tiated a treaty which permitted the United States to intervene militarily in the Isthmus of Panama in the event of disorder. In 1903, in the wake of American fomented disorder, the United States govern ment invoked this treaty to prevent "a Colombian force from moving across the isthmus . . . to suppress the insurrection" (Meditz, and Hanratty, 1989, 23). At this birth of the Repub lic of Panama, President Theodore Roosevelt "proudly claimed the role of midwife . . ." (Meditz, and Hanratty, 1989, 3).
In New York City, Philippe Bunau Varilla, who had not been in Panama for 17 years, and who never again returned to the country, acted as Panamanian representative in negotiations with the United States for the Isthmian Canal Convention. In the process, he wrote the Panamanian declaration of indepen dence, and the Panamanian constitution, and designed the Pana manian flag while residing at the Waldorf Astoria hotel (Meditz, and Hanratty, 1989). Bunau Varilla and the American
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