Negotiations and ratification of the 1977 Panama Canal Treaties were major events in the making and conduct of U.S. foreign policy. Beginning in 1973, the negotiations spanned three administrations, and the ratification process dominated the first year and a half of the Carter presidency. This book explains the making of the 1977 Panama Canal Treaties, looking at the interaction of executive and congressional policymaking, the domestic politics of the ratification campaign, and the international dynamics of superpower-small power relations.