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Summer 2019 | By Maureen Harmon

It was a footnote in a random book in Central America that sent Eric Rutkow 麻豆精品 S� lawyer, author and UCF assistant professor of 麻豆精品 S� on one of the biggest journeys of his life. The footnote was a nod to the construction of the Inter-American Highway 麻豆精品 S� 3,400 miles of road that stretches from Mexico to Panama. But what Rutkow found so interesting was the mention that this stretch of highway was the United States 麻豆精品 S� largest global development project between the world wars.

Even though he was deep in graduate work at Yale and had been studying U.S.-Latin American relations for years, this was news to him. And, really, it was news to most who consider large-scale U.S. global development programs 麻豆精品 S� from the Marshall Plan to USAID 麻豆精品 S� as wholly post-World War II phenomena, save the Panama Canal, which got its start in 1903.

麻豆精品 S淚 麻豆精品 S檇 never seen that anywhere, 麻豆精品 S� says Rutkow. 麻豆精品 S淚 always get excited when things don 麻豆精品 S檛 fit the narrative. The U.S. was supposed to be very isolationist in the 1920s, and then the Great Depression happened. So this really shifted the whole narrative. 麻豆精品 S�

Rutkow 麻豆精品 S檚 original plan was to use that footnote as a starting point for his grad school dissertation, which would make the case that the U.S. was bridging infrastructure relationships with South America long before we thought. But the project soon became a network of tales 麻豆精品 S� 100 years 麻豆精品 S� worth.

麻豆精品 S淚 discovered that it was just the center of a huge story that had been totally missed, which is that, for a century, it had been U.S. policy 麻豆精品 S� sometimes at the highest, most overt levels, sometimes in complicated ways involving private actors 麻豆精品 S� to try to connect North and South America, 麻豆精品 S� says Rutkow.

With the assistance of the Yale library, the National Archives in Washington, D.C., the American Heritage Center in Wyoming, and oral histories and diaries from several countries, Rutkow wrote his dissertation, and eventually his book The Longest Line on the Map: The United States, the Pan-American Highway, and the Quest to Link the Americas. In it, he tells the tale of the political battles, the economics, the terrain that made it nearly impossible, and the unfinished road that exists today.

But this isn 麻豆精品 S檛 the story of Rutkow 麻豆精品 S檚 book or a road. It 麻豆精品 S檚 the complicated history of what the Pan-American Highway symbolizes: a century 麻豆精品 S檚 worth of hemispheric relations 麻豆精品 S� and where we are today.

The plans for land travel between the Americas started on a boat. The idea was hatched by a seasick Hinton Rowan Helper, the U.S. consul to Argentina, as he traveled from Buenos Aires to New York in late 1866 by way of the Lord Clarendon. It was the spark of an idea 麻豆精品 S� an intercontinental railroad 麻豆精品 S� that would launch 100 years of planning and politics and policy to bridge the continents, opening room for trade and mutually beneficial relations between the Americas.

Contrary to what historians have believed so far, says Rutkow, America 麻豆精品 S檚 first steps toward globalization found their footing on this railroad dream. 麻豆精品 S淧an-Americanism is not simply just this naked excuse for imperialism. It 麻豆精品 S檚 a very complicated phenomenon, 麻豆精品 S� says Rutkow. 麻豆精品 S淚t 麻豆精品 S檚 very real, and it 麻豆精品 S檚 America 麻豆精品 S檚 first international relations of any consequence. 麻豆精品 S�

The relationship over the past century has been complicated, to say the least. For some parts of Latin America, the relationship with the U.S. was diplomatic. For others, not so much.

麻豆精品 S淲hen it comes to Pan-Americanism, 麻豆精品 S� says Yovanna Pineda, UCF associate professor of history, 麻豆精品 S淟atin America is a very different place. In Central America, Pan-Americanism is seen as imperialistic, but as you get into Brazil and Argentina it becomes more diplomatic. 麻豆精品 S�

And many of those U.S.-Latin American relations started with a railway dream. That railway never came to pass, but it led to a new route to connect the Americas: what would become known as the longest road in the world, stretching 19,000 miles from Alaska to the tip of Argentina.

