激情快播

Summer 2019 | By Maureen Harmon

It was a footnote in a random book in Central America that sent Eric Rutkow 鈥� lawyer, author and 激情快播 assistant professor of 鈥� on one of the biggest journeys of his life. The footnote was a nod to the construction of the Inter-American Highway 鈥� 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鈥� 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 鈥� from the Marshall Plan to USAID 鈥� as wholly post-World War II phenomena, save the Panama Canal, which got its start in 1903.

鈥淚鈥檇 never seen that anywhere,鈥� says Rutkow. 鈥淚 always get excited when things don鈥檛 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.鈥�

Rutkow鈥檚 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 鈥� 100 years鈥� worth.

鈥淚 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 鈥� sometimes at the highest, most overt levels, sometimes in complicated ways involving private actors 鈥� to try to connect North and South America,鈥� 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鈥檛 the story of Rutkow鈥檚 book or a road. It鈥檚 the complicated history of what the Pan-American Highway symbolizes: a century鈥檚 worth of hemispheric relations 鈥� 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 鈥� an intercontinental railroad 鈥� 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鈥檚 first steps toward globalization found their footing on this railroad dream. 鈥淧an-Americanism is not simply just this naked excuse for imperialism. It鈥檚 a very complicated phenomenon,鈥� says Rutkow. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very real, and it鈥檚 America鈥檚 first international relations of any consequence.鈥�

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.

鈥淲hen it comes to Pan-Americanism,鈥� says Yovanna Pineda, 激情快播 associate professor of history, 鈥淟atin America is a very diverse place. In Central America, Pan-Americanism is seen as imperialistic, but as you get into Brazil and Argentina it becomes more diplomatic.鈥�

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鈥檚 the Panama Canal that gets all the Pan-American聽attention in the history books.

鈥淚 know 10 books right now all on the Panama Canal,鈥� says Pineda. 鈥淚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.鈥�

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

There exists no clear definition of the Pan-American Highway, and the United States doesn鈥檛 officially recognize it today as such (though聽that鈥檚 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鈥檛 always know they鈥檙e on it.

鈥淚f you travel between capital cities, basically anywhere in Latin America, you鈥檒l often find聽yourself on the Pan-American Highway,鈥� says聽Rutkow. 鈥淕enerally, the Pan-American Highway聽is just Highway 1 or 2 of the national system in聽most of South America.鈥�

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 鈥渢he ultimate road聽trip.鈥� As one travel blogger puts it: 鈥淲hy settle for an ordinary road trip when you can drive across聽the Americas?鈥�

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

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 鈥� a deal most聽consider a domestic policy.

鈥淔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,鈥� says Rutkow.聽鈥淚 mean, it鈥檚 the Great Depression, and he鈥檚 the聽one demanding this happens.鈥�

America had created the infrastructure for聽roads, and the automobile industry fueled that聽infrastructure 鈥� and now the government and聽private entities wanted to expand their reach.聽That reach is evident in American mega聽industry sites 鈥� 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 鈥� a聽three-mile-long hole that鈥檚 been dug for a century聽鈥� was privatized by the Guggenheims before聽World War I. American private industry in a聽spot that history 鈥� up until now 鈥� 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鈥檛 always smooth.

Even after 100 years of Pan-American relations, the road 鈥� with all the political wrangling, private聽enterprise, and hopes and dreams that went into聽it 鈥� is still incomplete. The Dari茅n Gap 鈥� 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鈥檚 most dangerous areas unscathed 鈥斅爎emains unfinished.

The terrain 鈥� and the jaguars and snakes that inhabit聽it 鈥� 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.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a fabled, legendary no man鈥檚 land that鈥檚 bedeviled聽the most storied adventurers, members of the American聽military and legions of would-be migrants. But it doesn鈥檛聽put them off. Even today, tens of thousands of migrants a聽year risk their lives to cross it,鈥� 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. 鈥� 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鈥檛 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鈥檚 move to warm up diplomatic聽relations with Cuba and President Donald Trump鈥檚 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鈥檛 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鈥檚 simply聽another note in history 鈥� a new twist in the road of聽U.S.-Latin American relations.

And we will see where it takes us.