Diefenbaker's World : A Populist in Foreign Affairs / H. Basil Robinson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Robinson, H. Basil, Author.

Series:

Heritage

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Diefenbaker, John G., 1895-1979.

Diefenbaker, John G.

Canada.

Canada--Foreign relations--1945-.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (385 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Toronto : University of Toronto Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Politicking on the streets of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, John Diefenbaker was in his element. He was much less at home negotiating with the heads of other governments and formulating foreign policy. As prime minister from 1957 to 1963, Diefenbaker oversaw Canada's role in some of the most dramatic moments of twentieth-century world affairs, but it was an arena in which The Chief was never really comfortable. The Diefenbaker years were a distinctive era in Canada's external affairs, both in the international challenges the country faced and in the style with which government met those challenges. Basil Robinson served Diefenbaker as External Affairs liaison officer for five years. He presents an informed, balanced, and clear-eyed assessment of the time and the man whose compelling personality shaped it. For Robinson and others who had worked in the department of External Affairs in its post-war glory days, the period of transition was difficult. They found Diefenbaker always interested, conscientious, and accessible to his immediate advisers. But each of his foreign policy decisions was inevitably coloured by domestic political considerations: how would it play in Saskatoon? That question informed Diefenbaker's' attitudes on most of the international issues that confronted him: the North American air defence agreement (NORAD); the controversy over the stationing of nuclear weapons on Canadian soil; the withdrawal of South Africa from the Commonwealth; his attempt to obstruct the United Kingdom's negotiation for entry into the European Economic Community; the crises of Berlin in 1961 and Cuba in 1962; and the nuclear weapons controversy which brought about the fall of his government in 1963. Robinson takes us through each of these developments and Diefenbaker's handling of them. We find out why he got along so well with Dwight D. Eisenhower and so badly with John F. Kennedy, and about the ups and downs of his relationship with Harold Macmillan. We get to know the advisers with whom he surrounded himself, and to understand why he chose them. We learn what made him anxious, what gave him confidence. And we see what impact all those things had on the way Canada interacted with our allies and enemies in those years of international tension.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

PART ONE: FIRST ENCOUNTERS. June 1957 to March 1958

1. Settling In

2. Meeting the Family: Commonwealth PMs

3. Meeting the Neighbours

4. Meeting the Allies

5. Assembling the Team

PART TWO: DISTANT SUMMITS. April 1958 to June 1959

6. Surveying the World Scene

7. World Tour: Europe

8. World Tour: Asia and the Pacific

9. No Rest for the Leader

PART THREE: NEW DIRECTIONS. Iune 1959 to November 196o

10. Teaming up with Howard Green

11. Two Sides of the Defence Coin

12. Personal Diplomacy

13. Testing the Commonwealth: South Africa

14. Glimpsing the Summit

Before and After

15. Facing an Anxious Summer

16. Adventures of Autumn

PART FOUR: TRANSITION TO TROUBLE. November I96o to December 1961

17. From Eisenhower to Kennedy

18. South Africa Leaves the Commonwealth

19. Planning the Kennedy Visit

20. Taking Umbrage: Don't Push

21. Reshaping Old Patterns

22. Revisiting East-West Tensions

23. Growing Nuclear Debate

PART FIVE: TROUBLE AT EVERY TURN. January 1962 to April 1963

24. Planning for the Election

25. Politics and Foreign Policy

26. From Majority to Minority

27. Fresh Perspectives

28. On the Brink: The Cuban Missile Crisis

29. Meeting His Fate: Nuclear Nemesis

Conclusion

Notes

Select Bibliography

Index

Picture Credits

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 26. Nov 2019)

ISBN:

1-4875-7521-1

OCLC:

1085566801