Misinformation about Panama Canal

On a recent on-site report for NBC News from The Republic of Panama, correspondent Andrea Mitchell stated that the Panama Canal Treaty, signed by President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos in 1978, had been “overwhelmingly supported” in the U.S.

Well, not exactly. 

The issue of Panamanian sovereignty over the canal was then as much of a political hot potato as it is today. Significantly, although hardly recalled today, a little-known senator from Montana played the key role in the treaty’s passage.