Yet it 麻豆精品 S檚 the Panama Canal that gets all the Pan-American聽attention in the history books.

麻豆精品 S淚 know 10 books right now all on the Panama Canal, 麻豆精品 S� says Pineda. 麻豆精品 S淚t was such a huge venture, and also from the Latin聽American side, you see how many people actually died during the making of it. In a way, it was kind of like building the Great Wall of China. 麻豆精品 S�

In the midst of all the literature on the canal 麻豆精品 S� the politics, the race relations, the tragedies 麻豆精品 S� the Pan-American Highway got lost.
麻豆精品 S淭he road rarely received more than a passing mention in any of the literature, 麻豆精品 S� says Rutkow, 麻豆精品 S渁nd the more I searched, the聽more elusive the road seemed to become. 麻豆精品 S�

There exists no clear definition of the Pan-American Highway, and the United States doesn 麻豆精品 S檛 officially recognize it today as such (though聽that 麻豆精品 S檚 what most travel bloggers and 狈补迟颈辞苍补濒听骋别辞驳谤补辫丑颈肠 writers will call it). Even travelers of聽the road don 麻豆精品 S檛 always know they 麻豆精品 S檙e on it.

麻豆精品 S淚f you travel between capital cities, basically anywhere in Latin America, you 麻豆精品 S檒l often find聽yourself on the Pan-American Highway, 麻豆精品 S� says聽Rutkow. 麻豆精品 S淕enerally, the Pan-American Highway聽is just Highway 1 or 2 of the national system in聽most of South America. 麻豆精品 S�

Information about the road itself is limited.聽Aside from the length of the road and the variety聽of terrains it crosses (from jungles to deserts to聽mountains to beaches), and the types of cultures聽you might encounter along the way, it is simply聽a road traveled, and certainly not often in its聽entirety. Some label the road as 麻豆精品 S渢he ultimate road聽trip. 麻豆精品 S� As one travel blogger puts it: 麻豆精品 S淲hy settle for an ordinary road trip when you can drive across聽the Americas? 麻豆精品 S�

But the road, for Rutkow, represents something聽much larger: The Pan-American Highway is the聽end result of negotiations, policies and ideas that聽started with a railway in the 1800s. Today, for聽Rutkow, the highway is a concrete example that聽we were wading into, and funding, international聽infrastructure decades before we thought.

Rutkow 麻豆精品 S檚 book, argues Gilbert Joseph, Farnam聽professor of history and international studies at聽Yale and Rutkow 麻豆精品 S檚 dissertation advisor, details a聽 麻豆精品 S渕issionary impulse to connect the hemispheres聽by roads, by railroads and then byways. 麻豆精品 Sβ燵Rutkow] is giving us many ways of looking at聽U.S. power that is personified by the Pan-American聽Highway. 麻豆精品 S�

The footnote that Rutkow discovered in that聽book in Central America became a thread on聽which he pulled to unravel the plan for a railway聽and eventually the creation of the highway. And聽the discoveries Rutkow found along the way were聽surprising. The road itself was partly funded聽by New Deal funds, for example 麻豆精品 S� a deal most聽consider a domestic policy.

麻豆精品 S淔ranklin Roosevelt ended up having such an聽important role in pushing this forward right at a聽moment when it had no need to be, 麻豆精品 S� says Rutkow.聽 麻豆精品 S淚 mean, it 麻豆精品 S檚 the Great Depression, and he 麻豆精品 S檚 the聽one demanding this happens. 麻豆精品 S�

America had created the infrastructure for聽roads, and the automobile industry fueled that聽infrastructure 麻豆精品 S� and now the government and聽private entities wanted to expand their reach.聽That reach is evident in American mega聽industry sites 麻豆精品 S� spots of private enterprise聽sprinkled along the route.

