Thank you @Jici @sudsy and @cmarchan for your help.
The :formatted as JSON safe did in fact do the trick, I just didn’t take the approach correctly the first time.
I did alter the API connector API call by removing the double quotes around the dynamic parameter value in the JSON body the first time, the issue I did not address the first time was the fact that the call itself had both static text and dynamic text and I added the :formatted as JSON only to the dynamic text (as only can be done).
Based on the fact that all 3 of the respected community members were emphasizing the use of the :formatted as JSON safe, I took another swing at it, and this time in the workflow for the API call I used arbitrary text with :formatted as JSON safe and I put both the original static and dynamic text into the arbitrary text and it worked! Hooray!.
Thank you very much for all your help and input, I appreciate it.