Editing 76-12-A4 (section)

= Panama =

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=== Transcript ===
In the next few months, we're going to be treated to a sophisticated public
relation's campaign designed to convince us we really want to give away the
Panama Canal. The government of Panama has hired an American public relations
firm, headquartered in Washington, to do a nationwide sales job on the American
people. The fee is some where between 150,000 and 200,00 dollars for a six
month's campaign, which should buy a fair-sized snow job.

It is interesting to note that the firm selected by the Panamanian government
is one experienced in matters political. The owner is reported to be former
Democratic National Chairman Strauss, but the political spectrum is pretty well
covered. Former Goldwater campaigner and participant on the Republican side in
the last campaign, F. Clifton White, will be among those running the operation.

No one, of course, can know in advance what the advertising theme will be. Could
be the Canal is obsolete and unimportant; or it is a last vestige of colonialism.
Then of course, there is the ever-present threat the enraged Panamanians will rise
up and do violence to us and the Canal. Any, or all, of these could be the basis
for the sales campaign. And all of them are as phony as some of the old-time
Hollywood publicity used to glorify not-so-epic screen epics. We can be a little
more sure of what they won't tell us. There will be no mention of the fact that
General Torrijos, Panama's dictator, was not chosen by the people. He was part of
a junta that seized power at the point of a gun nine years ago. No reference will
be made to the amount of shipping going through the canal each day, and how much
prices would go up if those ships had to go 'round the "horn". Or, how much prices
would go up if someone like the General, instead of non-profit Uncle Sam, were
setting the toll fees.

We've already been conditioned to accept that Panamanians are at a boiling point
over this issue, so I'm sure the public relations campaign will make no mention of
the stories Ronald Yates of the Chicago TRIBUNE has been filing from Panama City.
Yates has found that Torrijos is not an object of affection in Panama, and the
poor and unemployed want desperately for us to stay in control of the Canal. A
number of our congressmen and senators have heard the same thing from businessmen
and Panamanian leaders, but they only express themselves in whispers. Mr. Yates
found that those with little to lose (except their lives) were bolder. Singly,
in groups, and freely giving their names they are quoted as saying, -- QUOTE --
"All of us would fight for America to keep the Canal. We would never fight against
the United States." -- UNQUOTE. The one who said that also said, -- QUOTE -- "The
only people in Panama who have ever given the United States trouble are communists,
rich University students, and parasitic intellectuals who live off the blood and
sweat of people like us." -- UNQUOTE. Another said, -- QUOTE -- "Running the Canal
is a complex thing. As soon as the Panamanian government gets its hands on the
controls, forget about the Canal as a means of getting ships between the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans." -- UNQUOTE. His friends tried to persuade him not to talk
because he would be taken away by the police. He shrugged them off and said, --
QUOTE -- "The Americans are the only friends we've got. Poor people don't have
nobody else." -- UNQUOTE. An old woman summed it up when she told the TRIBUNE
reporter, -- QUOTE -- "You ask the General how he got so rich in eight years." --
UNQUOTE. 

This is Ronald Reagan.

Thanks for listening.
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=== Details ===
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<TR><TD WIDTH="150">Batch Number</TD><TD WIDTH="150">{{PAGENAME}}</TD></TR>
<TD>Production Date</TD><TD>04/13/[[Radio1977|1977]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Book/Page</TD><TD>[[Radio_Commentary_Books#Reagan.27s_Path_to_Victory|RPtV-143]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Audio</TD><TD></TD></TR>
<TD>Youtube?</TD><TD>No</TD></TR>
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===Added Notes===

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