Betcha y’all didn’t know 250

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September 7, 1977, In Washington, President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian dictator Omar Torrijos sign a treaty agreeing to transfer control of the Panama Canal from the United States to Panama at the end of the 20th century. The Panama Canal Treaty also authorized the immediate abolishment of the Canal Zone, a 10-mile-wide, 40-mile-long U.S.-controlled area that bisected the Republic of Panama. Many in Congress opposed giving up control of the Panama Canal—an enduring symbol of U.S. power and technological prowess—but America’s colonial-type administration of the strategic waterway had long irritated Panamanians and other Latin Americans.