Lehigh Correspondence with the Executive Office on Canals, Dams, and Cemeteries

Correspondence and publications displayed here demonstrate Lehigh’s long commitment to environmental issues, academic excellence, national and international policies. Lehigh always had a special relationship with Panama because Lehigh played an active role in the development of Panama. The highest political office ever held by any Lehigh alumnus to this day is by Ernesto Tisdel Lefevre, who served as the interim president of Panama. The Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal were built by the McClintic & Marshall Company, founded by two members of Lehigh’s Class of 1888. The Bucyrus Company, which manufactured the huge dredges that dug the Culebra Cut of the canal, was also headed by Lehigh men: President William Coleman (1895) and Chief Engineer Walter Ferris (1895). The Atlas Portland Cement Company of the Lehigh Valley, which supplied five million barrels of portland cement for the locks, had as general superintendent H.J. Seaman (1879), another Lehigh man. Documents related to the Panama Canal and President Drinker displayed here add more dimension to this Lehigh-Panama connection. Also displayed here are documents showing how certain academic programs were established at Lehigh, and how they were perceived by the Executive Office. President Whitaker, a highly accomplished nuclear physicist, received positive feedback from US Presidents about Lehigh’s initiatives. We also salute the 150th anniversary of the Civil War by displaying correspondence from 1956 about Lehigh’s gift to Eisenhower’s Gettysburg home.Hetch Hetchy Dam correspondence, especially the vision of President Drinker, also should be read along with the consideration of the current water problem crisis in California.