Operation Just Cause: The Truth Behind the Invasion of Panama. In 1501 Spanish explorer Rodrigo de Bastidas, sailing west from Venezuela, was the first European to reach the Isthmus of Panama. The Spanish King Ferdinand V saw in Panama a country filled with prospects and resources for years to c...

In 1798, there was a young Republican publicist named Benjamin Franklin Bache, the editor of the Philadelphia Aurora, who was known as "Lightning Rod, Junior" because he was the grandson of Benjamin Franklin and was known for his shocking phraseology. Impetuous, harsh, narrow-minded and d...