[HISTORY] [PANAMA] LA ESCUELA PANAMENA AL EXCELENTISIMO SR. EMBAJADOR DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE NORTE AMERICA CON OCCASION DEL 4 DE JULIO

Panama, 1943. La Escuela Panamena al Excelentisimo Sr. Embajador de los Estados Unidos de Norte America con Occasion del 4 de Julio. Panama: July 4, 1943. 152 leaves. Very good condition. ~~12.75” x 8.5” x 1.75” burgundy leatherbound hard cover book with gold embossed title and gold/red decorative ribbon on spine; gorgeous floral brown/cream inner lining; pencil notation at top first page; light discoloration around edges of pages. ~~The United States owned the Panama Canal from 1904-1999, and was a close ally to Panama in 1943. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Panama was the first Latin American country to declare war on the Axes powers, even rounding up Japanese Panamanians to intern in the Canal Zone.~ ~This commemorative book was given to Edwin C. Wilson, American ambassador to Panama from 1941-1943, on the occasion of American Independence Day, in honor of the bond of their countries and their mutual dedication to liberty and justice. A handwritten Spanish dedication to Wilson is followed by a pen & ink painting showing a symbolic personified female Panama holding the Panamanian flag, a chained figure, a soldier, a horse, and a tyrannical figure fighting before an American flag, signed “R Marin y Lindro(?), Panama, 1942. The rest of the book consists of dozens of sections separated by orange paper, each of which is filled with the signatures of different Panamanian school administrators and their students.~.