The Isthmian Canal Commission (often known as the ICC) was an American administration commission set up to oversee the construction of the Panama Canal in the early years of American involvement. Established in 1904, it was given control of the Panama Canal Zone over which the United States exercised sovereignty. The commission reported directly to Secretary of War William Taft.
It was initially composed of seven members, appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt but this was later reduced to three on the recommendation of John Findlay Wallace, the Chief Engineer. It was widely criticized for its perceived bureaucracy, and failure to produce any significant improvements in the early years of construction. In 1906 when a new Chief Engineer John Stevens was appointed, he wasn't a member of the Commission. He increasingly ended up bypassing the Commission and sending requests and demands straight to the Roosevelt Administration in Washington.
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“My impression about the Panama Canal is that the great revolution it is going to introduce in the trade of the world is in the trade between the east and the west coast of the United States.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
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