Rutherford B. Hayes Quotes

I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on, the canal does also.

The Republic of Panama grants to the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation and control of a zone of land and land under water for the construction maintenance, operation, sanitation and protection of said Canal of the width of ten miles extending to the distance of five miles on each side of the center line of the route of the Canal to be constructed

The most important event I covered was the Panama Canal debate, which dragged on for months.

[It is the] duty of the United States to assert and maintain such supervision and authority over any inter-oceanic canal across the isthmus that connects North and South America as will protect our national interest.

I am interested in the Panama Canal because I started it. If I had followed traditional, conservative methods I would have presented a dignified state paper to Congress and the debates on it would have been going on yet; but I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on the Canal does also.

The power that rules the Pacific ... is the power that rules the world. And, with the Philippines, that power is and will forever be the American Republic.

The American continents ... are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.... We should consider any attempt [by European countries] to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European Power we have not interfered, and shall not interfere. But with the governments who have declared their independence, and maintained it ... we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling, in any other manner, their destiny, by any European Power, in any other light than as the manifestations of an unfriendly disposition towards the United States. [The "Monroe Doctrine."]

The United States Navy has kept the sea lanes open for the entire world.

Japan will oppose any attempt at international control of Manchuria. It does not mean that we defy you, because Manchuria belongs to us by right …Read your history. We recovered Manchuria from Russia. We made it what it is today …. We look into the gloom of the future and can see no certain gleam of light before us … Would the American people agree to such control of the Panama Canal Zone; would the British permit it over Egypt?

If you want to look at the Monroe Doctrine and what happened when we wrote that, we stated what the business would be for America's power, especially in this hemisphere. We have always been the colonizer of this hemisphere, wherever we've been.

Belize is still a pirate haven and is run more or less along the lines established centuries ago by the likes of Captain Morgan, Blackbeard, and Captain Barrow.

The 1898 annexation of the Hawaiian Islands merely formally recognized what had long been American domination.

The high seas - in other words, the oceans beyond the 200-mile national limits - are a lawless realm.

The Channel is an international waterway through which the Russians are quite free to pass - and over which we have no exclusive right.

A border is a border. I have to be conscious of both my borders. I will also have be conscious of my sea. It is less talked about.

The problem was that Panama technically belonged to Colombia, which refused to sign a treaty leasing it to the United States. So Roosevelt sent a gunboat filled with marines down to Panama, just on the off chance that a revolution might suddenly break out, and darned if one didn't, two days later. Not only that, but the leaders of the new nation of Panama-talk about lucky breaks!-were absolutely thrilled to have the United States build a canal there. 'Really, it's our pleasure,' they told the marines, adding, 'Don't shoot.'

The navigation of our inland waters has for years been sought in vain by foreign countries, and if we grant the privilege to Russia, other States will be guided in their demands by her example.

I believe it is the responsibility of our government to protect the U.S., including U.S.-flag vessels.

The United States was born with an imperialist impulse. There has been a long confrontation between Monroe and Bolivar... It is necessary that the Monroe Doctrine be broken.

The day is not far distant when three Stars and Stripes at three equidistant points will mark our territory: one at the North Pole, another at the Panama Canal, and the third at the South Pole. The whole hemisphere will be ours in fact as, by virtue of our superiority of race, it already is ours morally.

The Jones Act is an important tool to maintain Northeast Florida's domestic ship repair industry, which is so vital to our Navy and national security.

Pirates worked to avoid violence and fighting.

We believe it is important to have an organisational link in London, still the world's premier maritime centre.

London is the headquarters of the International Maritime Organisation, the location of the largest insurance market, and houses a significant ship-broking community, apart from the many other professional services related to shipping.

The neoconservative ideology supports American financial and military-political imperialism or hegemony.