The Torrijos-Carter Treaties are two treaties signed by the United States and Panama in Washington, D.C., on September 7, 1977, which replaced the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903. The treaties guaranteed that Panama would gain control of the Panama Canal after 1999, ending the US control of the canal since 1903. The treaties were named after the two signatories, US President Jimmy Carter and the Commander of the Panamanian National Guard, General Omar Torrijos.

In January 1963, US President John F. Kennedy agreed to fly the Panamanian flag alongside the US flag at all non-military locations in the Canal Zone where the US flag was flown. However, Kennedy was assassinated before his orders were carried out. However, activities to renegotiate or abrogate the treaty increased considerably after the Suez Crisis, and the events of 1964 precipitated the complete breakdown of relations between the US and Panama.

On January 9, 1964, Panamanian students entered the canal zone to raise the Panamanian flag alongside the American flag, in accordance with a 1963 agreement to ease tension between the two countries. Panamanians attending the event began to riot after the students flying the Panamanian flag were ridiculed and harassed by American school officials, students and their parents. During the brawl, the Panamanian flag was torn in some way. There was widespread rioting, during which more than 20 Panamanians were killed and around 500 injured. Most of the casualties were caused by gunfire from US troops, who had been called in to protect Canal Zone property, including the private homes of Canal Zone employees. January 9 is a national holiday in Panama, known as Martyrs' Day.

The Canal Zone authorities asked the Panamanian National Guard (Panama's Armed Forces) to quell the disturbances, but it did not intervene. Meanwhile, the demonstrators began tearing down the “Fence of Shame” located in the Canal Zone. The international reaction was largely unfavorable to the United States. The British and French governments, which had been criticized by American administrations for their foreign policy and the way they dealt with their various colonies, accused the US of hypocrisy and argued that their Zonian citizens were as detestable as any other group of settlers. Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt suggested that Panama nationalize the Panama Canal, just as Egypt had nationalized the Suez Canal. The communist governments of the Soviet Union, China and Cuba denounced the US in the strongest terms.

The following day, January 10, Panama broke off diplomatic relations with the United States and, on January 19, Panamanian President Roberto Chiari declared that Panama would not re-establish diplomatic relations with the United States until the US agreed to begin negotiations on a new treaty. Panamanians were attacked with tear gas and several were shot. One of the most famous photos of what Panamanians know as Martyrs' Day shows two demonstrators, one with a Panamanian flag, climbing the Fence of Shame in Ancon. The opinion of most Panamanians, and most Latin Americans in general, about the fence in question was expressed a few days later by Colombia's ambassador to the Organization of American States: “In Panama today there is another Berlin Wall.

After the failure of these treaties, Panama underwent a change of government following a military coup in 1968. The new government was consolidated by Omar Torrijos, who decided to definitively reject the 1967 treaty. The Carter administration made the canal a high priority, starting during the transition. Senator Dennis DeConcini sponsored a critical amendment to the Panama Canal Treaty that allowed the Senate to reach a consensus on granting control of the Canal to Panama. A few days before a final agreement on the treaties was reached, President Jimmy Carter sent a telegram to all members of Congress informing them of the status of the negotiations and asking them not to comment on the treaty until they had the opportunity to study it carefully. Senator Strom Thurmond responded to Carter's appeal by declaring in a speech later that day: “The canal is ours, we bought it and paid for it, and we should keep it.”

Both treaties were subsequently ratified in Panama with 67.4% of the vote in a referendum held on October 23, 1977. To allow for popular discussion of the treaties and in response to claims made by treaty opponents in the US that Panama was incapable of ratifying them democratically, restrictions on the press and political parties were lifted several weeks before the vote. On the day of the vote, 96% of Panama's eligible voters went to the polls, the highest voter turnout in Panama up to that point. The neutrality treaty was a major concern among voters, especially on the political left, and was one of the reasons why the treaties failed to gain even greater popular support.

The United States Senate advised and consented to the ratification of the first treaty on March 16, 1978 and the second treaty on April 18 by identical margins of 68 to 32. In both votes, 52 Democrats and 16 Republicans voted in favor of advising and consenting to ratification, while 10 Democrats and 22 Republicans voted against. The treaties were a source of great controversy in the United States, especially among conservatives led by Ronald Reagan, Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms, who saw them as handing over a strategic American asset to what they characterized as a hostile government.

Support for the treaties came from a variety of interests, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff and members of Congress such as Ernest Hollings, Hubert Humphrey and, above all, Howard Baker and Robert Byrd. Other supporters included Admiral Elmo Zumwalt and General Maxwell Taylor; John Wayne, who was a friend of General Omar Torrijos. Former President Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger made public statements in support of the treaty. Many world leaders also supported the treaties, including positive statements from the Prime Minister of Barbados, Tom Adams, the President of Bolivia, Hugo Banzer, the President of the Dominican Republic, Joaquín Balaguer, the President of Guatemala, Kjell Laugerud, the Prime Minister of Guyana, Forbes Burnham, the President of Nicaragua, Anastasio Somoza, the President of Peru, Francisco Morales Bermúdez, the President of Chile, Augusto Pinochet, the President of Costa Rica, Daniel Oduber, and the President of Venezuela, Carlos Andrés Pérez.

John Wayne and fellow conservative William F. Buckley believed that the Panamanians had the right to the canal and sided with President Jimmy Carter. Wayne was a close friend of Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos Herrera, and Wayne's first wife Josephine was a native of Panama. **His support of the treaty brought him hate mail for the first time in his life. **