There were many reasons that Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter in 1980. The Panama Canal Treaty wasn’t among them.

The canal was turned over to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999. For Carter, the deal signified a new beginning of mutual respect and cooperation between the U.S. and Latin America, as he said in his speech in 1978. It also showed “the last remnant of alleged American colonialism is being removed” during a time when the world moved away from imperialism.

Handing control of the Panama Canal from the U.S. over to the Central American country was one of President Jimmy Carter's most controversial, and most overshadowed, foreign policy achievements.