To add insult to injury, one particularly clever US diplomat called Cromwell persuaded the French to drop the price of their company down to $40 million from $109 million in 1901. It took only three years for the French to capitulate and by 1904, the NPCC had become American property. When President Roosevelt implemented plans for the actual building of the canal, the NPCC came under a new umbrella known as the Isthmian Canal Commission, which was completely controlled and run by the US military.
