective Service Act of May 1917, the U.S. drafted 4 million men into military service, the logistics demands were unprecedented. By the summer of 1918, about 2 million US soldiers had arrived in France and approximately 10,000 fresh soldiers were arriving in Europe each day.

Mainly as a result of supply blunders during the bitter winter of 1917, a Congressional investigation was under way, when General Goethals was recalled to active service, and was asked on December 19, 1917, to accept appointment as Acting Quartermaster General. Goethals did so only after Secretary of War Newton D. Baker had assured him full authority and that he would not be interfered with, nine days later he was appointed Director of the Storage & Traffic Service. Reaction to his appointment at home and overseas is illustrated by a message he is said to have received from former President Theodore Roosevelt: "I congratulate you, and thrice over I congratulate the country."

The Army's supply chain suffered from three main problems—a shortage of specialized personnel, decentralized organization and diverse uncoordinated functions. When the United States entered the war, the Quartermaster Corps had suffered a loss of personnel—most officers were sent to the front—this was the first problem demanding attention. Believing the Army's business could be best organized along civilian lines, he hired military men who could get along with industrialists and built with and around a number of highly trained executives and businessmen (among the new recruits were Hugh S. Johnson and Robert J. Thorne). Some of these men were commissioned and some were dollar-a-year-men, most of whom never collected the dollar.

thumb|left|Major General George W. Goethals and members of his staff, December 7, 1918. Front row, left to right: Mr. [[Gerard Swope, Major General George W. Goethals, Brigadier General Herbert Lord, Brigadier General William H. Rose. Back row, left to right: Edwin W. Fullam, Brigadier General Frank T. Hines, Brigadier General Robert E. Wood, Colonel F. B. Wells.]]

The Overman Act, a result of the Congressional investigations started in December 1917, authorized what became known as the "interbureau procurement system," and was to make the Quartermaster Corps the most important War Department purchasing agency. Goethals established a system of standardization of bureau record keeping and supply chain planning. He also worked on installing uniform procurement policies, with the goal of presenting consolidated estimates to congress.

In April 1918 a further reorganization of the General Staff led to the creation of the Purchase, Storage, & Traffic Division, with General Goethals as Director and Assistant Chief of Staff of the Army. Its creation was the result of protests by General Goethals, to the effect that, though coordination in the handling of Army logistics problems had been a major objective when the General Staff was created in 1903, coordination was practically nonexistent. In the months to come, his division took control of purchasing and storage by the Army as a whole and of transportation over land and water. Now one person coordinated all supply bureaus, which had previously competed for the nation's resources, in a system that had inevitably slowed down input of war supplies.

At a meeting of quartermaster personnel in Washington, on August 8, 1918, Secretary of War Baker said:

Civilian life

Later on, he headed an engineering and construction firm. He became the first consulting engineer of the Port of New York Authority (now the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey or PANYNJ). Both the original Goethals Bridge and the current Goethals Bridge, which the PANYNJ operates between New York and New Jersey, were named for him. Goethals was an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the United States National Academy of Sciences.

Personal life and death

In 1884, he married Effie Rodman; they had two sons. He was buried at the cemetery of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Legacy and tributes

He is the great-great-grandfather of actress Angela Goethals.
In World War II, the United States liberty ship, , was named in his honor.
The United States Army Corps of Engineers dredge Goethals, which operated 1937–1982, was named in his honor.
The Goethals Medal was named after him, awarded by the Society of American Military Engineers for eminent contributions to engineering and related fields.
The Goethals Bridge between Staten Island, New York City, and Elizabeth, New Jersey, also bears his name.
Goethals Road North on Staten Island, New York City, bears his name.
Goethals Avenue in Queens, New York City, bears his name.
Streets are named for him in Richland, Washington, in Queens, New York City, at St. John's University, in Fort Leonard Wood and in Gamboa, Panama.
His image is depicted on several US and Panama Canal Zone stamps.
The Goethals Monument was built in Panama City in 1954.
Goethalsia, a monotypic genus of flowering plants from Central America. Was named after him.

File:Panama Canal 25th 1939 U.S. stamp.1.jpg|Roosevelt and Goethals on US stamp, 1939

File:Canal Zone 2c-Gothals, 1928 Issue.jpg|Goethals on Canal Zone postage stamp, 1928

Image:Monumento a Goethals-vertical.jpg|Goethals Monument, Panama City

File:Goethals Bridge.JPG|Goethals Bridge

File:Goethals dredge.jpg|Dredge Goethals

File:USNS George W. Goethals T-AP-182.jpg|USNS George W. Goethals

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References

External links

Panama Canal Authority biography