“Some of those sites have since been abandoned,” says Rutkow, “some聽have changed hands.” But the site he found聽most fascinating on his own journey was the聽Chuquicamata copper mine north of Santiago,聽Chile. “At one time, it was one of the biggest聽physical holes in the world and is still one of the聽major copper producers,” he says.

But for Rutkow’s interests, the most telling聽nugget of information is that the mine 麻豆精品 S� a聽three-mile-long hole that 麻豆精品 S檚 been dug for a century聽 麻豆精品 S� was privatized by the Guggenheims before聽World War I. American private industry in a聽spot that history 麻豆精品 S� up until now 麻豆精品 S� has largely聽overlooked.

The Pan-American Highway was 30 years in the聽making after the Americas tried and failed to聽create the intercontinental railway system. It聽took five Pan-American conferences, a world war,聽the birth of the automobile industry in the U.S.,聽and the knowledge of the infrastructure required聽to get the autos from place to place before the聽American highway system could begin to snake its聽way south. But the ride wasn 麻豆精品 S檛 always smooth.

Even after 100 years of Pan-American relations, the road 麻豆精品 S� with all the political wrangling, private聽enterprise, and hopes and dreams that went into聽it 麻豆精品 S� is still incomplete. The Dari茅n Gap 麻豆精品 S� about聽60 miles of territory located between Panama聽and Colombia that has been shrouded in mystery,聽danger, and now very tentative tourism for those聽who want credit for passing through one of the world 麻豆精品 S檚 most dangerous areas unscathed 麻豆精品 S斅爎emains unfinished.

The terrain 麻豆精品 S� and the jaguars and snakes that inhabit聽it 麻豆精品 S� has kept the area unpaved. And the absence of cars,聽infrastructure, highway and trade has given way to聽guerillas, drugs and migrants willing to risk the journey.聽In all the idealism that brought the road this far, U.S.-Latin聽American relations now, in many ways, sit in the gap.

麻豆精品 S淚t 麻豆精品 S檚 a fabled, legendary no man 麻豆精品 S檚 land that 麻豆精品 S檚 bedeviled聽the most storied adventurers, members of the American聽military and legions of would-be migrants. But it doesn 麻豆精品 S檛聽put them off. Even today, tens of thousands of migrants a聽year risk their lives to cross it, 麻豆精品 S� wrote Adam Yamaguchi for聽CBS when he ventured to the gap to make the trek with a聽migrant named Shahab Shahbazi.

There are some who come to the gap in the road for聽adventure. And some, like Shahbazi, who come for much聽more: the promise of a better life in the U.S. 麻豆精品 S� a country聽embattled in its own interior war of allowing people like聽Shahbazi in or keeping people like Shahbazi out.

Rutkow knows this road like no one else. He knows the聽lengths that the United States went to make it happen聽both publicly and privately. He has traveled to the Dari茅n聽Gap to talk with the people who live nearby, to gather oral聽histories, to walk the land, and to befriend the hikers and聽adventurers he met along the way.

The tale of the longest聽line on the map, he says, isn 麻豆精品 S檛 just the tale of a road. It is the tale of every deal and policy made between the Americas,聽from those initial talks about a railway all the way to聽President Barack Obama 麻豆精品 S檚 move to warm up diplomatic聽relations with Cuba and President Donald Trump 麻豆精品 S檚 plans聽for the future.

It is the tale of a road, yes, but also the tale of a railway,聽a canal and now, perhaps, a wall.聽Rutkow isn 麻豆精品 S檛 necessarily interested in the political聽arguments for or against such a project. He certainly has聽an opinion as an American, but as a historian, it 麻豆精品 S檚 simply聽another note in history 麻豆精品 S� a new twist in the road of聽U.S.-Latin American relations.

And we will see where it takes us.